CNBC – Google’s Venture fund is planning to invest $1 billion in a wide-range of start-ups over the next five years. While Google Ventures, which is currently invested in over 100 companies, is invested in some social media companies, William Maris, Google Ventures managing partner, said the fund seeks entrepreneurs that “have a healthy disregard for the impossible” with forward-thinking ideas, especially in biotech. Google Ventures has over 50 people on their team to mentor and guide the startups.
Maris said some of the areas he is interested in include businesses that are focused on radical life extension, cryogenics, organ replacement and nanotechnology.
One biotech company Google Ventures is invested in is Foundation Medicine, a molecular information company that is focused on personalized cancer diagnosis so that patients can receive personalized cancer treatments.
“Part of my job is to discern the fine line between crazy and genius,” Maris said. “We’re looking for entrepreneurs that want to change the world for the better and that’s important. So I do think our values are a little bit different than the typical sort of venture capitalist you might meet.”
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Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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