- Google looks to be moving in on the metaverse and Web3, under its future-focused Labs division.
- The secretive 700-person unit is focused on big bets like augmented reality and blockchain.
- An internal org chart seen by Insider reveals the players leading Google’s new group.
Web3 and the metaverse are the latest buzzwords in tech, but Google’s interest in these domains has been difficult to read. The company has had a string of disappointments in virtual reality and social networking, while Web3’s decentralized approach appears at odds with Google’s centralized services.
Recently, though, the company has started showing signs of movement in these burgeoning areas. Late last year, the internet giant reorganized several teams under a new unit called Google Labs. (Not to be confused with a previous project with the same name).
The new incarnation of Labs is focused on technology that company leaders believe will define the future, such as augmented reality and the blockchain. Project Iris, Google’s AR headset, is being worked on inside Labs, The Verge recently reported.
Google is tapping a deep bench of talent for Labs, with a headcount of around 700 employees and some notable industry veterans, according to internal data seen by Insider.
The division is led by Clay Bavor, a Google veteran who spearheaded the company’s prior (and largely unsuccessful) efforts in VR and AR. Notably, Clay now reports directly to CEO Sundar Pichai in his new role, a sign of how important this new group is.
Although Google hasn’t said so directly, Labs appears to be an assortment of projects related to Web3 and the metaverse. Asked about Web3 on the company’s recent quarterly earnings call, Pichai said Google was “looking at” the blockchain, and said Web3 was “something we want to support the best we can.”
Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator, has also been rehomed in Labs. The group now sits alongside other long-term bets, which could create better collaboration between the teams.
Insider has seen internal org charts that lay out the who’s who of Google’s new group and their respective roles.
Clay Bavor – VP, Labs
Today, Clay Bavor oversees some of Google’s buzziest, most headline-grabbing technologies, but when he joined the company back in 2005 he started out in the much less exciting, though far more critical, ads unit. Those years gave Bavor a deeper understanding of Google’s primary business. He was later appointed to spearhead the company’s efforts in VR and AR, and in 2014 launched the company’s ‘Cardboard’ VR viewer. Bavor scaled up Google’s VR ambitions, but the company’s enthusiasm for the category slowly waned. Now, he’s leading a renewed effort in AR, among other projects, under Google Labs.
Shivakumar Venkataraman – VP, General Manager at Labs
With almost two decades of Google service under his belt, Venkataraman has spent much of his time at the tech giant working on its main Search advertising business. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that he would be overseeing a new unit within Labs focused on blockchain and “other next-gen distributed computing and data storage technologies.”
Bradley Horowitz – Advisor
S3studio/Getty Images
A Google veteran of more than a decade, Horowitz previously worked as a vice president of “advanced development” at Yahoo, before being snapped up by Google in 2008. He has led teams that produced Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and
Google Voice
. One of his most recent accomplishments was overseeing the development of Google Photos, a big hit with users.
Mark Lucovsky – Senior director of engineering, operating systems, AR
The man who survived Steve Ballmer’s flying chair is now back at Google. After his first stint at the search giant over a decade ago, Lucovsky left for a series of other roles, including, most recently, building a new operating system for Meta’s AR and VR devices. Lucovsky left Meta following the company’s recent controversies, and is now building an operating system for Google’s own AR platform. Oh, and he’s hiring.
Cindy Marin – Executive business partner
Cindy Marin has been Clay Bavor’s executive business partner since 2017. According to her Linkedin profile, you can often find Marin “unraveling complexities, creating and updating an efficient process, or juggling the competing demands of my executive’s time.”
Kurt Akeley – Distinguished engineer
A former assistant professor at Stanford University, Akeley cut his teeth at tech giants like Nvidia and Microsoft before joining VR camera startup Lytro as CTO in 2010. After Google acquired the company eight years later, Akelely joined and was appointed a distinguished engineer.
Matthew Firestone – Director, product management
Educated at Harvard and Cambridge, Firestone spent 5 years writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet, offering insights into the best tourist spots in the likes of Panama and Egypt. He joined Google as a communications manager in 2011. Over the following decade, Firestone worked his way up through the ranks to become a marketing director at the company’s health division. After that unit was wound down last year, he was appointed a director of product management within Labs.
Scott Huffman – VP, Engineering
Picture Alliance/Getty Images
Scott Huffman is considered the father of the voice-powered
Google Assistant
, one of the company’s most successful products of recent years. Last year, Insider reported that Huffman was leaving the Search organization as part of a reshuffle. He’s since landed at Google Labs, where he’s working on Iris.
Paul Greco – VP, hardware engineering
Paul Greco is the former CTO of AR startup Magic Leap. He left last year after tensions with CEO Peggy Johnson, Insider previously reported. He’s since joined Google, where he’s now working on Starline, a videoconferencing technology that can produce photo-realistic 3D human models.
Elias Roman – Managing Partner, Area 120
Roman was co-founder and CEO of music
streaming
service Songza for about 7 years until Google acquired the startup in 2014. He’s now helping to hatch other new businesses at Area 120, Google’s in-house incubator. Area 120 gave birth to Google Cardboard, an early VR headset, so the group’s new home inside Google Labs makes a decent amount of sense.
Stephen Lake – AR devices
Eóin Noonan/Getty Images
Things were looking bad for Stephen Lake’s AR startup, North, back in 2020. Then Google bought it. The team joined Google’s devices and services group, but Lake is now working under Google Labs, according to internal org charts seen by Insider. (It could not be learned if Lake is also still reporting into Google’s devices and services group). While North struggled to sell its AR headset, the startup was praised for cramming its tech into what looked like an ordinary pair of glasses.
Steve Seitz – Director, teleportation
Seitz is one of the leads on Project Starline, overseeing a team of around 75 people. He’s also a professor at the University of Washington, where he co-leads the UW Reality Lab and has published a body of research on image-based rendering and computer vision. At Google, he previously worked on Google Photos, Maps, and VR projects including Google’s now-defunct VR video rig.
Eddie Chung – Senior Director, product management
Chung is working on Iris, Google’s AR headset. He previously worked on Google Lens, and internal data seen by Insider suggests Chung’s work in AR will be focused heavily on the software and platform side.
Sophie Miller – Director, strategy and operations
Sophie Miller started out at Google X, its moonshots incubator. Since 2016, she’s been focused on operations and strategic partnerships for AR products. She’s continuing that role, now within Labs.
Andrew Nartker – Director, product management
Andrew Nartker has a long history of work in alternate realities at Google. He co-founded the teams responsible for Google’s Cardboard and Daydream VR headsets. He’s now a lead on Starline.
Are you a current or former Google employee with more to share? Got a tip? Contact reporter Hugh Langley via encrypted email (hlangley@protonmail.com) or encrypted messaging apps Signal/Telegram at +1 628-228-1836.
Contact reporter Martin Coulter via email at mcoulter@insider.com, or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +447801985586.
