Intel Capital To Invest $77 Million In 18 Companies Worldwide

Intel Capital plans to invest $77 million in 18 different companies, and the company also revealed five new follow-on deals as part of its broader strategy.

Intel's global investment organization made the announcement at its 11th annual CEO Summit in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Intel's global investment organization on Tuesday made two separate multi-million dollar deals."The new investments align with Intel’s strategic focus on fostering innovation in core PC and server market segments including cloud computing, mobility solutions and access to broadband wireless in geographies around the world," Intel Capital said in a press release. "Additionally, these investments will help enable advancements in adjacent computing areas including smart TV, tablets and smartphones."

The companies receiving the investment include Adaptivity, Althea Systems, Anobit, boo-box, De Novo, IPTEGO, Layar, Lilliputian Systems, Inc., Ortiva Wireless, Rock Flow Dynamics, Select-TV, SilkRoad, Taifatech, Videon Central, Verismo Networks, Winchannel, YuMe and Yummly.com. The companies are spread out across eleven countries.

Intel Capital in September announced that it would invest $30 million in companies inside the U.S.

Intel Capital also said its commitment to the business development of its portfolio companies has led to 28 of those companies exiting Intel Capital's portfolio in 2010, either through IPO or acquisition.

Meanwhile, NAND flash memory solutions provider Anobit on Tuesday received $32 million in a new funding round led by Intel Capital. Intel declined to disclose its specific contribution to Anobit, but said the company is in a position to change the market for NAND-based technology and improve memory-intensive computing systems.

’This funding will help accelerate the expansion of Anobit’s core business operations and enable the company to meet surging demand for its technology and products, used today by world leading NAND flash manufacturers, consumer electronics vendors and storage solution providers,’ Prof. Ehud Weinstein, Anobit’s CEO and chairman, in a statement.

"The NAND flash market is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of the semiconductor market," an Anobit spokesperson wrote in an e-mail to CRN." In the span of just four months, Anobit has inked strategic agreements with two of the world’s largest NAND flash memory vendors – Samsung and Hynix - who together comprise a majority of the $20B NAND flash memory market."