Investor Profile: Section 32 — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

When founders research Section 32 funding, the first thing to know is the pedigree: Section 32 (rebranded as S32) was founded in 2017 by Bill Maris — the founder of GV, formerly Google Ventures — to invest "at the frontiers of technology and healthcare". It is a high-conviction venture firm backing "obsessive founders building iconic companies", deliberately working with a small number of companies and reserving meaningful time, capital and attention for each. Reported assets under management exceed US$3 billion.

Investment thesis

The goal, in the firm's own words: "improve the human condition by accelerating the discovery, development and distribution of important technologies and life-saving medicines". Rather than a broad portfolio, S32 concentrates — a small number of companies by design, with deep partner engagement. Its own press boilerplate spans software, cybersecurity, advanced communications and computation, space, climate-change technologies, machine learning, AI, biotechnology, therapeutics, advanced diagnostics, precision medicine and genomics.

Sectors, stages and cheque size

The official site lists focus areas as Artificial Intelligence, Computational biology, Physical AI, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity and Enterprise. The firm invests at all stages — the fund history shows a first fund of US$160m in 2017, a second of roughly US$200m in 2019, and a third of roughly US$350m in 2020, with total AUM now reported above US$3 billion (not stated on the official site homepage itself).

Notable portfolio and leadership

The portfolio includes Coinbase, CrowdStrike, Cohere, Dialpad — whose own press release names Section 32 among its investors alongside Andreessen Horowitz, GV and SoftBank — Thrive, Vir (Vir Biotechnology) and Relay (Relay Therapeutics).

Bill Maris leads as Founder, with Andy Harrison as CEO and General Partner (formerly an Alphabet executive at Verily Life Sciences and X), Andy Conrad as General Partner, and Michael Pellini, MD, as General Partner (formerly CEO and Chairman of Foundation Medicine). The HQ is in Palo Alto, California.

How to get funding from Section 32

There is no public pitch or application page. General enquiries go to [email protected], but realistically S32 engages through founder and operator networks — the high-conviction model means they choose companies deliberately rather than screening open deal flow. Warm introductions through portfolio founders or healthcare and AI circles are the practical route.