March 31, 2009 by James Oliver
Google have started a new initiative to help them maintain their position at the top of the technology tree. It’s called Google Ventures and its remit is to make initial investments in ‘exceptional start-ups’. The areas covered will include software, clean tech, consumer Internet, bio tech and health-care, though Google does not want to be limited to these areas only, the whole point of the programme being to exploit the new areas that may not even have names yet.
The search engine giant has yet to disclose exactly how much money it will be making available for investments though the Wall Street Journal feels confident enough to predict that the number will be around the $100m dollar mark, a sizable investment in anybody’s book.
Google Ventures is being taken by the industry as a tacit admission from Google that they have now grown to a size that means innovation is harder than it has been, and makes them (as an institution) less aware of the absolute cutting-edge of technology. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea and may allow Google to get in on the next game changing idea on the ground floor rather than buying it two years down the line.
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