Well, it looks like Intel is really putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to mobile. Intel’s global investment and M&A branch, Intel Capital, today officially announced the creation of its new “AppUp” Fund — a $100 million fund that will be used to invest in startups and enterprises developing apps and software tools for mobile devices and PCs.
At the Intel Capital Global Summit in Huntington Beach today, Intel also revealed that Urban Airship and 4tiitoo were the first two companies to receive investment from the AppUpp fund.
As we wrote last week, Urban Airship recently closed a $15.1 million series C round of financing, close on the heels of its acquisition of SimpleGeo, which was once referred to as the “Amazon Web Services” for location-based products. According to Urban Airship, Intel invested in the company’s Series C raise out of its new AppUp Fund; however, it seems that the investor wanted more, as Urban Airship today announced that it has entered into a business collaboration agreement with Intel Software and Services Group as well.
Essentially, this means that Intel’s software and services group will be licensing Urban Airship’s software to embed into Intel offerings, allowing developers to create smart, context-rich apps that take advantage of the startup’s core services, namely: Push notifications, in-app purchasing, subscriptions — and now, thanks to SimpleGeo — geo-location.
For Urban Airship, this is yet another interesting strategic move, as its collaboration with Intel will give it access to the Ultrabook, netbook, and tablet markets through enabling app developers to integrate their services.
Of course, not to be forgotten is the second recipient of Intel’s new mobile fund, 4tiitoo, a German OSV and tablet developer. 4tiitoo’s own “WeTab OS” is an operating system that is optimized for tablets and mobile devices and supports apps from multiple platforms and technologies, including Linux, Java, HTML5, Adobe AIR, Flash, and Android.
As one might guess, Intel said today that its new AppUp Fund is designed to advance innovation (read: mobile technologies) based on Intel architecture, specifically in digital media consumption, context-aware computing, and infrastructure apps. The end goal here is to ramp up development and build out the ecosystems surrounding Intel’s push into Ultrabooks and netbooks.
And to that point, the new AppUp Fund is a complement to Intel’s recently announced $300 million “Ultrabook Fund”, by which the company showed that it is making a big bet that Ultrabooks, the hybrid between laptops and tablets, will be the future of mobile computing.
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10.8 billion in over 1,276 companies in 54 countries. In that timeframe, 201 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 317 were acquired or participated...
Intel is best known for producing the microprocessors found in many personal computers. The company also makes a range of other hardware including network cards, motherboards, and graphics chips. Intel created the first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, but it was not until the success of the personal computer that microprocessors became their primary business. In the 1980’s they were an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chip, and during the 1990s they invested heavily in new microprocessor...
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