Big business is feeling the wrath of a new breed of anti-capitalist this week. The square mile has battened down the hatches as the strong wave of corporate-bashing protestors express their anger at everything from the recession to climate change.
Whether or not university professor Chris Knight’s prediction of bankers hanging from lampposts comes true, there’s no denying the G20 protestors are making their mark. Take the announcement that Google has launched its own venture capitalist arm for example. The story was pretty much lost amid the G20 furore.
If you haven’t heard about it yet, here’s the gist:
Google Ventures is looking for the next big thing start-ups in industries including, consumer internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech and health care. Depending on the stage of the company and the scale of the opportunity, investments will range from relatively low seed funding to “tens of millions of dollars”. The Wall Street Journal reported that the overall fund could see as much as $100m invested over the coming year.
Google denies this is merely a vehicle for easier acquisitions and insists the focus of the initiative is to build great companies. Whatever the motives behind it, the announcement has been greeted positively by representatives from the world of UK venture capitalism.
Richard Anton, a partner at UK-based venture capitalist Amadeus, told the BBC: “Entrepreneurism is the antithesis of monopoly. It is a case of a thousand flowers blooming. It is a good time to be investing and a good time to build companies.”
Anton said the move was a very smart one on Google’s part, but he hoped a strong focus was placed on European companies as well as those across the pond.
With VC investment plummeting worldwide, perhaps Google’s own fund will provide some much needed encouragement for the sector. We'll certainly be keeping a close eye on it from here.