The top 25: Anthony Lin, head and US managing partner, Intel Capital
In August 2020, Wendell Brooks departed from US-headquartered chipmaker Intel after overseeing its corporate venturing arm, Intel Capital, for six years. Anthony Lin, who was leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and international investing for the corporate, stepped up to lead the unit and assumed a US-focused managing partner role.
Since Intel Capital was founded in 1991, it has invested in more than 1,500 companies globally, of which it has exited nearly 700 either through initial public offerings or M&A transactions.
Lin joined Intel’s M&A team in 2008 and has more than 25 years of experience in technology M&A, investments, strategy, financial planning and business development. He was formerly the leader of the equity international investing practice and a member of the investment committee.
Intel Capital invests in innovative technology startups and companies globally and helps portfolio companies leverage the corporate’s resources. In recent months, the unit provided funding for customer engagement platform developer Mighty Networks, real estate data and analytics platform developer Cherre, artificial intelligence software developer SambaNova Systems, video data software provider Iris.TV and cybersecurity ratings provider SecurityScorecard.
Rounds raised by game development platform Overwolf, employee engagement and performance software provider Centrical, cloud management technology developer Tetrate, fabless semiconductor technology developer Xsight Labs and urban aircraft manufacturer Volocopter are also among its latest deals.
Last year, it added new companies to its portfolio including business-monitoring software provider Anodot, smart connectivity system producer Astera Labs, autonomous driving technology developer Axonne, data analytics technology developer Hypersonix, language localisation service Lilt and big memory technology provider MemVerge.
China-based companies including pathology technology developer Konfoong Biotech International (KFBio), chip-focused software producer ProPlus Electronics and electronic speciality gases producer Spectrum Materials were also funded by the unit in 2020.
During the 2018 Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation (GCVI) Summit and in an open letter to the CVC community, Brooks shared Intel Capital’s initiative to mentor the best and the brightest women and under-represented minorities as part of its intern programme. Since Brooks’ pledge to diversity, the unit has reported spectacular progress in diversity representation, investing in some 80 female and minorities-led businesses as of April 2021.
Before joining Intel, Lin worked for 12 years in corporate finance, M&A and private equity roles at Banc of America Securities, ASAT, Merrill Lynch and PaineWebber. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California at Berkeley.
