Last month, Intel Capital announced the launch of a US$300 million Ultrabook Fund to drive hardware and software innovations in this new category of devices.
The fund was highlighted again last week by Director of Developer Programs, Intel Consumer Services, Scott Apeland in his keynote address for Intel’s AppUp Elements 2011 conference in Seattle.
This geek caught up with Scott and learnt that this fund will focus on both hardware and software innovations. For software, the focus will be on any innovation that can improve the experience of Ultrabooks, a new category of devices that brings about a new level of interactivity.
Intel is hoping to invest in developers to create new usage models on Ultrabooks and folks who can showcase the new technologies well. Innovations built around cross-device innovation with HTML5 will also be interesting, says Scott.
Startups however, will have to differentiate themselves with innovations more unique to the Ultrabook experience and show how Ultrabook can take advantage of the innovative features.
Intel’s AppUp team also announced the acquisition of cross-platform location services startup Telmap. This appears to be an investment along the lines of what Scott mentioned about cross device innovations.
This geek also managed to speak with Intel Capital’s Director of Consumer Internet, Christine Herron, who mentioned that investment in this area will be no different from Intel Capital’s normal investment practices. Intel Capital will work together with sector teams (i.e. AppUp in this case) and local country teams to evaluate the deal.
Christine mentioned that while Intel Capital is normally stage agnostic, past experience has shown that they usually invest in slightly earlier stages if the startup is based in Silicon Valley and in later stages if the startup is internationally-based. Christine attributes this to the fact that Silicon Valley has a better ecosystem to support startups.
Intel Capital has invested in numerous tech companies based in Asia, including Malaysia-based Select-TV Solutions, a Internet Protocol TV service provider, Greenpacket, another Malaysia-based company which develops next generation mobile broadband services, VMAX Telecom, a Taiwan-based WiMAX service provider, and more.
Their portfolio focuses mainly on companies in China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.
More information available on: the Ultrabook Fund, Intel Capital, AppUp, and AppUp’s announcement this week on their shift from MeeGo to Tizen.
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