Google has made its Life Sciences health technology firm the first new company created under the Alphabet umbrella, at the web giant looks to make a clear distinction between its core ad business and its more speculative technology ventures.
Currently, Life Sciences group develops next-generation health products in the nanodiagnostics space such as glucose-reading smart contact lenses.
The move was announced by Google co-founder and Alphabet president Sergey Brin published a blog post this week.
Google X — the research unit behind projects like self-driven cars, delivery drones and Internet balloons — will spin off the life sciences group into a standalone company within Alphabet.
CEO Andy Conrad, who has been the head of this business since 2013, will continue to lead Life Scinces.
Though complete details about the companies under Alphabet are not available yet, as of now it includes Life Sciences (contact lenses to test diabetes from tear drops, etc.), thermostat maker Nest (smart thermostats and related products) and age longevity company, Calico. Alphabet management will also be responsible for Google Fiber (for high speed Internet access), robots and Google Capital and Google Ventures (investments in startups).
“They’ll continue to work with other life sciences companies to move new technologies from early stage R&D to clinical testing — and, hopefully — transform the way we detect, prevent, and manage disease,” wrote Brin. “The team is relatively new but very diverse, including software engineers, oncologists, and optics experts. This is the type of company we hope will thrive as part of Alphabet and I can’t wait to see what they do next.”
View this Wall Street Journal interview with Andy Conrad here: