The Floor, backed by the Chinese venture capital fund Pando Group and partners including Banco Santander, HSBC, RBS and Intesa Sanpaolo, was launched earlier this year.
“Intel brings a powerful multi-disciplinary approach that could help Israel become a global capital in the field of fintech,” added Gil Devora, The Floor’s co-founder.
The undertaking aims to identify and develop technological innovations to upend and advance the global financial industry. Intel intends to demonstrate its own technology at the lab and search for ways to collaborate with the hub’s entrepreneurs.
“Through this collaboration, Intel will be able to lead, alongside The Floor, the development of this field in Israel and to widen the influence of technology on the financial field, from the user to the cloud,” Sharon Puterman-Zafrir, manager of IoT at Intel Israel said in a statement.
The news comes at an interesting time when there was a growing fear for Intel’s future in Israel. Earlier this year, Intel announced widespread layoffs to its Jerusalem-based manufacturing base and consolidated the workers in its Kiryat Gat plant.
However with this deal, the chip company plans to upgrade that facility as part of a $6 billion investment which includes significant government grants and tax breaks. As part of the deal, Intel also vowed to increase employment at the facility by 1,000.
