Google’s former Andys—Conrad and Harrison—reunited at VC firm S32, talk AI

We’re talking because Conrad just joined Harrison at VC firm S32, but never fear, the two have faced this problem before. The Andys, as they kindly let me term them, know each other from Google, and they ask me to call them AH and AC. 

I start with Conrad, who’s known for starting Alphabet’s life sciences organization Verily. Why the job switch? Verily had grown “to the level where it needs a different type of intention than the entrepreneurial bent I sort of have…It was time for me to go back to my roots,” Conrad said.

It also didn’t hurt that Harrison, S32 CEO and general partner, and Conrad went way back. 

“Don, Andy’s brother, was a senior executive [at Google], so I met him,” Conrad explains. “Then I met Andy and realized he was the smartest of the Harrison brothers!” 

Conrad would go on to recruit Harrison to Verily, then Harrison recruited Conrad to S32 in 2024. (S32 was also founded by Bill Maris, who also launched Google’s GV.) The Andys’ Google backstory—and nope, they can’t talk about Google—means they’re operating with a distinct point-of-view on AI. 

Harrison describes AI as emerging in a four-phase process, starting with finding the best AI researchers and models, followed by a phase characterized by proofs of concept. We’re now, Harrison says, in the product phase, building out expertise, and solving for regulatory and customer concerns. Then, there’s the hoped-for next phase:

“We’re still in phase three,” said Harrison. “Our sincere hope is that phase four will be scale and impact, where stuff is understood. It’s viable. It has a strong ROI argument, and there will be massive scale and impact for the companies doing it correctly.”

An increasingly AI-ified world will still be very human, Harrison believes. 

“It’s a little bit paradoxical, but the path to getting AI to the scale phase is by bringing the right humans together to actually advance it,” he said. “You need the modelers, you need the business development people, you need the product people, and you need people who’ve been down the entrepreneurial road a few times before.”

S32’s portfolio already includes a number of AI-focused companies, including Cohere, Scale AI, Inworld AI, and Phaidra. 

“It’s a great time, if you have the right set of tools to get AI right,” said Conrad. “It’ll take a marriage of a little bit of wisdom and a little bit of humility—and a lot of technical know-how.”

Elsewhere…Lindsay LoBue, who worked at Goldman Sachs for over 20 years before joining Carlyle Group in October, will become the firm’s COO in July. LoBue is the fifth woman in Harvey Schwartz’s C-suite. Chris Finn, who has worked at Carlyle for 28 years, is retiring as COO. Fortune has the exclusive. –Luisa Beltran

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- Avenzo Therapeutics, a San Diego, Calif.-based biotech company developing oncology therapeutics, raised $150 million in a Series A extension. New Enterprise Associates, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Investments, and Sands Capital led the round and were joined by INCE Capital, TF Capital, Delos Capital, and Quan Capital. 

- Fieldguide, a San Francisco-based AI platform for advisory and audit services, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and was joined by 8VC and others.

- Gunzilla Games, a Frankfurt, Germany-based video game development studio, raised $30 million in funding. CoinFund and Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund led the round and were joined by Republic Capital, Morningstar Ventures, and others.

- PipeDreams, a San Francisco-based acquirer of and investor in local HVAC and plumbing businesses, raised $25.5 million in Series A funding. Canvas Ventures and Plural led the round and were joined by angel investors. 

- Fireworks AI, a Redwood City, Calif.-based platform designed to help developers build new AI solutions, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Benchmark led the round and was joined by Sequoia Capital and angel investors. 

- EVOLOH, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based manufacturer of electrolyzer stacks designed to make green hydrogen production cheaper, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Engine Ventures led the round and was joined by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources and 3M Ventures.

- ZayZoon, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based Earned Wage Access provider for small and mid-sized businesses, raised $15 million in a Series B extension. Viola Fintech and Inuit Ventures led the round and were joined by existing investors Framework Venture Partners and Export Development Canada.

- Picogrid, an El Segundo, Calif.-based platform designed to connect the control of remotely-controlled, sensors, drones, command interfaces, and other defense systems on one network, raised $12 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Starburst Ventures, Credo Ventures, Giant Step Capital, Domino Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.

- ALEX, a Panama City, Panama-based platform designed for building finance apps on bitcoin, raised $10 million in funding, Spartan Capital led the round and was joined by CMS Holdings, DACM, DWF Labs, Foresight Ventures, G-20 Group, and others.

- Bedrock Security, a San Francisco-based data security platform designed to automatically identify and protect enterprise’s most essential data, raised $10 million in seed funding from Greylock. 

- Nominal, a New York City-based developer of AI technology designed to modernize and automate enterprise accounting and financial management systems, raised $9.2 million in seed funding. Bling Capital and Hyperwise Ventures led the round and was joined by Vela Partners, Incubate Fund, and others.  

- Cloverleaf, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based coaching platform designed to automatically send tips to employees for ways to improve their performance, raised $7.3 million in a Series A extension. Advantage Capital led the round and was joined by Conductive Ventures, Origin Ventures, ScOp Venture Capital, JobsOhio, Cintrifuse Capital, and 1809 Capital.

- Chiyo, a Detroit, Mich.-based food platform that designs specific nutrition programs for pregnant women and new moms based on their stage and symptoms, raised $3 million in funding from Bread & Butter Ventures, Ingeborg, The Helm, Peterson Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Union Heritage Ventures, and Palette Ventures.

- OrdinalsBot, a London, U.K.-based company in the ordinals space building out the data layer of the BTC blockchain, raised $3 million in seed funding. DACM led the round and was joined by Eden Block, Nural, Kenetic Capital, Lightning Ventures, and others.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Marlin Equity Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in Treasury Intelligence Solutions, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of business-to-business payments, cash, and treasury management software. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Redwood Services, backed by Union Main, acquired a majority stake in Parks Heating Cooling Plumbing & Electrical, an Indian Trail, N.C.-based provider of heating, air conditioning, plumbing, sewer and drain, and electrical services. Financial terms were not disclosed.