Intel Capital’s Next Chapter: Fueling Tomorrow’s Tech
Intel Capital’s Next Chapter
For over 30 years, Intel Capital has been at the forefront of technological transformation, investing in and championing standout startups building world-changing technologies across cloud, devices, frontier, and silicon. As announced, we’re taking a bold step forward and entering a new chapter in Intel Capital’s history to become an independent venture fund, operating under a new name by late 2025. This move allows us to align with the best practices of leading venture firms, attract external capital, and unlock new opportunities, resources, and market access for our portfolio companies.
Intel will remain a key investor and partner, reinforcing our long-term strategic vision: discovering and backing innovative startups driving the future of technology. We are excited to build on our strong track record of impactful investments and technological progress. The existing Intel Capital team will move to the new company, and business operations will continue as normal throughout the transition.
2024 Returns
2024 presented challenges across the venture capital landscape driven by broader geopolitical factors, a sluggish IPO market, reduced valuations, and rising interest rates. Despite these headwinds, I am incredibly proud of our portfolio companies and the Intel Capital team’s achievements, including realized returns in our portfolio.
One of the standout successes in our portfolio this year has been Astera Labs’ IPO. Astera Labs, a leader in connectivity solutions for data-centric systems, not only made waves in the public markets but also reinforced the critical role of semiconductor innovation in the data-driven economy. Additionally, we had several IPOs from our Asia Pacific portfolio and a handful of not-yet-announced M&A deals. These milestones underscore the strength of Intel Capital’s portfolio and our unwavering commitment to deep tech investments.
Adding Value to the Portfolio
At Intel Capital, our commitment to the portfolio goes far beyond providing capital—we’re dedicated to fueling their growth. In 2024, we expanded our engagement with robust programs and events designed to help our portfolio companies scale and succeed. We facilitated 1,300 highly curated introductions to Global 2000 customers, helping startups forge meaningful relationships to accelerate growth. Through our 37 Customer Connect events hosted across the globe, we introduced portfolio companies to over 600 unique customers across key industries such as US federal agencies and financial services, creating invaluable opportunities to drive revenue and collaboration. We also placed over 30 Intel Capital Embedded Experts and Consultants within portfolio companies, providing hands-on technical support and strategic guidance to help them tackle complex challenges and seize new opportunities, such as CHIPS funding and AI infrastructure.
Building the Team
We’re thrilled to onboard Kike Miralles, a new investor with unique capabilities and area of focus. Kike joined the Intel Capital team in October 2024, bringing a background in early stage investing across quantum computing, robotics, semiconductors, and photonics. His technical expertise, fresh perspectives, and passion for transformative technology will generate long-term value for both Intel Capital and our portfolio.
Continued Commitment to AI, Deep Tech, and Hardware Investing
Since Intel Capital’s inception, we have invested more than $20Bin the future of compute, funding standout, early-stage startups across four key areas of the tech ecosystem: silicon, frontier, devices and cloud. This year was no exception to our decades-long commitment to AI, deep tech, and hardware investing. AI hype is everywhere, but Intel Capital is focused on AI companies in infrastructure and software that are truly disrupting the space instead of sustaining it. By deploying nearly $400M in both new and follow-on investments, Intel Capital continued to be at the forefront of expanding the AI frontier through significant investments in startups driving AI developments, enabling advances in natural language processing, autonomous systems, humanoid robotics, and more. A select few of our investments include:
- Scale AI: Our investment in Scale AI’s $1B Series F funding, bringing the company’s valuation to nearly $14B, will enable Scale to build the data foundry for AI.
- Ayar Labs: Ayar Labs, the leader in optical interconnect solutions for large-scale AI workloads, secured $155M in financing, raising the company’s valuation to above $1B. Our investment in Ayar Labs will position the company to break down the AI bottleneck of data movement with its optical I/O technology.
- RunPod: Co-led by Intel Capital and Dell Technologies Capital, RunPod raised $20M in Seed funding. RunPod, a globally distributed GPU cloud computing service for training, deploying, and scaling AI models, will use the funding to form new partnerships and integrations for seamless developer experiences, offering new and existing customers the perfect foundation for developing custom AI models
The Future
The venture capital market in 2024 was anything but predictable. The economic environment required startups and investors alike to focus on fundamentals: sustainable growth, operational efficiency, and clear paths to profitability. While some sectors experienced contraction, the appetite for transformative technologies remained robust. Intel Capital’s success in this challenging environment reflects our disciplined approach and dedication to deep partnerships. Our ability to provide not only capital but also strategic resources and technical expertise has proven to be a differentiator, enabling our portfolio companies to navigate complexity and seize opportunities.
As we step into 2025, our vision remains clear: to empower the next generation of technology leaders and drive meaningful innovation. With a legacy of success, a robust portfolio, and a renewed sense of purpose as an independent venture fund, we are poised to shape the future of technology. Together with our portfolio companies, we’ll continue pushing boundaries, unlocking potential, and redefining what’s possible.
