Intel Capital invests $38 million in 12 tech startups

Intel Capital announced today that it has invested $38 million in 12 technology startups. The world’s biggest chip maker made the announcement at the beginning of its annual Intel Capital Global Summit.

The 17th annual Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego, California, will draw nearly 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors and business luminaries for an event that hopes to shape the future of technology.

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Intel’s newest investments include startups in big data analytics, autonomous machines, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

The companies focus on solutions for seniors and disabled people using the Internet of Things, or making everyday objects smart and connected. The startups also do advanced audio for 360-degree virtual reality systems and human-like vision systems for connected cars.

“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,” said Wendell Brooks, Intel senior vice president and president of Intel Capital, in a statement. “We’re excited to team with these visionary entrepreneurs developing breakthrough technologies to transform lives and industries.”

Speakers at the Intel Capital Summit include Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com; Aneel Bhusri, cofounder and CEO of Workday; John Donahoe, chairman of the board at PayPal; Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel; Lowell McAdam, chairman and CEO of Verizon; and Bill Bradley, former U.S. senator, Olympian, and NBA Hall of Famer.

See our separate stories on Chronocam, InContext, and Paxata. The investments include:

• Chronocam (Paris, France) is making computer vision sensors and systems for a variety of applications in autonomous navigation and connected objects. Formed by the leading pioneers in the field of neuromorphic vision, the company wants to establish a new computer vision standard by unlocking a paradigm shift in vision sensing and processing inspired by the human eye.
• Embodied (Pasadena, California) was cofounded by the former CTO of iRobot (of Roomba fame) and a professor of robotics and neuroscience from the University of Southern California. The company is developing products that aim to revolutionize robotics. Leveraging major recent advances in machine perception, cognition, and learning, its systems develop affordable personal robots that improve human wellness and quality of life.
• Perrone Robotics (Charlottesville, Virginia) provides software and solutions that make it easier to build robust mobile autonomous robotics applications. Its technology helps researchers and engineers develop their partial and fully autonomous vehicle and robotics applications.
• Eazytec (Jiangsu, China) is a smart city developer and service provider with proprietary core firmware (BIOS) technology. Its headquarters and research park, located in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, have been identified as a national science and technology business incubator in China. The company specializes in application software and firmware development, system integration, and data center services.
• Grand Chip Microelectronics (aka Kangxi Communication Technologies; Shanghai, China) is making 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 (Redwood City, California) makes an enterprise-based, self-service business information platform that serves the needs of both the business consumer and information technology. With Paxata, business analysts, data engineers, and data scientists are able to instantaneously transform raw data to information ready for business analysis with accuracy and efficiency.
• StealthMine (Sunnyvale, California) enables enterprise applications to run on encrypted data. The technology provides full data insulation against server, network, storage, database attacks and insider compromises.
• CubeWorks (Ann Harbor, Michigan) delivers the next generation in millimeter-scale computing with its Cubisens platform, which enables the first truly autonomous wireless sensing platform measuring less than a millimeter. Cubisens systems can sense and process their environment, wirelessly transmit the results, or store them for later usage.
• Kinduct (Halifax, Canada) provides cloud-based data and analytics software for sport organizations, military and public safety units, physical medicine clinics, and health and wellness institutions. With a client list that includes teams in all five major sports leagues in North America, the Kinduct platform is changing the way information shapes human performance by allowing organizations to derive insights from multiple sources of data.
• K4Connect (Raleigh, North Carolina) creates solutions that serve older adults and individuals living with disabilities by integrating the latest smart technologies and applications into a single responsive system. Its first solution, K4Community, is specifically 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 better care and hospitality.
• Dysonics (San Francisco) leverages more than 20 years of academic research to deliver patented technologies that yield lifelike 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 (Chicago) develops scalable, cloud-based virtual reality solutions for retail that provide important insights for manufacturers and retailers. The company’s enterprise service VR platform and services help brands visualize new concepts and better understand shopper behavior in a rapidly evolving retail space more efficiently and profitably.

A number of these investments were made under the auspices of Intel Capital’s new Sports and Health focus, which uses a broad, cross-disciplinary approach that spans multiple investing teams. The new concentration reflects recent comments by Intel CEO Brian Krzanich that “digitization is the biggest change in sports in decades.”

In addition, Brooks announced Monday the formation of a new Intel Sports unit focused on relationships with major sports leagues to leverage technologies such as Intel’s FreeD technology, which provides fans immersive viewing experiences. Brooks will oversee the business unit and expects it will work closely with Intel Capital’s Sports and Health effort.

Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested $11.7 billion in 1,458 companies worldwide, and 605 portfolio companies have gone public or been acquired.

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