Intel Launches 'Intel Capital Diversity Fund'

Intel Corporation INTC announced on Thursday that it has created a $125 million fund, Intel Capital Diversity fund, through its subsidiary Intel Capital that will invest in companies run by underrepresented minorities and women. Intel Capital Vice President Lisa Lambert will be heading this fund.

Lambert was on CNBC to discuss the way the fund will function and the type of companies it will invest in.

No Pipeline Issues

“We are going to continue to invest the way we have always invested, right?” Lambert began. “We have been investing in technologies like wearables, like IoT (Internet of Things). This gives us the opportunity to really focus the spotlight on diversity, right? Because we have announced other funds in the past, but we have never done anything like this and the big issue - at least the perception – is that there is a pipeline issue, right?”

“There aren’t enough women led, there aren’t enough diversity led tech companies for the venture capital industry to engage and what we found when we started looking at these companies in early-January is that there are many of them.”

She continued, “But when you have a diverse team, right? That looks like the diverse population you are pursing, you actually can find these deals, we have got a pipeline of over a 100 companies that we have been looking at so far, so there’s not a pipeline issue, there is plenty of opportunity and we are excited about investing in them.”

There Are High-Quality Diverse Companies Out There

Lambert was asked if the pipeline issues are not there at all or not as much as it’s made out to be. She replied, “Well, I think, the perception is that there are zero, right? Or there’s zero high-quality, right? ...and what I have seen over the past 6 months is that there is very high-quality.”