Venture capital is commonly referred to as a people business. Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of technology company Intel, has adopted that approach more than most by accessing a diaspora of former employees to help syndicate deals, and thousands of entrepreneurial executives it has backed over nearly 30 years.

Since its launch in 1991, Intel Capital has invested a total of $12.5bn in more than 1,550 startups, focusing on artificial intelligence, autonomous technology, data centres and cloud, 5G, next-generation computing and a range of other disruptive technologies.

Wendell Brooks, president of Intel Capital and chairman of the GCV Leadership Society, took the reins of the unit at the start of 2016 after the retirement of Arvind Sodhani and quickly set about installing a thesis of delivering value to its…