About

Schmidt Futures’ mission is to bet early on exceptional people making the world better. 

Co-founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in 2017, Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that creates public value from private philanthropy through risk transfer—making bets on talent that others, such as government or business, can follow to scale up efforts that make the world better.

Schmidt Futures seeks to be a funder of first opportunity rather than a lender of last resort. We use a broad set of tools—including gifts, grants, investments, and startup activity—through various vehicles for charitable, educational, and commercial efforts with a public purpose.