Intel's investment arm, Intel Capital, has announced it has sunk $60 million (45 million) into 15 startups to work on solutions to problems with big data, bringing its total startup investment this year to $566 million (429 million).
Intel Capital has a long history of supporting new businesses and since 1991, it's apparently invested $12.2 billion (9.25 billion) in aroud 1500 companies. However, it went through a rather dry patch last year, when it was suggested the company should sell off ts entire startup portfolio. However, the management decided to restructure the business instead and so the investment continues.
The latest beneficiaries of Intel's cash inecton include a diverse range of companies, such as Amenity Analytics, Bigstream, and EchoPixel, which are all US-based, as well as Canada's AdHawk Microsystems, China's Horizo Robotics, Japan's LeapMind and Intezer and Alcide, both of which are headquartered in Israel.
The startups cover data analytics, AI and neural networks, security, robots and software to help a cross-section of industries, including medical, retail and sports sectors.
"The world is undergoing a data explosion," said Wendell Brooks, Intel SVP and president of Intel Capital. "By 2020, every autonomous vehicle on the road will create 4TB of data per day. A million self-driving cars will create the same amount of data every day as 3 billion people.
"As Intel transitions to a data company, Intel Capital is actively investing in startups across the technology spectrum that can help expand the data ecosystem and pathfind important new technologies."
Although the startups involved represent a diverse set of nationalities, there's a distinct lack of investment in European startups in this round. However, Intel Capital did want to stress that women lead around 10% of the companies it's investing in, which wil come as pleasing news to equality campaigners. However, internally the story is a little different, as despite claming to be on track to have a employee diversity that mirrors the US population by 2020, the company has made very little progress towards this goal, according to figures published in August.
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