The Google Ventures founder’s healthcare-focused venture fund — named after a Star Trek intelligence agency — that invested in TrialSpark’s Altman-led Series C, placing Alphabet/Google-adjacent capital inside the company that operated Project Covalence and became Formation Bio.
Bio
S32 (formerly Section 32) is a venture capital firm founded in 2017 by Bill Maris, the founder and former CEO of Google Ventures (GV, now Alphabet’s venture arm). The firm manages over $2 billion in assets and invests at the intersection of technology and healthcare — artificial intelligence, enterprise software, cybersecurity, fintech, computational biology, and biotechnology. The name was chosen as an homage to Section 31, the intelligence agency from the Star Trek universe. [1][2][3]
Maris founded GV in 2009 as Google’s first internal venture capital arm, growing it from zero to over $2 billion under management and leading investments in Uber, Nest, and Jet.com before departing in August 2016. He initially planned a $230 million fund for Section 32 but scaled back to $100 million as a solo GP, launching from San Diego rather than Silicon Valley. The firm subsequently grew significantly — closing a $740 million fund in November 2021 with a stated focus on healthcare technology. [2][3][4]
In February 2024, S32 appointed Andy Conrad as General Partner. Conrad was the founder and CEO of Verily Life Sciences at Alphabet (Google) — bringing a second generation of Google/Alphabet healthcare leadership into S32’s partnership. Other General Partners include Andy Harrison (CEO), Michael Pellini, MD, and Steve Kafka, PhD. [1][5]
S32’s portfolio explicitly includes TrialSpark alongside other healthcare companies including Verge Genomics, Vir Biotechnology, TwinStrand, and WithMe Health. [6]
Basic Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | S32 (formerly Section 32) |
| Founded | 2017 (initial $100M fund); concept started 2016 |
| Founder | Bill Maris (founder/former CEO of Google Ventures) |
| HQ | Palo Alto, California (Maris personally based in San Diego) |
| AUM | $2 billion+ |
| Key People | Bill Maris (Founder), Andy Harrison (CEO/GP), Andy Conrad (GP, former Verily/Alphabet CEO), Michael Pellini MD (GP), Steve Kafka PhD (GP) |
| Name Origin | Section 31, the intelligence agency from Star Trek |
| Website | s32.com |
| Focus | Technology + healthcare intersection; AI, biotech, computational biology, cybersecurity, fintech |
Key Personnel
| Person | S32 Role | Background | Network Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bill Maris | Founder | Founded Google Ventures (2009). Led GV investments in Uber, Nest, Jet.com. Left GV August 2016. | Google/Alphabet DNA in a healthcare VC. Maris’s GV was the first major corporate venture arm. |
| Andy Conrad | General Partner (Feb 2024) | Founded and led Verily Life Sciences at Alphabet/Google. CEO and Executive Chairman. | TWO former Google/Alphabet healthcare leaders in one fund. Conrad ran Google’s life sciences arm. |
| Andy Harrison | CEO and General Partner | Operational leadership. | |
| Michael Pellini, MD | General Partner | Medical background. | Healthcare expertise. |
| Steve Kafka, PhD | General Partner | Scientific background. | Research expertise. |
| Nina Labatt | COO and CFO | 20+ years VC experience. Former CFO/COO/GP at Trinity Ventures. | Joined at $740M fund close (Nov 2021). |
TrialSpark Investment
S32 invested in TrialSpark’s $156 million Series C (September 30, 2021) — the round co-led by Sam Altman and Lachy Groom. [6][7]
Other Series C investors: Thrive Capital (Kareem Zaki), Spark Capital (William Reed), Sound Ventures (Kutcher), Sequoia (Michael Moritz), John Doerr, Hyphen Capital, Felicis (Wesley Chan), Dragoneer, Casdin Capital, and ArrowMark Partners.
S32 is NOT listed in the Series D investor roster (a16z-led, June 2024). The firm appears to have participated in the Altman-led Series C only and did not follow on.
The $740M fund timing: S32’s $740 million fund closed in November 2021 — the same period as the TrialSpark Series C (September 30, 2021). The TrialSpark investment may have been one of the new fund’s early deployments.
