Google Does Bioinformatics Venture Deal
This should be controversial: Google announced in a filing at the close today that it has invested $3.9-million into a bioinformatics startup called 23andMe. The company's co-founder is Ann Wojcicki, Google co-founder Sergey Brin's new spouse. According to the filing, Ann's company helps consumers understand and browse their genome.The deal is interesting for (at least) two reasons, not counting the spousal connection. First, bioinformatics had largely fallen out of favor, at least until recently; and second, Google hasn't to my knowledge, done much venture investing, so it's interesting that this is the area (and the sure-to-be-controversial company) Google has selected.
As a related aside, Mohr Davidow, Genentech, and NEA are also in the deal.
[via Dan Primack]
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