Intel Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of semiconductor technology provider Intel, is on track to reach $600m in investments in 2015, which would make it the biggest year recorded by the unit for some time.
The unit has so far funded 94 companies, 45 of which were new investments. It had supplied a total of about $465m as of the start of this month, $175m of which came from its core funds and $290m from other Intel-run funds.
Funds launched by Intel Capital so far this year include the $125m Diversity Fund, announced in June 2015 to support startups run by women and underrepresented minorities, and a $12.8m China-focused angel fund launched two months before.
To put the current year’s investment level in context, Intel Capital invested approximately $526m in 2011, $353m the following year, $333m in 2013 and $359m in 2014. An internal source indicated Intel Capital has not topped $600m of investment in a single year since 2008.
In addition to its funding activities, the unit has benefited from 15 exits – three initial public offerings and 12 acquisitions – which include the $1.2bn acquisition of cloud infrastructure technology provider VirtuStream by IT technology company EMC in May.
The company’s 2015 investments include business management tools developer Mirantis, digital media company Hungama, cellular network operator Sigfox and e-signature technology producer DocuSign.