Eric Schmidt

Background

Eric Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from Princeton University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from UC Berkeley ¹. After graduating, he worked as a researcher at Xerox PARC, Bell Laboratories, and Zilog before joining Sun Microsystems in 1983, where he rose over 11 years to become Chief Technology Officer ². In 1997 he left Sun to become Chairman and CEO of Novell ².

In March 2001, Schmidt joined Google’s board as chair and became CEO in August 2001, serving in that capacity until 2011, when co-founder Larry Page reclaimed the CEO role ². Under Schmidt, Google grew from a startup to a global technology company, managing its 2004 IPO and launching products including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google News ². He then served as Executive Chairman of Google and later Alphabet from 2011 until 2017, and as Technical Advisor to Alphabet until 2020 ¹.

Schmidt co-founded Innovation Endeavors in 2010 alongside Dror Berman, Scott Brady, and Rick Scanlon, initially as the sole LP in the first two funds ³. He serves as Founding Partner and General Partner at the firm ⁴. In parallel, Schmidt operates Tomorrow Ventures, an earlier personal investment vehicle focused on seed and Series A investing across a broad range of consumer and enterprise sectors ⁵. His family office, Hillspire, manages his personal investment activity and has invested in 22 private AI firms since 2019 ⁶.

In March 2025, Schmidt acquired a controlling stake in Relativity Space, an additive manufacturing rocket company, and became its CEO — his first operating CEO role since leaving Alphabet ⁷.

Schmidt co-founded Schmidt Futures (2017), a philanthropic initiative supporting scientific talent, and chaired the Department of Defense Innovation Board (2016–2020) and the National Security Commission on AI ¹. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2006, named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007, and appointed Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2024 ¹.

Stated Thesis

Schmidt and Innovation Endeavors publicly articulate what they call the “Super Evolution” — a thesis centered on the convergence of three forces: ubiquitous sensors, advanced machine learning and cloud systems, and robotics/biological engineering. The firm states it invests exclusively at the intersection of science and technology to back “audacious founders applying this thesis to rethink industries” ⁸. The investment focus areas as stated on the firm website are: Intelligent Software, Computing Infrastructure, Physical Economy, and Engineering Health ⁹.

Innovation Endeavors’ stated check sizes are $1–15M at initial investment, with the firm seeking to lead or co-lead rounds and take board seats ⁹. For Fund V ($630M, announced January 2024), the firm planned to deploy capital into 30–35 companies ¹⁰.

Schmidt personally has stated a broad belief in AI’s transformative potential. On investing through Hillspire, he has said: “I essentially invest in everything because I can’t figure out who’s going to win” — describing his approach to an uncertain AI landscape where outcomes remain unpredictable despite clear capital requirements ¹¹.

On his Anthropic investment, Schmidt wrote: “When you invest in a startup, you are not just investing in a concept; you are investing in individuals. I took a chance on Anthropic because I believe in its mission of ethical AI.” ¹²

On SandboxAQ, he stated: “The convergence of quantum and AI technologies is already transforming entire industries, accelerating scientific discovery and reimagining what we thought was possible.” ¹³

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on 19 verified Innovation Endeavors investments (a partial sample; the firm’s total portfolio exceeds 160 companies as of early 2026) plus 8 confirmed personal/Hillspire investments. Given the small verified sample relative to total portfolio size, percentage figures should be treated as directional rather than definitive.

Sector breakdown (19 IE portfolio companies with confirmed rounds): - AI/Intelligent Software: AlphaSense, Afresh, Dosu, Gatik, Panther — 5 of 19 (26%) - Deep tech / quantum: Atom Computing, SandboxAQ — 2 of 19 (11%) - Robotics / physical world: Gatik, Vicarious Surgical, Canvas — 3 of 19 (16%) - Health / biotech: Eikon Therapeutics, Color — 2 of 19 (11%) - Fintech: SoFi, Upstart — 2 of 19 (11%) - Space / climate: Planet, Astra, Afresh — 3 of 19 (16%) - Infrastructure / developer tools: Kong, Extend, Formlabs — 3 of 19 (16%)

Note: Some companies span multiple categories. The sector concentration in AI/deep tech is likely understated given the firm’s recent Fund V focus.

Stage distribution (verified IE investments where round type is known): - Seed/pre-seed: Gatik seed (2019), Afresh Series A (2020), Atom Computing Series A (2021) — early-stage entries common - Series B leads: AlphaSense Series B (2019, $50M led), Atom Computing Series B (2022) - Later entry: Planet Series C (2015), SoFi Series A (2011) - The firm explicitly targets seed through Series A as initial entry, with follow-on into Series B ⁹

Geographic focus: Predominantly U.S.-based, with Bay Area concentration. Schmidt’s personal/Hillspire investments show emerging international scope (Gradium in Paris, Kyutai lab backing) ¹⁴.

