Bill Gates, the world’s richest man and unparallelled philanthropist, has decided to join in with others in a $35 million round of funding for the Berlin-based startup ResearchGate according to Ari Levy of Bloomberg News. ResearchGate was founded in 2008 and its network now connects over 3 million scientists worldwide.
Bill Gates joins Tenaya Capital
Gates joins Tenaya Capital in the lead for this round, a round that also includes Thrive Capital, Benchmark, Founders Fund, and Dragoneer Investment Group LLC.
Bill Gates Given Away Nearly $30 billion of his fortune
While Gates has given away nearly $30 billion of his fortune, with the bulk of it going to his foundation that was founded by he and his wife Melinda, he continues to look for for-profit investments that look to better the world. That is precisely the idea behind ResearchGate which looks to connect scientists and their research with one another while also making money. Presently ResearchGate has over 100 employees concentrating on providing a space for its members to publish studies, work collaboratively and recruit talent. According to a statement from the company, this new round of funding will be used to provide a market for used scientific equipment as well as bolstering its sales force.
The last round of funding came in February of 2012, and was led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.
“I was always dreaming of a potential investment from him because I admire what he has done, what he has built and switching his attention to eradicating disease,” said ResearchGate Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ijad Madisch in an interview after recently meeting Gates in Paris. “What he’s trying to do is perfectly aligned with what we’re doing.”
While the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does great work out of the mogul’s pocket, this investment is designed to further its work using a private entity. When contacted by Bloomberg, Gates was unavailable for comment. Additionally, as a private company no word has been given as to how much funding ResearchGate has received since its inception five years ago.
