As it kicks off the annual 17th annual Global Summit, Intel Capital has announced more than $38-million of investments in 12 startups across a range of innovative technologies, including big data analytics, autonomous machines and AR/VR.
The companies joining Intel Capital’s portfolio are driving innovation to enhance many facets of our lives – including IoT solutions for seniors and disabled individuals, advanced audio for 360-degree virtual reality systems, and human-like vision systems for connected cars.
“Innovation is exploding as the world transforms into an increasingly smart and connected place, where billions of devices will be made even smarter by intelligence in the cloud,” says Wendell Brooks, Intel senior vice-president and president of Intel Capital. “We’re excited to team with these visionary entrepreneurs developing breakthrough technologies to transform lives and industries.”
Details of some of the startups include:
* Chronocam (Paris, France) develops innovative computer vision sensors and systems for a variety of applications in autonomous navigation and connected objects. Formed by the leading pioneers in the field of neuromorphic vision, the company wants to establish a new computer vision standard by unlocking a paradigm shift in vision sensing and processing inspired by the human eye.
* Embodied (Pasadena, US), co-founded by the former CTO of iRobot, maker of Roomba, and a world-renowned professor of robotics and neuroscience from the University of Southern California, is developing state-of-the-art products that aim to revolutionize robotics. Leveraging major recent advances in machine perception, cognition and learning, its systems develop affordable personal robots that improve human wellness and quality of life.
* Perrone Robotics (Charlottesville, US) provides software and solutions that make it easier to build robust mobile autonomous robotics applications. Its technology helps researchers and engineers develop their partial and fully autonomous vehicle and robotics applications.
* Eazytec (Jiangsu, China) is a smart city developer and service provider with proprietary core firmware (BIOS) technology. Its headquarters and research park, located in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, have been identified as a national science and technology business incubator in China. The company specializes in application software and firmware development, system integration, and data center services.
* Grand Chip Microelectronics (aka Kangxi Communication Technologies) (Shanghai, China) is committed to delivering high-performance, high-linearity and highly integrated Wi-Fi front-end devices for WLAN infrastructure, wireless connectivity on cellular platforms and the Internet of Things.
* Paxata (Redwood City, US) is the leading enterprise-grade, self-service business information platform that serves the needs of both the business consumer and IT. With Paxata, business analysts, data engineers and data scientists are able to instantaneously transform raw data to information ready for business analysis with accuracy and efficiency. There is no need for code or sampling as Paxata leverages a patent-pending, machine learning, natural language processing and semantic text algorithm technology built on a distributed, in-memory columnar pipeline architecture for massive scale.
* StealthMine (Sunnyvale, US) enables enterprise applications to run on encrypted data. The technology provides full data insulation against server, network, storage, database attacks and insider compromises.
* CubeWorks (Ann Arbor, US) delivers the next generation in millimeter-scale computing with its Cubisens platform, which enables the first truly autonomous wireless sensing platform measuring less than a millimeter. Cubisens systems are able to sense and process their environment, wirelessly transmit the results, or store them for later usage.
* Kinduct (Halifax, Canada) provides cloud-based data and analytics software for sport organizations, military and public safety units, physical medicine clinics, and health and wellness institutions. With a client list that includes teams in all five major sports leagues in North America, the Kinduct platform is changing the way information shapes human performance by allowing organizations to derive insights from multiple sources of data.
* K4Connect (Raleigh, US) creates solutions that serve older adults and individuals living with disabilities by integrating the latest smart technologies and applications into a single responsive system. Its first solution, K4Community, is specifically designed for residents of senior living communities, creating smarter and healthier living environments, as well as fostering family and community engagement, while also providing the operators with the insights and analytics needed to offer world-class care and hospitality.
* Dysonics (San Francisco, US) leverages more than 20 years of academic research to deliver patented technologies that yield lifelike 360-degree sound experiences over headphones. Dysonics creates immersive audio software and hardware products for capture, creation and playback of next-generation content including virtual reality.
* InContext Solutions (Chicago, US) develops scalable, cloud-based virtual reality solutions for retail that provide important insights for manufacturers and retailers. The company’s enterprise SaaS VR platform and services help brands visualise new concepts and better understand shopper behaviour in a rapidly evolving retail space – more efficiently and profitably.
A number of these investments were made under the auspices of Intel Capital’s new Sports and Health focus, which uses a broad, cross-disciplinary approach that spans multiple investing teams.