Intel Corporation [stock symbol=”INTC”] said it had invested $566 million in innovative technology startups since the beginning of 2017. In 2016, its total investment program was worth $455 million.
Recently, the company, which carries out investments through its vehicle Intel Capital, announced investment of $60 million in 15 more global startups.
The new startups, based in United States, Canada, China, Israel and Japan, come from areas as diverse as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, autonomous machines and others.
The company introduced the new startups during its Capital CEO Showcase conference which was held earlier in October in San Francisco.
“The world is undergoing a data explosion,” Intel Capital president Wendell Brooks said at the conference. “By 2020, every autonomous vehicle on the road will create 4 TB 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,” he added.
The new investment represents startups focused on analyzing and capturing data, managing and securing data. Among them is Japanese LeapMind which is developing solutions to improve the accuracy of neural network models and reduce the computational complexity of deep learning.
California-based Synthego provides genome engineering solutions, including synthetic RNA kits designed for CRISPR genome editing and research.
Others include a company developing autonomous service robots for the global retail industry, a 3D medical visualization software maker, and a startup applying biological immune system concepts to build cybersecurity solutions.
Intel Capital invests in startups in the 5G connectivity, artificial intelligence, merged reality, autonomous driving and other disruptive industries. It has invested more than $12 billion in 1,500 startups since 1991.
Its portfolio startups include companies like Box, Broadcom, CNET, Citrix Systems, Cloudera, VMware WebMD and others.
Its current portfolio includes about 300 companies.
