In a Friday announcement, which marks one of the surprisingly rare departures by a long-time Googler, Internet search giant Google revealed that Dave Girouard – the VP of Google apps – has decided to leave the company and start a new business.

Announcing the executive’s departure, Google said in an e-mailed statement that Girouard – who was shouldering the responsibility of products like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and other cloud applications – was leaving the company “to found an entrepreneurial venture unrelated to his work at Google.”

Google also revealed that the key investors in the startup which Girouard – who has had an eight-year stint at Google - will be founding will include Google Ventures, as well as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and New Enterprise Associates.

Though it is a very rare incidence at Google that one of its long-time employees decided to depart from the company, Girouard’s departure will mark the second move of its kind within nearly a month; with Google's first employee - Craig Silverstein – having already left the company last month to join Khan Academy.

Meanwhile, the responsibilities handled by Girouard will be taken on by Sundar Pichai, the chief of the Chrome and apps unit at Google. Pichai is one of Google CEO Larry Page's septumvirate of product heads, who were assigned their new roles by Page when he took over the reins of the company last April.