Network Connections
| Connection | Nature | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Google / Alphabet | Maris founded GV. Conrad ran Verily (Alphabet’s life sciences). | Two generations of Google healthcare leadership in one fund, now invested in Altman-network pharma. |
| TrialSpark | Series C investor (Sep 2021, Altman-led round). | Google-adjacent capital inside Project Covalence company. |
| Verily Life Sciences | Conrad’s former company at Alphabet. | Verily collects health data, runs clinical studies, develops medical devices — direct overlap with Formation Bio’s clinical trial business model. |
| Life Sciences Focus | Initial fund was 50%+ life sciences. | S32 positioned as healthcare-specialist investor — not a generalist making a healthcare bet. |
Investigative Findings
Finding 1: The Google/Alphabet Healthcare Pipeline into Formation Bio
S32 places Google/Alphabet-adjacent capital and expertise inside the TrialSpark cap table. Maris built Google’s venture arm and invested in healthcare companies from within Alphabet’s ecosystem. Conrad ran Verily, Alphabet’s dedicated life sciences subsidiary that operates clinical studies, collects health data, and develops healthcare technology. [1][5]
When S32 invested in TrialSpark, it wasn’t just a financial transaction — it was Google/Alphabet healthcare expertise entering the orbit of Altman’s pharmaceutical network. The question is whether any operational knowledge, data relationships, or institutional connections from GV/Verily informed S32’s TrialSpark investment thesis or subsequent Formation Bio strategy.
Finding 2: The Star Trek Name
The fund is named after Section 31 from Star Trek — a covert intelligence agency that operates outside the Federation’s normal governance structures to protect its interests through methods the mainstream organization wouldn’t sanction. [2][3]
This is the name Maris chose for a healthcare venture fund. The cultural reference is to an organization that: operates in secret, considers itself above normal rules, and believes its mission justifies its methods. Whether this is nerdy whimsy or a revealing self-conception is for the reader to determine.
Finding 3: The Verily-Formation Bio Overlap
Verily Life Sciences (Conrad’s former company) and Formation Bio (TrialSpark’s successor) occupy overlapping territory: clinical trial technology, health data collection, AI-powered healthcare research. [5] If Conrad brought institutional knowledge from Verily’s operations into S32’s investment decisions — particularly regarding clinical trial infrastructure, patient data pipelines, or AI applications in drug development — that knowledge transfer from Alphabet’s resources to Altman’s pharmaceutical network is analytically significant.
Nodes / Open Questions
- Did S32 exit at the Series D or hold? S32 is not listed as a Series D investor. Did it sell its stake, hold steady, or was it diluted out? Who bought if it sold?
- Bill Maris and Sam Altman — direct relationship? Both are Silicon Valley healthcare-tech figures. Was the Series C investment sourced through the Altman network directly, or through S32’s independent deal flow?
- Verily and Formation Bio — any operational overlap? Verily runs clinical studies and collects health data. Formation Bio runs clinical trials and develops drugs. Are there shared vendors, data partners, clinical trial sites, or technology providers between the two?
- Google Ventures and the broader Alphabet portfolio: GV (which Maris founded) has invested in hundreds of companies. Are there portfolio overlaps between GV/Alphabet and the Altman network beyond the S32-TrialSpark connection?
- S32’s portfolio company Vir Biotechnology: Vir is an infectious disease company. The resTORbio/Project Covalence thread also involves infectious disease (COVID trials). Are there shared researchers, clinical trial sites, or institutional connections between Vir and the Covalence/resTORbio network?
Sources
- [Archive] Wikipedia — S32 (Section 32): Bill Maris founder, $2B+ AUM, Andy Conrad GP, portfolio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S32_(company)
- [Archive] TechCrunch — “Ex-GV CEO Bill Maris said to be launching health care investment fund, Section 32” — named after Star Trek (Dec 2016): https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/05/bill-maris/
- [Archive] Axios — “Google Ventures founder Bill Maris is back again” — $100M fund, life sciences focus (Mar 2017): https://www.axios.com/google-ventures-founder-bill-maris-is-back-again-2314340835.html
- [Archive] Fierce Biotech — “Section 32 closes $740M VC fund” — technology + healthcare intersection (Nov 2021): https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/section-32-closes-740m-vc-fund-to-back-startups-at-intersection-technology-and-healthcare
- [Archive] StartupIntros — Section 32 profile (Andy Conrad/Verily, investment model, AI/biotech): https://startupintros.com/orgs/section-32
- [Archive] White Rose Intelligence — Section 32 portfolio list including TrialSpark: https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/section-32/
- [Archive] Prior investigation sessions — S32 in TrialSpark Series C ($156M, Sep 2021, Altman-led). Confirmed from Crunchbase.
This analysis does not constitute evidence of illegal action. The opinions expressed here are the professional opinions and analytical conclusions of the author, a published corporate ethics researcher and analyst specializing in business leadership ethics, governance structures, and nonprofit compliance. Readers are encouraged to examine the primary sources cited above and draw their own conclusions.
A conflict does not become less important because it was routed through a quieter entity. It becomes more important to map.
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