Alphabet life sciences company raises $1 billion
Written by Hannah McGrath
04/01/2019
Verily, a life sciences division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has raised $1 billion in its latest funding round.
Reuters news reported that the company, formerly called Google Life Sciences, has raised the money in an investment round led by Silver Lake, a private equity firm specialising in technology investment.
Verily leads global research and development projects into technologies that collect and organize health data, as well as devices and solutions with a range of medical, clinical and care applications.
Its website states: “Verily lives at the intersection of technology, data science and healthcare. Our mission is to make the world's health data useful so that people enjoy healthier lives.
“Verily is developing tools to collect and organize health data, then creating interventions and platforms that put insights derived from that health data to use for more holistic care management.”
The company, which grew out of Google’s research and development unit, received an $800 million investment from Temasek, a Singapore state investor, in 2017.
The company has partnered with pharmaceuticals companies such as GSK on research projects such as surgical robots , bioelectronic medicines for chronic disease treatment, retina scan technology and smart contact lens programmes which can help to correct visual impairments after cataract surgery.
