Intel Capital has announced 16 new investments, totaling $65 million, in nine countries. Of this, $10 million goes to three Israeli companies:

interactive video platform Interlude; hybrid storage provider Reduxio Systems; and chip simulation acceleration provider Rocketick. The investments in Interlude and Reduxio took place as part of financing rounds held by the companies several months ago, while the investment in Rocketick is part of a financing round announced by the company today, in which it raised $3 million.

Rocketick was founded in 2008. Intel Capital's investment in the company is intriguing. Although Intel's traditional business is in semiconductors, most of the companies that Intel Capital invests in are software companies aiming at the enterprise computing market. Rocketick, which has developed GPU-based simulation acceleration technology for chip verification, is one of two companies in the field of semiconductors in which Intel Capital has invested in the current round, and one of only a few companies aimed at the semiconductor market in which Intel Capital has invested in recent years.

The investor that led the previous round in Rocketick was Nvidia, which also participated in the current round, and which competes with Intel in certain segments. Rocketick CEO Uri Tal said that the company preferred to approach strategic investors because financial investors have shown little interest of late in EDA (electronic design automation). In total, Rocketic, which employs 15 people, has raised about $7 million so far.

The writer was a guest at the annual Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 23, 2013

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