Intel's VC Funding Continues (INTC, VMW, CLWR, LOGM, BIDU)

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is actively investing in new technology companies again.  Its venture unit is Intel Capital, and the unit just announced late-Tuesday a series of new fresh investments it has recently made.  The dollar amount might not sound like much for the processor giant with a market cap well above $100 billion.  What is impressive and what acts as a long-term call option premium is that some of these could ultimately end up being future focus areas of the company down the road.  Intel even noted, “To date, 28 Intel Capital portfolio companies have exited in 2010 either through an IPO or acquisition.”

Before dismissing these, consider some of Intel’s now-public investments.  VMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW), Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR), LogMeIn, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOGM), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), and many others.

The new investments came to $77 million and were placed globally in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan, and Ukraine; the United States was also in the funding mix.  The new investments were in Adaptivity, Althea Systems, Anobit, boo-box, De Novo, IPTEGO, Layar, Lilliputian Systems, Inc, Ortiva Wireless, Rock Flow Dynamics, Select-TV, SilkRoad, Taifatech, Videon Central, Verismo Networks, Winchannel, YuMe and Yummly.com.  It also highlighted follow-on investment in GainSpan, JackBe, Fonality, TecTotal and Wortal.  Below is a more brief synopsis of Intel’s investment activity companies:

• Adaptivity (Charlotte, N.C.) helps companies address the complexities associated with IT design and implementation via Blueprint 4IT Lifecycle Suite™ for intelligent IT design decisions.
• Althea Systems (Bangalore, India) is a cloud-based video discovery platform; it recently  launched a PC version of Shufflr, a social video browser, and aggregates video from several sources.  Coming soon to smartphones.
• Anobit (Herzeliya Pituach, Israel) offers solutions in NAND flash memory; patented MSP™ technology significantly improves the endurance and cost structure of NAND-based products and systems.
• boo-box (São Paulo, Brazil) is for advertising on social media in Brazil.
• De Novo (Kiev, Ukraine) is an enterprise-class data center provider offering high quality IT services to leading enterprises in the Ukraine.
• IPTEGO (Berlin): Next Generation Network optimization software via the PALLADION software suite with real-time network intelligence, troubleshooting, customer experience monitoring and 3rd party product integration.
• Layar (Amsterdam, Netherlands) is the largest augmented reality platform in mobile used to bring impactful experiences into people’s everyday lives; has thousands of developers creating nearly 1,500 layers for users to see the world with new information and meaningful digital content. Available on Android*, iPhone* and Bada* devices.
• Lilliputian Systems, Inc. (Wilmington, Mass.) is developing a Personal Power™ solution for consumer electronics targeting the portable power market segment.
• Ortiva Wireless (La Jolla, Calif.) is in advanced commercial solutions for mobile video via its iVOG™ for open internet media and mVOG™ for portal services.
• Rock Flow Dynamics (Moscow) is high performance modeling software, simulating fluid and gas filtration dynamics of hydrocarbon underground reservoirs.
• Select-TV (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) is in IPTV deployment.
• SilkRoad technology, Inc. (Chicago) is a Saas talent management solution with its SilkRoad Life Suite™ to use in hires and sorting work trends.  Other suites inside the product are OpenHire™, RedCarpet™, WingSpan™, GreenLight™, Eprise™, and HeartBeat™.
• Taifatech (Jhubei City, Taiwan) is a fabless semiconductor company specializing in system-on-a chip (SoCs) and system design solutions that provide management and connectivity through LAN or WLAN.
• Videon Central, Inc. (State College, Penn.) is an independent software vendor specializing in applying core IP and integration services for the growing consumer electronics market segment of internet connected digital video products.
• Verismo Networks’ (Mountain View, Calif. and Bangalore) is an open Internet TV platform that brings seamless convergence of IPTV linear channels, Internet video, social networking and personal media playback directly to the TV.
• WinChannel (Beijing) is a developer of information and sales management software for the consumer industry.
• YuMe (Redwood City, Calif.) is a video advertising technology company delivering video ads across all connected device channels — online, mobile, and CE/TV; via its ACE™ technology platform.
• Yummly.com (Palo Alto, Calif.) offers search and recommendations for food to search for and discover recipes based on personal tastes and preferences with a database of more than 500,000 recipes.

Here is a full exit list of Intel’s investments via IPO or buyout and here are its past investments.

JON C. OGG