These 6 Artificial Intelligence Startups Could Be Intel's Next Acquisition Target

Who's Next On Intel's AI Shopping List?

Intel is investing heavily in artificial intelligence through acquisitions – and the company has built up its AI prowess over the past year through blockbuster acquisitions of companies like Mobileye, Itseez and Nervana Systems.

As the market's overall interest in AI increases, acquisitions in this space have also been at an all-time high, with market research company CB Insights stating in its recent "State of Artificial Intelligence" report that deals tied to AI startups shot up from 150 in 2012 to 698 in 2016.

Who is next on Intel's acquisition list as the company continues to build out its artificial intelligence portfolio? Here are six AI startups that the chip company could have its eyes on for its next deal.

Mighty AI

Mighty AI offers a Training Data As a Service platform that solves customers' big data issues through paying subject matter experts to customize AI engines – so customers can still use AI technology even if they may not have the necessary data sets to set up AI software. Mighty AI launched in 2014 as a smartphone app startup called Spare5, but in 2017 the company refocused itself to instead help companies scale their natural language models.

Intel has an existing relationship with Mighty AI as a customer – the chip company is promoting and selling Mighty AI's training data services to its global customers, so its technology could be an easy integration into Intel's existing AI portfolio. Intel's venture arm, Intel Capital, also led a $15 million funding round in Mighty AI in January.

DataRobot

DataRobot offers a software platform for machines that uses a method called parallel processing to evaluate open-source library models like R, Python and H2O, and automatically find the best option for implementing predictive analytics around an organization's data. The startup, founded in 2012, also offers a data science education program to help the critical shortage of data scientists in the industry through changing the speed of predictive analytics. For Intel, which previously invested in Data Robot's $33 million Series B round in November 2016, the acquisition of DataRobot could help broaden the company's predictive analytics AI capabilities.

Lumiata

Founded in 2013, Lumiata takes AI to the health-care space by applying data-driven medical science to patient data so that hospitals can access real-time predictive AI analytics. Using that data, hospitals can access more accurate information about symptoms, diagnoses and medications.

In May 2016, Intel Capital led a $10 million fund round for Lumiata as the startup accelerated its deployment of medical AI. A potential acquisition of Lumiata could flesh out Intel's existing AI solutions beyond the autonomous vehicle market to also include the lucrative health-care space.

AEye

AEye offers an advanced vision system that combines computer vision with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) – a remote sensing method that can examine the earth's surface and air. This system enables more accurate vision intelligence for autonomous vehicles that better understand how the external aspects of a scene around a car impacts the vehicle.

Intel participated in a $16 million Series A venture round for AEye in June. The startup, which also recently bought a $16 million Lidar Tech to bolster its computer vision technology, could round out Intel's already strong AI capabilities for autonomous vehicles.

CognitiveScale

CognitiveScale offers two products that interpret big data and implement machine learning across various aspects of the enterprise, from the front office to mission-critical core functions. These products are deployed through the company's cloud foundation which can be scaled over IBM, Amazon and Microsoft cloud infrastructures.

The CognitiveScale team combines management expertise in key industry verticals as well as experience in both enterprise software and machine learning. Intel co-led an investment round of up to $21.8 million for CognitiveScale, along with Norwest Venture Partners, in August 2016.

Element AI

Founded in 2016, Element AI builds customized applications that can be quickly brought to market, essentially offering AI as a service. This enables enterprises to quickly deploy AI capabilities without the difficulty of building up an internal AI team.

Intel has invested in the Montreal-based AI company, adding into a $102 million Series A round that was led by Data Collective and announced in June. The potential acquisition of the company could help Intel address the hurdle of enterprises that want an AI team but don't have the necessary resources.