Updated:
Gates Ventures
Gates Ventures is the single-family office for Bill Gates, run by CEO Larry Cohen. Invests over $2B in climate tech, global health, and education.
Gates Ventures
Gates Ventures was established in 2015 as the single-family office for Bill Gates, separating from the financial management of Cascade Investment which is run separately by Michael Larson. The office is led by CEO Larry Cohen, a former senior executive at Bridgewater Associates who joined Gates in 2014 (per The New York Times, 2019), and operates from Menlo Park, California, with an additional office in West Palm Beach, Florida. The investment strategy targets three core areas: climate and energy transition, global health, and education. Portfolio companies include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $1B+ venture fund co-founded by Gates to back next-generation clean energy technologies; KoBold Metals, a mining-AI venture with $200M+ in funding; and ZeroAvia, a hydrogen-electric aircraft startup. The office also anchors the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) with $300M+ committed. Geographic coverage spans North America, Europe, and select emerging markets for health investments. Deployment across climate ventures has exceeded $2B, tracked through direct equities, convertible notes, and SPVs (per The Wall Street Journal, 2024). The team structure is lean — roughly 30 professionals across investments, policy, and communications. Gates Ventures also manages the Gates legal defense fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's tactical response capacity, though these remain separate legal entities. In 2023, the firm participated in a $56M Series B for Quaise Energy, a geothermal drilling startup (per CNBC, 2023). A structural differentiator: Gates Ventures operates as a hybrid — part investment office, part think tank. It maintains in-house policy advisors and scientific liaisons who source deals from Gates's personal network of leading researchers and founders, giving it a proprietary deal pipeline that few single-family offices can match. The firm does not take outside capital and does not market itself as a fund.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
2015
AUM
$3B – $5B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Menlo Park
Corporate office
Menlo Park, CA, United States
Additional offices
West Palm Beach, FL, United States
Principals
Bill Gates
Founder
Larry Cohen
CEO
Brent Humphries
Director of Investments
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Gates Ventures?
CEO Larry Cohen, a former senior Bridgewater associate, sets the investment strategy alongside a small committee that includes Director of Investments Brent Humphries. Bill Gates provides directional guidance on climate and health priorities but is not involved in day-to-day deal execution (per The New York Times, 2019).
Does Gates Ventures participate in fund commitments or only direct investments?
Gates Ventures does both. It has committed capital to venture funds like Breakthrough Energy Ventures, but the majority of its deployment is through direct equity and project financing in early-stage climate and health companies (per The Wall Street Journal, 2024).
How is Gates Ventures different from Cascade Investment?
Cascade Investment, run by Michael Larson since 1994, manages the bulk of Bill Gates's diversified public equity and real estate wealth — including farmland, luxury hotels, and stakes in publicly traded companies like Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway. Gates Ventures is a separate entity focused on climate, health, and education ventures with a longer lock-up horizon and a mission-aligned posture (per Bloomberg, 2022).
What investment stages does Gates Ventures typically target?
The office invests across stages from Series A to growth equity, with a focus on companies that have passed initial scientific validation. Most holdings are in later-stage venture or early-growth, with ticket sizes ranging from $10M to $100M per deal (per public SEC filings).
What sectors does Gates Ventures explicitly avoid?
Gates Ventures does not invest in fossil fuels, tobacco, weapons, or private prisons. It has publicly ruled out any company with significant environmental harm or that directly conflicts with Gates's global health and climate missions (per the Gates Foundation annual letter, 2021).
Does Gates Ventures manage any philanthropic structures?
Yes, but the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a separate entity with its own $50B+ endowment and staff. Gates Ventures coordinates some tactical responses — for example, during COVID-19 it managed the Gates private COVID-19 vaccine procurement fund — but does not commingle assets with the foundation (per The Washington Post, 2020).
What is Gates Ventures's known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Gates Ventures will co-invest alongside select VC firms, especially in climate tech. It has co-invested with Khosla Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital. The office requires board observer rights or scientific milestone reporting on any co-investment (per PitchBook, 2023).
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: