Intel Capital Tuesday kicked off its ninth CEO Summit, an annual networking event for the corporate VC unit's portfolio companies that brings them together with executives from Fortune 1000 companies, their potential customers.
In his keynote, Intel Capital president Arvind Sodhani (pictured) gave a nod to the current economic environment, but proved that when you've got as much to invest as he does, it'ss easy to be optimistic. He recalled how at last year's event, held in Carlsbad, Calif., he described the economic conditions last year as a liquidity boom. That, of course, was before the credit crunch cratered the private equity industry.
"We now have slowdown in global growth rates everywhere," Sodhani said. "What a difference a year makes."
But he suggested that the downturn will not affect the aggressive push of Intel Corp.'s [INTC] investment arm to make bigger investments and more follow-on rounds, something Sodhani has pushed since he took the reins of Intel Capital in March 2005.
"We believe innovation and entrepreneurship is critical in such market turmoil," Sodhani said. "Innovation does not feel a recession."
The attendance numbers seemed to support Sodhani's assertion. The presence of over 600 startup execs, big company management and Intel staff make this the biggest CEO Summit so far. Maybe the current economy makes it all the more critical for startup to come to events like this to do business, but the sheer size of Intel Capital, the world's biggest corporate investment arm, places it in a class of its own. It has invested $7.5 billion in over 1,000 companies in 45 countries.
After rattling off a list of other Intel Capital accomplishments -- since it was founded in 1991, 168 IPOs and 212 acquisitions among the investments in its portfolio, which stands at 400 companies -- Sodhani revealed what he was building up to.
"You can't touch this," he said. Wait for it ... yes, the MC Hammer song came on, and Hammer himself walked on stage in shades.
"Arvind, that's my line," he said. The moment broke up a rather corporate presentation from Sodhani, but Hammer wasn't here just for that one liner. He will present a keynote to the meeting this evening, as he is co-founder and chief strategy officer of DanceJam.com, a social network where users can share dance videos. The recently launched startup has received funding from Softbank Capital, Rustic Canyon Ventures and various angel investors. -- Olaf de Senerpont Domis
See May 2007 post on last year's CEO Summit from Tech Confidential
See January 2007 story about Sodhani from TheDeal.com
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