Intel to Back Women, Minority-Led Startups with $125 Million Diversity Fund

Intel Capital (INTC) pledged $125 million to back women and minority-led startups, adding to the $300 million the chip maker earlier this year said it will allocate over the next five years to improve its diversity profile.

Some of the $125 million will overlap with the company’s prior $300 million commitment, Intel said. The new fund is led by Lisa Lambert, Intel Capital vice president and managing director. Companies receiving Intel Capital backing also will gain access to its business development programs, global network, technology expertise and brand name awareness, the chip maker said.

“We are proud to take a leading role toward broader participation in technology entrepreneurship and employment,” said Lambert. “With this new fund, Intel Capital is committed to investing in the best talent from a myriad of backgrounds to cultivate brilliant innovations that serve the needs of a diverse public.”

Lambert reportedly already has poured some $16.7 million into four companies, including Brit + Co, a San Francisco-based media and e-commerce platform; CareCloud, a Miami-based provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and medical billing software and services; Mark One, a San Francisco-based smart cup developer; and, Venafi, a Salt Lake City-based cybersecurity developer.

All four companies employ women and/or minorities in executive leadership roles.

“We’re not doing this purely because they represent diverse teams,” Lambert told Reuters. “They’re integral to Intel’s core investments.”

Last January, Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich told attendees in a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that its new Diversity in Technology Initiative will remake its own workforce and executive ranks with more women and minorities and also support similar efforts by others in the IT industry.

Intel is directing the $300 million at building a hiring pipeline of women and minority engineers and computer scientists, supporting practices to hire and retain women and under-represented minorities, and funding programs for similar efforts within the IT and gaming industries.

In May, Krzanich followed up on the earlier pledge in a keynote address at the Push Tech 2020 Summit in San Francisco–a confab of Silicon Valley executives and activists discussing minority and women hiring for executive-level positions–disclosing that more than 40 percent of Intel’s hires so far this year fit its diversity initiative, up from 30 percent last year.

At the time, Krzanich acknowledged that a struggle remained with executive-level minority and women hiring.

“I am not going to fool you,” Krzanich said. “This is hard work. “This isn’t rocket science. It’s harder.”

In addition to its diversity initiatives, Intel has pledged $5 million over the next five years for a program to teach computer science and engineering to students in the Oakland (CA) Unified School District, which is 65 percent black and Hispanic. Students in the program who complete an internship will be guaranteed jobs at Intel, the company said.