DUBAI - Intel, the world’s largest microchip maker, said on Wednesday it has invested in a UAE-based software company as it increases its presence in the Middle East.Intel said its venture capital arm, Intel Capital, has made an undisclosed investment in NeuString, a provider of billing software to mobile telecoms companies.
“The investment is of a considerable size, but it is still a minority investment,” Nikolaj Aertebjerg, CEO of NeuString, said in a phone interview, declining to give the value of the investment.
NeuString, set up in 2008, is headquartered in Dubai and has offices in Denmark, Russia and Ukraine.
Aertebjerg said the company works with “tier 1 and tier 2 operators”, including several in the Middle East, without elaborating.
The NeuString investment is part of $25 million Intel Capital is pumping into 17 companies worldwide in the form of new and follow-on investments, Intel said.
The investment is Intel’s seventh in the Middle East since October last year when it bought a minority stake in the UAE’s Sphere Networks, a maker of network management software.
Since then Intel has invested in three UAE-based IT companies and two Jordanian digital content firms.
“We are very committed to the Middle East,” Feroz Sanaulla, Intel Capital regional director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, said in the interview.
“Even with the global slowdown, we are not wavering and continue our entrepreneurial support to the region.”
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Sanaulla said Intel is working on at a few media and telco deals and will begin looking to invest in Morocco next year. He said asset prices have come down significantly due to the global financial crisis.
“Generally speaking our focus has been in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan and the UAE. I would like to add Morocco to that, but that will be next year some time,” he said.
Sanaulla said Intel plans look for “larger and more impactful deals” next year and focus on developing the companies in which it has already invested.
“We probably will slow down our deals in terms of quality. I want to move to nurturing the companies we have invested in ... for that they need a lot of support,” he said.
“We will look for larger and more impactful deals in terms of dollar value and sectors that we would like our money to go.”
Intel Capital set up its $50 million Intel Capital Middle East and Turkey Fund in 2005.
Intel’s first investment in the region was a joint venture with Egyptian mobile operator Orascom Telecom to ramp up deployment of WiMax networks.