Google Ventures reportedly closed its European fund after multiple stalled deals

Earlier this week, Google Ventures announced it was closing down its dedicated European fund. It had been assigned $125 million to invest, but only lasted a year before Google HQ pulled the plug, rolling it into the global fund - recently rebranded and renamed GV.

Tom Hulme, one of the partners at Google Ventures Europe, said on Twitter that the decision "gives us more flexibility and dollars to invest in the best founders and companies, regardless of where they are based."

A new report in the Financial Times sheds more light on events behind the scenes that caused the European fund to close. It alleges hold-ups from California were to blame.

Bill Maris, who heads up GV globally, has the final say on all investments made by the funds. A source "close to the London partners" of GV told the FT that "six to nine months in, the team got frustrated ... they were seeing a lot of companies and ended up taking a lot of people quite close to the finish line, but ultimately they couldn't get over it."

So the partners were active, but couldn't get Maris to agree to the companies they found. Business Insider has reached out to Google about the report, and will update this story when the company responds.

Of the five partners who launched the European arm, only three remain on the continent. MG Siegler went back to the States, and Peter Read left GV altogether.

The investment firm uses an algorithm to help decide what to invest in, and sources have told Business Insider that partners were told to rely heavily on it.

In 14 months, the European firm made six investments, with another two on the way, according to the FT.