Google

Mountain View, Calif.-based Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has finally admitted there is validity to the long-standing rumors of a dedicated venture capital arm at the Internet giant.

Google has officially launched the VC fund, Google Ventures, with about $100 million to invest in technology startups in in software, cleantech, biotech, health care and the Web.

On a showroom floor in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat sits the prototype for a car made at a local production plant and expected to be commercially available early next year.

The non-air conditioned, four-seater model is expected to be priced at Rs. 85,000 to 1 lakh ($1,748 USD to $2,057 USD).

And it’s an electric car, one that’s said to run on either nickel-metal hydride or lithium-ion batteries.