In many ways, this marks the end of an era—one that some consider the first true corporate venture capital (CVC) firm. Founded nearly 35 years ago, Intel Capital has backed notable enterprise tech companies such as DocuSign, MongoDB, and Hugging Face, along with almost 2,000 other startups.
However, according to Mark Rostick, Vice President and Senior Managing Director at Intel Capital, this transition presents a new opportunity for the firm while allowing it to retain many of the advantages it had as a CVC.
Rostick joined Intel Capital in 1999 after a friend encouraged him to apply. At the time, he was working as a tech licensing attorney but wasn’t enjoying it. After meeting the Intel Capital team, he was so eager to join that he jokingly said he would even mop floors if needed.
“You get to work with some of the smartest people in the world,” Rostick said. “Starting something from the ground up is the hardest thing in business, and the people doing it are incredible to be around. The opportunity to work alongside them while applying my skills was just too good to pass up.”
Over the past two decades, Rostick has seen the firm invest over $20 billion in more than 1,800 companies, leading to over 700 successful exits.
The idea of spinning Intel Capital off from its parent company isn’t new. According to Rostick, it had been discussed several times in the past, mainly focusing on whether the firm could move faster and operate more independently. But the question was always: What would it lose without Intel?
By early 2024, these discussions became more serious, and by last fall, the decision had solidified. Rostick and Anthony Lin, the head of Intel Capital, became comfortable with the idea of standing on their own.
“We believe our track record deserves attention from outside investors,” said Rostick. “We’ve done well—even in a venture market where many firms struggled with exits. That gave us confidence that we could position ourselves as an independent firm.”
One event that reinforced their timing was Intel Capital’s successful exit from Astra Labs. The firm had backed Astra Labs in 2018, and in March 2024, the semiconductor company went public at a $5.5 billion valuation. Just a year later, its market cap had risen to $9.8 billion, making it one of the most successful venture-backed exits of 2024.
Rostick noted that this success demonstrated to potential investors that Intel Capital knew how to pick the right bets—at a time when venture-backed exits were rare. According to PitchBook data, U.S. venture-backed exits in 2023 totaled $149.2 billion—a sharp decline from $312 billion in 2019 and far from the record $841 billion in 2021.
However, it’s unclear whether everyone at Intel Capital was fully on board with the spin-off. Since discussions turned serious, several longtime managing directors—including Mark Lydon, Arun Chetty, Sean Doyle, and Tommy Simorenski—have left the firm. All had been with Intel Capital for over 20 years, as first reported by Axios.
Intel Capital’s spokesperson denied that these departures were directly linked to the spin-off announcement.
Meanwhile, Intel itself is going through a turbulent period. Former CEO Pat Gelsinger unexpectedly retired on December 1, according to Axios, and discussions over his departure were ongoing. Around the same time, Intel delayed the launch of its Ohio chip factory and scrapped plans for its Falcon Shores AI chip. The company has since appointed Lip-Bu Tan as its new CEO, reportedly with major transformation plans in mind.
Despite all this, the spin-off remains on track.
According to Rostick, Intel Capital expects to become fully independent by Q3 2025. The new company will still resemble Intel Capital in many ways—it will keep Intel as an investor and continue focusing on early-stage startups in AI, cloud, devices, and frontier technologies. Shortly after formalizing the spin-off, the firm plans to raise external funding.
“We’ve shared our vision with investors, and the response has been very positive,” said Rostick. “We’re not naïve—we know this will be a challenging process.”
Ultimately, the success of this new standalone firm will depend on the market’s response. But for now, Intel Capital continues business as usual.
“We’re actively investing in new opportunities, supporting our portfolio where it makes sense, and managing exits just as we always have,” Rostick said. “As we transition, we plan to keep moving at the same pace we always have—that’s been the goal all along.”
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