Silver Lake leads $1B investment in Verily to boost life sciences growth

Verily, the life‑science arm of Alphabet, had raised $800 million from Temasek in January 2017 and was advancing projects in diabetes management, smart contact lenses, and disease detection. Despite promising work, the company faced the capital‑intensive nature of long‑term R&D and regulatory approvals, creating a need for additional funding to scale its initiatives.

In January 2019, Silver Lake Partners led a $1 billion investment round, joined by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and other global investors. The financing added two new board members—Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat and Silver Lake managing partner Egon Durban—and was earmarked for strategic partnerships, global business development and potential acquisitions. The round brought Verily’s total raised to $1.8 billion, enabling the Onduo joint venture with Sanofi, the Dexcom collaboration on glucose monitoring, and continued research in vision, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.

$1B investment raised Verily’s funding to $1.8B, backed partnerships, expanded development in diabetes, vision and neurology positioned Verily for future acquisitions.

Verily’s pipeline in chronic disease management showed strong market potential but required substantial upfront investment.

Life‑science R&D cycles are long and capital‑intensive, making patient capital from private equity a strategic fit.

Silver Lake’s expertise in scaling technology‑driven companies aligned with Verily’s need for operational and commercial expertise.

The investment aligned with broader trends of digital health and data‑driven medicine attracting long‑term institutional capital.

Large‑scale private‑equity bets can accelerate innovation in regulated life‑science sectors by providing patient capital for long‑term R&D and strategic alliances.

After the $1 billion round, Verily continued to develop its diabetes platform Onduo and expanded its collaboration with Dexcom on wearable glucose monitors. The smart contact lens project was halted in late 2018 due to difficulty obtaining reliable tear‑based glucose readings, a setback noted in the funding announcement. Verily also pursued research in neurodegeneration and vision, while exploring acquisition opportunities to broaden its health‑technology portfolio.