Google Glass hasn’t even hit stores yet, and already top venture capitalists are ready to fund the people developing cool uses for it.
Google debuted Google Glasses to developers back in June 2012 at its Google I/O conference, and companies have already started thinking about how they could build a more connected internet of things and roll out specific apps for the technology. And on Wednesday, some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors declared their financial support.
Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins announced Wednesday that they’re together launching The Glass Collective, an effort to provide seed funding for people who are developing interesting uses for the technology.
Maris explained in a blog post why the investors think it’s important to support the idea:
“So what will the future be with Glass? Well, the truth is, no one can honestly predict where this new technology will take us. Not yet. And that’s exactly what’s exciting. We do know that smart entrepreneurs and engineers are going to develop amazing experiences through Glass. Glass will evolve quickly, just as the cell phone grew from this to this.”
However, with Google Glass not even in stores, it’s hard to imagine how normal people would use the technology every day, let alone what types of companies might emerge from a Glass-like ecosystem or how venture capitalists could profit from those companies. It’s a long-term bet on a very uncertain product, but if Glass does take off, it could be a profitable one, similar to Kleiner Perkin’s early investment in people building for the iPhone that was called the iFund.
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