Intel to Acquire Movidius

Intel announces its intention to acquire Movidius. Intel SVP of New Technologies Group Josh Walden says: "We see massive potential for Movidius to accelerate our initiatives in new and emerging technologies. The ability to track, navigate, map and recognize both scenes and objects using Movidius’ low-power and high-performance SoCs opens opportunities in areas where heat, battery life and form factors are key. Specifically, we will look to deploy the technology across our efforts in augmented, virtual and merged reality (AR/VR/MR), drones, robotics, digital security cameras and beyond. Movidius’ market-leading family of computer vision SoCs complements Intel’s RealSense™ offerings in addition to our broader IP and product roadmap."

Remi El-Ouazzane, Movidius CEO, says "Movidius’ mission is to give the power of sight to machines. As part of Intel, we’ll remain focused on this mission, but with the technology and resources to innovate faster and execute at scale. We will continue to operate with the same eagerness to invent and the same customer-focus attitude that we’re known for, and we will retain Movidius talent and the start-up mentality that we have demonstrated over the years."

While the acquisition price has not been officially disclosed, Irish startup tracking site Fora reports that "the conditional offer is set to value Movidius at more than €300 million." The 10 year-old company has raised more than $85M in several funding rounds so far.

Irish Times reports that the the fundraising round last year valued the Movidius at about €250 million. "The company, which was co-founded by Sean Mitchell and David Moloney, now employs 140 staff across its global operations.

It recently announced plans to create 100 additional jobs in Dublin after raising an additional $40 million from new investors.

The last available accounts for the company show it made a $15 million loss in 2014, bringing accumulated losses to €63 million from €47.9 million a year earlier."