Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of US-based chipmaker Intel, last year made 150 investments worth $353m including 64 new investments and 86 follow-on investments, including $254m in new investments.
The final year figures for Intel sealed off another active year for Intel Capital, with 57% of the dollars invested outside North America. Intel Capital provided $526m to investments in 2011.
Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and executive vice president of Intel Corporation, said: “2012 was an excellent year for us with investments totaling $353m in 26 countries. In spite of global market uncertainty, in 2012 we had 35 exits, with seven IPOs [initial public offerings] and another 28 exited via a merger or acquisition, bringing our total historical number of deals to 1276, with 201 IPOs and 317 companies acquired. “
Sodhani added: “We expanded our global investment footprint to 54 countries, making first time investments in Ghana, Estonia and Spain. We continued to deliver on our unique and differentiated value proposition to our portfolio companies by helping our portfolio companies grow.
The scale of Intel Capital means it is busy connecting its portfolio with other corporates. Sodhani said: “In 2012, Intel Capital facilitated over 3500+ introductions between our portfolio companies and potential customers and partners at Fortune 2000 companies through our Intel Capital Technology Days, Global Summit and other specially targeted programs.”
Sodhani added: “From an industry perspective, in 2012 we saw an increasing number of corporations either start their own in-house venture capital programs or dial-up existing programs. This is a promising trend for start-ups looking to raise capital from investors who bring strategic value in addition to funding, particularly as some of the pure financial VCs continue to dial-back their investments.”
Marcin Hejka, managing director of Intel Capital in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said “2012 was a good year for us in terms of exits in the regions I cover, and I am optimistic about 2013 despite a soft macro-economic situation. Our business is less cyclical than standard VC [venture capital] or PE [private equity] firms – in fact the investments we make during a downturn are often our best.”