Area 120

What is Area 120?

Area 120 is Google's in-house incubator dedicated to cultivating entrepreneurial spirit and fostering the development of innovative projects. As an investment fund, Area 120 focuses on nurturing projects within the range of Education, Business Solutions, Entertainment (& Sports), IoT (& Wearables), and Gaming (& eSports).

The fund is known for supporting ventures with investments that span from a minimum of $10,000 to a maximum of $50,000, with a sweet spot of about $25,000 for early-stage companies, particularly in the Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A funding stages. Area 120 operates by engaging Googlers from across the company, encouraging them to pursue 20% projects with 100% of their time, a philosophy that resonates with Google's history of fostering innovation through employee-driven ventures.

Area 120's portfolio showcases a plethora of new products, experiences, and services such as Aloud, which simplifies dubbing for content creators; Checks, offering developers insights for app privacy issues; and Qaya, which enables creators to build personalized storefronts.

Furthermore, the incubator has had success stories with their alumni, including Tables, which joined Google Cloud; Chatbase, integrating with Google Cloud after analyzing past conversation data to enhance customer support with AI-powered virtual agents; and Kormo, an app-based job marketplace for emerging markets that has joined Google's Next Billion Users initiative.

Emphasizing teamwork and real-world application, Area 120 provides a unique environment that leverages Google's resources to empower innovative ideas and transform curiosity into creation.