Google Ventures is just a VC fund. And they are funding businesses that are largely agreed to be legit enterprises.<p>The two examples in the article:<p>Foundation Medicine: sequences tumor cells to use for directing cancer treatment. There have been some high profile cases from academic research centers where this has saved lives. Roche purchased over 50% of the company last year.<p>Editas: Everyone in biology has heard of CRISPR. The company was founded by Zhang and Doudna, although it is now primarily a Broad company (meaning Zhang). It is led by Bosley who previously led Avila to being acquired by Celgene.<p>The notion that these investments are not doing &quot;actual medical research&quot; is ridiculous.