XG Ventures

XG Ventures® was founded in March 2008 by ex-Googlers, who were early hires in strategic roles at Google. Pietro Dova and Andrea Zurek are the managing members of XG Ventures and are dedicated to advising and investing in supremely talented early-stage teams. Together, with their complementary expertise, their goal is to help successfully guide the start-up teams in which they invest and advise to the next stage. They provide operational and strategic guidance, mentorship, global networking contacts, and access to seed capital and beyond. XG Ventures® invests in early, seed-stage opportunities across a variety of sectors in both B2C and B2B. Examples of these sectors include mobile, e-commerce, enterprise, consumer, and SaaS-based businesses. They look for exceptional teams focusing on innovative products or services. Based in Menlo Park, California, the firm has built a portfolio of 109 companies, including 3 unicorns, spanning the U.S., Canada, and China. Notable investments and exits include Carta, Genies, Rappi, ThirdLove, PicCollage, Box, and Facebook, with acquisitions including Tynker and multiple companies acquired directly by Google, including Aardvark, AppJet, and Banter. The firm's investment approach draws on Dova and Zurek's firsthand experience scaling Google, offering founders hands-on mentorship and global networking access alongside capital, rather than acting as a purely financial, hands-off investor.