Intel Corporation’s global investment organization, Intel Capital, has announced that it will be investing more than $38 million in 12 technology startups in the sphere of Virtual Reality, Autonomous Machines, Health and Sports as well as Data and Connectivity.
The announcement was made at the Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego, where the companies joining Intel Capital’s portfolio are driving innovation to enhance facets including IoT solutions for seniors and disabled individuals, advanced audio for 360-degree virtual reality systems, and human-like vision systems for connected cars.
Wendell Brooks, SVP, Intel and President, Intel Capital said, “Innovation is exploding as the world transforms into an increasingly smart and connected place, where billions of devices will be made even smarter by intelligence in the cloud. We’re excited to team with these visionary entrepreneurs developing breakthrough technologies to transform lives and industries.”
In the sphere of Autonomous Machines the following have been taken on-board for investment:
Chronocam, a Paris based startup that develops computer vision sensors and systems for a various applications in autonomous navigation and connected objects, is aiming to use neuromorphic vision, to establish a new computer vision standard inspired by the human eye.
Pasadena based Embodied, is developing products that aim to revolutionize robotics by leveraging advances in machine perception, cognition and learning, its systems develop affordable personal robots aiming to improve human wellness and quality of life.
Perrone Robotics, which is aiming to make solutions for building robust mobile autonomous robotics applications to help researchers and engineers develop their partial and fully autonomous vehicle and robotics applications.
In the sphere of Sports and Health, Intel Capital has chosen:
CubeWorks that claims to deliver the next-gen in millimeter-scale computing with its Cubisens platform, enabling the first autonomous wireless sensing platform measuring less than a millimeter. The system is able to sense and process its environment, wirelessly transmit the results, or store them for later usage.
Kinduct, the Canadian cloud-based data and analytics software claims to provide sport organizations, military and public safety units, physical medicine clinics, and health and wellness institutions.
North Carolina based K4Connect, which creates solutions that serve older adults and individuals living with disabilities by integrating smart technologies and applications into a single responsive system. Its first solution, K4Community, is designed for residents of senior living communities, creating smarter and healthier living environments, as well as fostering family and community engagement, while also providing the operators with the insights and analytics needed to offer world-class care and hospitality.
According to the company, many of these investments were made taking Intel Capital’s new Sports and Health into focus, which uses a broad, cross-disciplinary approach that spans multiple investing teams.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel said, “With Intel’s high-performance computing power, every aspect of sports and wellness can now be captured as a piece of data, measured and broadcast nearly in real time – fueling the continued buildout of the cloud.”
Wendell Brooks also announced the formation of the new Intel Sports Group, which is focused on developing partnerships with major sports leagues to leverage Intel technologies to create new immersive experiences for fans. Brooks will oversee the business unit and expects it will work closely with Intel Capital’s Sports and Health effort.
Startups focusing on Data and Connectivity:
China based Eazytec is a smart city developer and service provider with proprietary core firmware (BIOS) technology. The company specializes in application software and firmware development, system integration, and data center services.
Another Chinese startup called Grand Chip Microelectronics or Kangxi Communication Technologies, is committed to delivering high-performance, high-linearity and highly integrated Wi-Fi front-end devices for WLAN infrastructure, wireless connectivity on cellular platforms and the Internet of Things.
Paxata, based in California, claims to provide enterprise-grade, self-service business information platform that serves the needs of both the business consumer and IT. Using Paxata, business analysts, data engineers and data scientists are able to transform raw data to information ready for business analysis with accuracy and efficiency without the need of code sampling. It integrates machine learning, natural language processing and semantic text algorithm technology built on a distributed, in-memory columnar pipeline architecture for massive scale.
Another startup called StealthMine that enables enterprise applications to run on encrypted data to provide full data insulation against server, network, storage, database attacks and insider compromises, also made the list under Intel Capital’s portfolio.
Virtual Reality startups:
San Francisco based Dysonics claims to leverage more than 20 years of academic research to deliver patented technologies that yield life-like 360-degree sound experiences over headphones. Dysonics creates immersive audio software and hardware products for capture, creation and playback of next-generation content including virtual reality.
InContext Solutions that develops scalable, cloud-based virtual reality solutions for retail that provide important insights for manufacturers and retailers. The company’s enterprise SaaS VR platform and services help brands visualize new concepts and better understand shopper behavior in a rapidly evolving retail space – more efficiently and profitably.