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Google Gadget Goldrush
By Mark Evans | June 28, 2007
If you’re a gadget developer or a gadget-related business, it’s your lucky day. Using some of its billions and billions of dollars cash sitting on the balance sheet, Google has launched Google Gadget Ventures to provide grants and seed money.
There are two options: you can apply for a $5,000 grant for further development provided you have more than 250,000 pageviews/week. The second program is $100,000 seed investments that will start as a Google Gadget (I guess that’s a trademark now!) to be a major part of a Google Gadget. To get the seed money, you need to have received the $5,000 grant.
Couple of thoughts: obviously we’re living in a gadget/widget world where customization and personalized will run rampant to give every Web user a different view of the world. Second, it’s nice to see Google find new ways to spend its money. When you’re making billions of AdSense dollars, it’s gotta be tough to find ways to do something with it other than letting it collect dust in the Google Vault. Of course Sergey Brin and Larry Page could ask Bill Gates about how to sit on billions of dollars for years!
Topics: Google, Venture Capital |