Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Hardware Venture Capital |
Founded | 2015 |
Headquarters | Palo Alto, CA |
Key people |
|
Website | Official website |
Playground Global is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in deep tech and assists startups with software, hardware, machine learning, marketing, talent and design.[1][2][3] The company was founded in 2015 by Andy Rubin, Peter Barrett, Matt Hershenson and Bruce Leak.[4] Playground offers startups support with engineering, distribution, manufacturing and financing in exchange for equity.[3]
In May 2019, Playground returned Rubin's investment and removed him from management, following reports of sexual misconduct alleged to have occurred in 2013 while Rubin was an executive at Google.[5] His smartphone company, Essential Products, remained under the Playground umbrella.[6] The next month, Laurie Yoler joined as Playground's first female general partner; she was already serving on the boards of Bose, Tesla and Church & Dwight, among others.[7] Rubin's Essential Products company failed in February 2020, prompting a rebuild of Playground Global.[7][8]
Playground Global has raised $800 million across two funds,[9] starting with $300 million in 2015 from its limited partners including Google, HP, Foxconn, Redpoint Ventures, Seagate Technology and Tencent, among others.[3][4] This was followed by $500 million raised during Fund II in 2016.[10][7]
In June 2015, Playground Global was part of a $20.5 million series A funding round for Nervana Systems, an AI software company acquired by Intel in 2016.[11] In 2017, Playground Global backed Owl Labs, a conferencing devices company, with $1.3 million in seed money.[12][13] In December 2017, Playground Global led a seed round of $5.7 million for FarmWise to commercialize its automated weeding robot and to continue building autonomous systems which can harvest food for farmers.[14][15] Playground's Bruce Leak also joined their board of directors.[16] In March 2018, Playground Global led a $35 million funding round for Relativity Space, a startup that develops small launch vehicles with the use of 3-D printing technologies. Playground's Jory Bell joined Relativity's board.[17] In November 2018, Playground Global led a $30 million Series B Funding round for RapidSOS, an emergency response data provider.[18]