Intel Capital has been one of the more prolific tech investors in Silicon Valley, with the total number of companies that it has backed since 1991 now approaching 500 startups and some 700 rounds of funding. Today it disclosed another 16 on the list, and said that it has invested a total of $62 million across the group, whose businesses run the gamut from a low-cost Lego-based braille printer (invented by a 13 year-old, pictured above) and wearable computing through to microprocessors and cloud services. In addition to that, Intel is making a separate investment into Ossia, a former Battlefield company that is in the race against others like uBeam to develop wireless charging solutions.
Essentially, the list highlights strategic investments that directly link to Intel’s existing business but also things like wearables, areas that are newer to Intel but those where it would like to do more in the future (something I will be discussing on stage with Intel GM Mike Bell this week at the Dublin Web Summit).
The full list of startups and what they do is below. Intel tells us that it will not be disclosing individual amounts invested (we will try to find out anyway).
Intel is also still mum on a large investment we have heard that it is making in gaming company Razer, but the VC today said that in total, it will invest $355 million in 2014.
The new portfolio companies and the details about Intel Capital’s larger 2014 picture were made public today to coincide with the Intel Capital Global Summit, the VCs’ annual event highlighting portfolio companies and some of the bigger trends that Intel is trying to tap into through its investment arm.
“Intel Capital invests in the technology continuum that runs from wearables and the Internet of Things to big data analytics –and everything in between, including silicon, smart devices, PCs, the cloud and datacenters,” Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel EVP, said in a statement today. “We are focused on helping innovative companies develop across this technology ecosystem, and we expect to invest a total of $355 million this year.” Sodhani will be appearing live with the CEOs of the new portfolio companies at 12.15 today and you can watch that here.
Here’s a rundown of the full list:
Avegant, based in Redwood City, is developing the next generation of wearable devices, makes the Glyph mobile personal theater that uses a micromirror display with built-in premium audio. Glyph was a Kickstarter star, raising over $1 million in its Kickstarter earlier this year. Read our past coverage of Glyph here.
Braigo Labs Inc. in Palo Alto is the startup behind the Lego-based Braigo Braille printer invented by 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee (who is still in middle school; not dropped out). provides scientific and technological services by researching and developing technology-based innovations and services. Its products include Braigo v1.0*, a Lego Braille printer that drops the price of such devices from $2,000 to $350. They are working on other products as well.
Eyefluence in Reno, Nevada, is an eye-tracking technology specialist, used in augmented reality or virtual reality head-mounted displays.
AnDAPT from Santa Clara is making adaptive products for multifunction sensor integration and integrated system power management, “enabling enterprise customers to achieve lowest power consumption, smart power management, high integration, high system reliability and lower cost.”
Audyssey from Los Angeles is working in audio technology to improve sound quality for apps and devices, TVs, automobiles, PCs and home theater products from industry-leading manufacturers.
Incoming Media, co-headquartered in Santa Clara and Sydney, Australia, is a mobile video platform that uses predictive data analytics and intelligent content pre-loading for smarter personalization.
INRIX out of Kirkland, Washington, is a relative grand-daddy here, approaching IPO stage now for its big data analytics and predictive technology “to help automakers, corporate fleets, governments and news organizations reduce the economic and environmental toll of traffic congestion.”
Screenovate Technologies out of Israel is a mobile solution developer for entertainment, productivity and education companies, with its tech able to beam content like video wirelessly from one device to another.
Thundersoft out of China and Taiwan is a mobile OS core technology and solution provider focused on Android.
NetSpeed Systems in Mountain View is a system-on-chip (SoC) design specialist.
Reno Sub-systems out of Canada “designs, develops and delivers subsystems used to control process systems made by OEMs, including vacuum-based chambers to deposit and etch specialty materials needed in advanced integrated circuit fabrication.”
Gigya out of SF is one of the startups vying to be the leader in cloud-based ID management platform. It is today separately announcing that it has raised $35 million, which Intel is leading as part of this investment.
PilotTV is a digital signage network operator “that designs, deploys and jointly operates digital signage systems for retail venues, operating over 6,000 screens in various channels including convenience stores, fast food chains, drugstores and rapid transit stations.”
PrecisionHawk from Raleigh, North Carolina, is a data delivery and gathering company that uses “a small, unmanned aerial vehicle and cloud-based software to collect, process and analyze aerial data. Its solution provides actionable information to clients in civilian industries.”
Prelert (Framingham, Massachusetts, U.S.) packages data science into downloadable applications for everyday users. It uses machine-learning predictive analytics to learn the normal behavior patterns of populations of individual users, devices and resources.
Stratoscale (Israel) develops new technology to rethink next-generation data centers. It is building the runtime software infrastructure for scalable computing to help customers use all available computing resources and unify computing and storage across the data center.
In addition, Intel Capital announced that it is investing in Ossia. Cota, Ossia’s smart antenna technology that charges things from up to 30 feet away, was a pretty fascinating solution when we saw it demoed at TC Disrupt last year. You can read more about it here.
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