Android co-founder Rich Miner may be moving on from his mobile responsibilities to start something else new at Google (NSDQ: GOOG)—the company’s first investment arm. Reuters spotted a nametag at a Silicon Valley event for startups. The tag had his name on it and his affiliation was “Google Ventures.” A company spokesperson told Reuters that Google Ventures is “a project we’re working on. But we’re not able to discuss details right now.”

We had heard a similar rumor at mocoNews that Miner may be doing such a thing. Prior to working at Google, he held roles at Orange, including a stint as consulting partner at Orange Ventures, where he saw first-hand the struggles mobile entrepreneurs have in getting their products to market. Miner joined Google in 2005 after it acquired Android, the company he’d founded with Andy Rubin. Of course, in-house venture capital funds typically are designed to make strategic investments that may feed the company new ideas. Perhaps, Google is looking for the next big thing in mobile?