Google Ventures Has Big Plans For Start-Up University

The firm, which calls itself "the most operational VC firm in Silicon Valley," is backing research companies at a faster clip than rival firms–making two investments per week, on average–and is looking to engage with company founders on a level in other words probably unknown outside of the Googleplex in Mountain View.

Not only will the new building feature a theater-style lecture hall where more than 100 people can gather to hear advice from the valley's top business leaders, the new, 20,000-square-foot space will feature a dedicated "user-experience laboratory," where entrepreneurs and investors can watch from another room as volunteers to tell the truth use technologies in accordance with development.

While the firm only publicizes a fraction of the deals it makes, Google Ventures has bets in life sciences, mobile innovation, cloud-computing and big data, all areas that have the potential to shake up the status quo. The firm-which reports to the top brass at Google-has about $200 million per year to invest.

And Start-Up University-which offers workshops, lectures, networking, office space and the first-ever user-experience laboratory-will be the place where many of these bets go from obscurity to being household names, Google Ventures says.