Google Ventures is just a VC fund. And they are funding businesses that are largely agreed to be legit enterprises. The two examples in the article: Foundatio

Google Ventures is just a VC fund. And they are funding businesses that are largely agreed to be legit enterprises. The two examples in the article: 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. 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. The notion that these investments are not doing "actual medical research" is ridiculous.