Venture Facility for Public Benefit
Schmidt Futures bets early on exceptional people making the world better. We do this through three principal strategies.
- PEOPLE – We bet early on smart people who may not have a track record, taking more and higher risk using any instrument of capital – whether charitable, scientific, commercial, or otherwise.
- FOCUS – We power up and focus their work through modern data platforms and advanced computing.
- SCALE – We drive scale by building networks of everyone we invest in, promoting diversity of thought and talent across fields, and working in partnership with others.
To read more about our risk transfer strategy to create public value from private philanthropy, please see our 2019 year-end reflections here.
To read our 2020 year-end reflections, see here.
Future-leaning
We seek to create the future, not restore the past. For example, embracing the inevitability of technological change, we look for machine learning solutions where there is a community benefit.
Risk Taking
We take the risks that only private philanthropy can take, providing early-stage funds broadly to new (and potentially competitive) efforts through a fast-launch venture model. We are creative in our approach, serving as an idea generator to test a number of ideas and identify those that work.
People-driven
Like effective venture facilities, we invest not only by thesis but also by team. In some cases, we start with a goal and then find the people, and in other cases we start by finding the best people and support them through multiple efforts or experiments.
Our People
We are a dedicated group bringing to bear new and creative ideas about how to tackle society’s long-standing challenges.
FAQ
More information about the mission of Schmidt Futures, how we are organized, and how we work to fulfill the vision of our founders.