Intel won’t sell its venture capital portfolio and doubles down on Internet of Things investments

The world’s biggest chip maker won’t sell its Intel Capital strategic venture capital investments arm, as previously rumored. Intel was reportedly seeking $1 billion or more for its portfolio, but now it isn’t selling.

Wendell Brooks, the new president of Intel Capital, said in a blog post that the company will keep its portfolio, even as the rest of the company is proceeding with 12,000 job cuts.

He wrote:

In February, I noted we were taking a fresh look at our portfolio to ensure we were best positioned to help our companies grow beyond just financial support. That process is wrapped up, and I am happy to report I inherited a terrific portfolio. The portfolio as a whole represents a broad-based and solid set of investments across many strategic and non-strategic sectors to Intel. This review has demonstrated to me the tremendous job the Intel Capital team has done in sourcing and supporting investments across technology sectors. Despite what you may have read or heard, we are not planning any major changes to Intel Capital’s portfolio. While, like all investors, we’ll continue to actively manage our investments, I intend to keep and support the portfolio I inherited. We aim to build upon our strong track record and generate successful outcomes for our portfolio companies.

“Intel’s CEO Brian Krzanich wrote recently about our transformation to a virtuous cycle of growth between the data center and cloud and the billions of emerging smart, connected devices,” Brooks added. “This cycle will drive a society powered by data and data analytics. Given Intel Capital’s important pathfinding role for the company, we’re in the thick of this transformation.”

He went on to say that Intel Capital has “an unrivaled opportunity to bring entrepreneurs value beyond capital through Intel’s vast global network of technologists, partners and customers. Intel Capital takes an active role in applying those assets to help entrepreneurs deliver disruptive new technologies to market.”

Intel Capital has led the way in Internet of Things investments by a wide margin. Some new investments in this space include:

• Lumiata: Based in Silicon Valley, uses predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to help health insurers and doctors manage risk and coordinate patient care.
• ProGlove: Headquartered in Germany, makes smart gloves that use motion-detection sensors and built-in scanners to instantly capture data from factory workers – boosting speed, safety, and quality.
• Maana: Splits its team between Silicon Valley and Bellevue, Wash. Its high-speed analytics platform organizes customer data normally locked away in silos into a “knowledge graph” that lets employees make smarter day-to-day decisions.

“These new investments are just a few examples of what you’ll see going forward as we continue investing $300 million to $500 million per year. Whether we are backing data analytics or wearable technology companies, drone makers or enterprise security startups, these companies will all focus on technology’s future. Intel will help them make an important impact,” Brooks wrote.

He said there will be a new Intel Capital Global Summit in October. He also said Intel Capital is rethinking the team’s structure in order to “streamline our investment process, give our startups more exposure to the breadth of Intel’s business units, and ensure we are servicing our portfolio in even more valuable ways long after we make the investment.”

He added, “As part of this process, some team members will be shifting roles, and a few may leave. While I hate to lose good people, some turnover and promotions for exceptional talent will be good for the organization. One thing that won’t change is our relentless search for new technologies and market opportunities.”