Google is planning to launch a venture capital arm, the Wall Street Journal reports, and has hired an entrepreneur who's also been an investor to head the project. Other tech firms, including Intel, Motorola, and Comcast, already have VC units. Just how big a commitment Google will make and what type of businesses it will back haven’t been revealed.
VC investment is down slightly in the first half of 2008 compared with a year ago, according to firms that track the business. (More Google stories.)