NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Google (GOOG)'s VC investment arm is doubling down on life science and health service startups. This means everything from digitizing primary care (One Medical) to cloud-based genome data (DNA Nexus). It's the first year that the majority of the fund's investment dollars have been in this sector (36%), followed by mobile (27%) and consumer startups (8%, down from 66% in 2013).

"It's not surprising at all to me that we, as investors, are interested in [the space]," said Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures. "36% of our dollars invested doesn't seem like a huge number. I feel like we could probably do more."

It is, however, a significant increase.

In both 2012 and 2013, funding for life sciences and health startups made up just 9% of their total.

Google Ventures' portfolio includes companies like Nest (since acquired by Google), Blue Bottle Coffee Co., DocuSign, and, of course, infamous transportation disruptor Uber.

Related: Google searching for cancer cure

Overall VC funding mirrors this trend. According to data from PrivCo, funding to health care and life sciences startups jumped by nearly $8 billion from 2013 to 2014, capturing $20.7 billion. It's followed by commerce ($18.7 billion) and mobile ($13.9 billion).

According to Maris, his firm placed a "concerted effort" on funding fledgling startups in the life sciences. ("If we don't, who's going to?" he said.)

Maris -- who helped bring on genetics expert Andrew Conrad to head up Google X's Life Sciences team -- recalls getting criticized for their focus early on.

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Google Ventures: less Ubers, more health care - Dec. 16, 2014