Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC), announced this morning that it had invested $31 million in six high-tech companies, three of which are Israeli: Jajah Technologies Inc., Aternity Information Systems Ltd., and Ceedo Technologies Ltd.. The announcement was made at Intel's annual CEO conference. Alongside the investment in the three Israeli companies, Intel also invested in two Chinese companies: 51.com, which develops products for social networks, and another company, and the US company, Tutor.com, which develops teaching aides.
The largest investment of all was made in Jajah, which raised $15 million from Intel and several other strategic investors. In addition, Intel signed a strategic agreement with Jajah, which will give Jajah access to a large community of product agents, OEM customers, and developers that have ties with Intel, in order to move forward the roll-out of Jajah's products.
Jajah was founded in 2005 and it has raised $8 million to date from Sequoia Capital and Globespan Capital Partners. The company's technology enables users to make free or low-cost calls through an ordinary fixed line telephone or mobile handset.
The second of the three Israeli companies which received investment from Intel, Aternity, was founded by Amnon Yacoby, formerly founder of Accord. Aternity has also raised $8 million to date. It will use the latest finance to extend its penetration of additional market segments and expand its product line. In addition to the financing it raised, Aternity also signed a collaborative marketing agreement with Intel, under which the company's products will be integrated into Intel's product line. Aternity last raised finance two months ago from Oracle.
The third recipient of investment from Intel, Ceedo was founded in 2005, and has not raised any venture capital finance so far. The company's simulation technology enables users to run various applications from physical external drives or network drives, without having to install them on the host computers. The company will use latest finance, details of which were not disclosed, to finance further growth.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on May 10, 2007
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