The Next Web

Google to start investing in startups

Written on July 31, 2008 – 2:36 pm
Joop Dorresteijn, Contributing editor

David Drummond
by darthdowney (CC)

Google is ready to launch a venture capital arm, opening up the possibility to invest in startups, rather then just buy them. Senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond will lead the new investment part of Google.

“The move would make Google the latest technology giant to take on a more-formal role in seeding start-ups. Intel Corp. has had a large venture-capital arm for years, as have Motorola Inc., Comcast Corp. and many others. In the consumer-Internet area, Walt Disney Co.’s Steamboat Ventures has invested in a number of Web start-ups. So has Amazon.com Inc., which has funded a number of young companies without structuring a formal fund.” (wall street Journal)

With the formal venture capital arm, Google would start to compete with established VCs, the brand and the resources could make the investment arm an attractive choice for startups. The official blog of Google made no mention of the plans yet.

Investments are nothing new for the search and advertising company, as they launched Gadget Ventures in June 2007, and invested in Indian VCs before. Also, Google has made more strategic investments over the years, including investments in WiMax and Global challenges. Google also launched a number of informal funding programs, including contests for software developers.

The new funding venture coul help Google to formalize the investments efforts, and get the company closer to more software created by small businesses, a way to gain experience in new product areas and markets.

I hope you like that post!

The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our 'About' page and subscribe to our RSS feed.

Do you have a start-up that we should write about? Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!

google, investments, vc capital

1 Comment »

Zen and the art of ‘capturing mass audiences’

Written on March 24, 2008 – 12:15 pm
Reinout te Brake, online gaming expert

The last few days I had some time and look around over the Internet. As you know, there is a lot of news about companies like Facebook.com and Google. Their success is the motor of a whole industry, they are the fuel for lots of new business ventures. In loads of business-plans you will see entrepreneurs compare their ideas against that of these companies. It is very difficult to create and come up with something unique, I grant you that, but what is it that these companies mentioned above have in common? The answer is; simplicity! Already I hear loads of people wonder if I lost it, but let me assure you, I didn’t.

It’s so simple During the last years I have come in contact with many VC-companies and they all are looking for companies that look like Bebo.com, Facebook, Google and MySpace. The “why” is simple too, these companies re-present high valuations today and therefore the investors who backed these companies made a great “return of investment”. These VC companies contact me if I know entrepreneurs with similar good ideas. In most cases I do send them info about young companies that look for funding. And then it starts; benchmarking! The business plans are going to be compared to the successful companies of today. After a while I have come to believe that VC-companies want something they can understand and compare, they want it too; simplicity! (more…)