Personal angel/Hillspire pattern (8 confirmed): Schmidt’s direct bets skew heavily toward frontier AI safety and capabilities companies (Anthropic, Reflection AI, Goodfire) and applied AI (SandboxAQ, Inworld AI, Gradium). He also participated in Inflection AI’s $1.3B round alongside Microsoft and Nvidia ¹⁵. The Hillspire portfolio made 13 investments in AI in 2022 alone, representing more than 75% of Schmidt’s personal investment activity that year ⁶.

Notable pattern vs. stated thesis: While Innovation Endeavors’ “Super Evolution” thesis emphasizes physical-world transformation (robotics, sensors, engineering biology), Schmidt’s personal investments through Hillspire concentrate heavily on frontier language model labs and AI safety research — a dimension not prominently featured in Innovation Endeavors’ formal thesis materials. Schmidt has also invested substantially in defense-adjacent AI (SandboxAQ for cybersecurity/government, D3 Ukrainian military startup accelerator, Relativity Space) ¹⁶, reflecting his government advisory background and national security orientation.

Check size: Innovation Endeavors: $1–15M initial, with follow-on capacity ⁹. Hillspire personal investments: highly variable; participated in rounds ranging from Gradium’s $70M seed to Inflection’s $1.3B round.

Portfolio

This table represents a partial sample. Innovation Endeavors’ total portfolio exceeds 160 companies as of early 2026 ²⁸; Hillspire’s AI portfolio alone includes 22 firms ⁶. Only investments with confirmed sourcing are listed here.

In Their Own Words

On investing in Anthropic and what drives early-stage investment decisions:

“When you invest in a startup, you are not just investing in a concept; you are investing in individuals. I took a chance on Anthropic because I believe in its mission of ethical AI.” ¹²

On SandboxAQ’s convergence of AI and quantum:

“The convergence of quantum and AI technologies is already transforming entire industries, accelerating scientific discovery and reimagining what we thought was possible. By developing commercially viable, quantum technologies using a combination of today’s high-performance computing power and emerging quantum platforms, Sandbox AQ is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation at scale for global impact.” ¹³

On the AlphaSense investment and information overload:

“Information is the currency of business today, but data is overwhelming and fragmented, making it difficult for business professionals to find the right insights to drive key business decisions.” ²⁰

On what makes startups succeed (Stanford talk, April 2024):

“The reason startups work is because the people work like hell.” ¹¹

On founder dynamics:

“Founders are special. The founders need to be in charge.” ¹¹

On AI investment strategy in an uncertain landscape:

“I essentially invest in everything because I can’t figure out who’s going to win.” ¹¹

On the scale of capital required for frontier AI:

“The big companies are telling me they need 10 billion, 20 billion, 50 billion, 100 billion.” ¹¹

What Founders Say

Jack Kokko, CEO and co-founder of AlphaSense, on the Innovation Endeavors investment:

“At AlphaSense, we are committed to providing a transformative solution to a problem that affects all large companies across every industry. We are excited to be backed by Eric Schmidt and the Innovation Endeavors team, and remain focused on helping knowledge workers worldwide acquire critical business insights and data with great speed and confidence.” ²⁰

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found. Innovation Endeavors’ website does not publish portfolio founder testimonials.

Connections

• Chairman and investor, SandboxAQ (2022–present) — serves alongside CEO Jack Hidary; co-investors include T. Rowe Price, Breyer Capital, Guggenheim Partners ¹³
• CEO and controlling investor, Relativity Space (March 2025–present) — acquired controlling stake; former CEO Tim Ellis remains as board director ⁷
• Co-founding partner, Schmidt Futures (2017–present) — philanthropic initiative with Wendy Schmidt supporting scientists and technologists ¹
• DoD Innovation Board Chair (2016–2020) — connected Schmidt to national security and defense technology communities; successor board members include leaders from major defense contractors ¹
• National Security Commission on AI, Chair (2019–2021) — government advisory work directly informing defense-tech and AI policy investment lens ¹
• Board, Broad Institute (trustee) — alongside leading biomedical scientists; relevant to biotech portfolio thesis ¹
• Co-investors on Anthropic Series A: Jaan Tallinn, Dustin Moskovitz, Center for Emerging Risk Research ²²
• Co-investors on Inflection AI ($1.3B round, 2023): Microsoft, Nvidia, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman ¹⁵
• Co-investors on Reflection AI Series B (2025): Nvidia, Lightspeed, Sequoia, DST ²⁶

Sources