Google has many fingers in many different pies these days. As well as the general and main Search service, they also invest in hardware (like the Nexus range) software (simply too many to name but you know the Google suite of software on offer) and other bits and pieces. In fact, the company even has an arm specifically for capital ventures and appropriately dubbed Google Ventures. In the past, this arm has specifically focused on innovation and new service like Uber. However, the most recent reports are starting to suggest that Google’s direction (and therefore investments) are shifting.
In particular, it seems Google Ventures are becoming much more interested in the Health and Life science sector with the latest reports showing Google had invested 36% of their yearly investment funds into Health and Life Science start-ups. This is quite an increase compared to the declining (in google’s eyes) Enterprise and Data sector which only managed to secure 24% of the same funding, Likewise, Consumer startups only managed to secure 8% of the funding. To put this shift of focus into perspective, in both the last two years Google Ventures only invested 9% of available funds into the Health and Life Science market. As such the current figures suggest the funding has increased four times. You can see the full breakdown of this year’s Google Ventures investment split in the image below.
This jump might seem strange when you consider how successful Enterprise startups have been over recent years. However Head of Google Ventures, Bill Maris summed up how Google views the current situation in a conversation with the Wall Street Journal (source link below) “If you are at the buffet and everyone is picking the entree, try the dessert”. In terms of the actual numbers, Maris suggested this could be much more in the years to come “36% of our dollars invested doesn’t seem like a huge number. I feel like we could probably do more”. So if you are interested in Google’s future direction or planning on securing some of that lucrative Google funding and backing then you might want to start thinking about the Health and Life sciences sector. It seems Google are.
