Google, which has invested in many startups over the years, just announced the launch of Google Ventures, its new venture capital fund.
Google Ventures is expected to invest up to $100 million over the next 12 months. It will be overseen by David Drummond, who will continue in his role as senior vice president of corporate developing and chief legal officer at Google. Investments will be vetted by William Maris, who joined Google about a year ago, and Rich Miner, a co-founder of Android, a mobile software startup that Google acquired in 2005.
At its core, Google Ventures is charged with finding and helping to develop exceptional start-ups, focusing on early stage investments across a diverse range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care, as well as other areas.
Google says it will mainly be tapping into the connections of its employees and its ties to the venture capital world to find promising startups.
Google Ventures has already made two investments: Silver Spring Networks, a company that makes technology to help manage electric grids, and Pixazza, which links online images with related products that can be purchased.
On another note, executives from Google have been travelling around the Arab region these past days, meeting with government officials, people from development programs and entrepreneurs in a set of private networking events.