Intel Capital invests $25m in 3 Israeli startups
The latest deals bring total funds invested by Intel Capital in Israel to more than $345 million since 1997
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
Intel Capital, the global investment arm of the US-based chipmaker Intel Corp., said it has invested in three additional Israeli startups, Velostata, Panoply.io and Sedona Systems, for a total of $25 million, the company said in a statement.
Panoply.io, a Tel Aviv- and San Francisco-based startup, enables companies to implement complex analytics cloud infrastructure with the click of a button. The company said it raised a total of $7 million in a Series A funding round led by Intel Capital, with participation from previous investor Blumberg Capital.
Velostrata, based in San Mateo, California, with a research and development facility in Israel, has developed software that enables customers to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy that incorporates the best of both public and private clouds. The company said Wednesday that it raised a total of $17.5 million in a Series B funding round, led by strategic investor Intel Capital, with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and 83 North. This latest funding will be used to accelerate growth, particularly within the mid-to-large enterprise market, the company said.
Sedona Systems, a creator of an IP/optical converged control platform for service provider networks, said it has closed its $13.6 million round B of funding, led by Intel Capital. NextStar also joined as a new investor and previous investor Bessemer Venture Partners participated in the round. It brings the total amount invested in the company to $19.6 million.
This latest investment by Intel Capital brings the total funds invested in Israel to more than $345 million in more than 80 Israeli companies since 1997. Of these investments, and in that timeframe, four companies have gone public while 22 others were acquired or participated in a merger. This latest investment is the first by Intel Capital this year, though Intel Corp. bought Israeli start-up Replay Technologies in March.
These investments are a testament to the diversity of talent within Israel, said Marcin Hejka, Vice President, Intel Capital; Managing Director, Greater Europe and India. “We have been committed to Israel for almost 20 years, pretty much from the beginning of Intel Capital as an investor,” Hejka said in a phone interview. “Our activity actually if anything has been growing recently and I hope that it’s going to stay like that.”
“Israel is one of the most important technology hubs globally that keeps producing exciting technology innovation, so it is definitely one of our priority geographies and one of the locations where we see tremendous talent,” Hejka said. “We are definitely planning to keep our activity in Israel at the current level or higher if possible.”
Intel Capital’s strategy reflects Intel’s strategy, so the venture arm is interested in fields including big data, cloud computing, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the Internet of Things.
These are “all areas that we are pursuing,” Hejka said. “In every single one Israel has a lot to offer. I don’t see a single area that is our strategic investment priority where Israel doesn’t have a lot to offer in terms of deal flow of innovative technologies. This is really the basis for my hope that we become even more active in Israel.”
Intel Capital makes equity investments in innovative technology startups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital is stage agnostic and invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software and services targeting enterprise, digital media, mobility consumer Internet, and semiconductor manufacturing.
Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested $11.7 billion in 1,458 companies in 57 countries. In that timeframe, 213 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 392 were acquired or participated in a merger.
In the first half of this year, Intel Capital invested $308 million in 54 companies globally, including 19 new companies. Nine portfolio companies were acquired and one company went public.
