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April 08, 2011, 12:04 AM EDT
By Douglas MacMillan, Ian King and Ari Levy
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp.’s venture capital arm is investing in digital textbook and tablet maker Kno Inc., the companies plan to announce in the next week, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The financing of about $30 million may include equity and debt and could be joined by Kno’s previous investors, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
The funding boosts Intel’s involvement in the growing field of educational technology, a market that may top $47 billion this year, according to research firm Compass Intelligence. The alliance may also help Santa Clara, California-based Intel find wider distribution for its chips in tablet computers.
Founded in 2009, Kno raised $46 million in equity and debt financing last September from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm co-founded by Web pioneer Marc Andreessen. Before the Intel-led investment, the Santa Clara-based startup had raised a total of $65 million.
Kno said in November 2010 that it would charge $599 for its single-screen tablet aimed at students and $899 for a dual- screen version. The company shipped a limited number of the devices in December and then suspended sales.
Jennifer Acree, an outside spokeswoman for Kno, declined to comment.
Investment Portfolio
At the end of last year, Intel Capital held a portfolio of investments worth $2.27 billion. Since 1991, it’s invested more than $9.5 billion in more than 1,000 companies. In that period, 175 portfolio companies have gone public and 241 were acquired or participated in a merger, according to Intel’s website.
The investment arm of the world’s largest chipmaker looks for technologies and products that will support or create demand for its personal-computer chips.
Intel, whose processors power more than 80 percent of the world’s PCs, has struggled to parlay that dominance into sales in the faster-growing market for tablet computers. Apple Inc.’s iPad runs on chips based on ARM Holdings Plc’s technology, more widely used in mobile phones.
Kno is the second education-related startup founded by Osman Rashid. In 2005, he co-founded online textbook rental provider Chegg Inc. and led the company to $100 million in annual sales in less than five years. While at Chegg, he raised seed funding for Kno, which was then called Kakai.
--Editors: Stephen West, Nick Turner
To contact the reporters on this story: Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at Dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net; Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp.’s venture capital arm is investing in digital textbook and tablet maker Kno Inc., the companies plan to announce in the next week, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
The financing of about $30 million may include equity and debt and could be joined by Kno’s previous investors, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
The funding boosts Intel’s involvement in the growing field of educational technology, a market that may top $47 billion this year, according to research firm Compass Intelligence. The alliance may also help Santa Clara, California-based Intel find wider distribution for its chips in tablet computers.
Founded in 2009, Kno raised $46 million in equity and debt financing last September from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm co-founded by Web pioneer Marc Andreessen. Before the Intel-led investment, the Santa Clara-based startup had raised a total of $65 million.
Kno said in November 2010 that it would charge $599 for its single-screen tablet aimed at students and $899 for a dual- screen version. The company shipped a limited number of the devices in December and then suspended sales.
Jennifer Acree, an outside spokeswoman for Kno, declined to comment.
Investment Portfolio
At the end of last year, Intel Capital held a portfolio of investments worth $2.27 billion. Since 1991, it’s invested more than $9.5 billion in more than 1,000 companies. In that period, 175 portfolio companies have gone public and 241 were acquired or participated in a merger, according to Intel’s website.
The investment arm of the world’s largest chipmaker looks for technologies and products that will support or create demand for its personal-computer chips.
Intel, whose processors power more than 80 percent of the world’s PCs, has struggled to parlay that dominance into sales in the faster-growing market for tablet computers. Apple Inc.’s iPad runs on chips based on ARM Holdings Plc’s technology, more widely used in mobile phones.
Kno is the second education-related startup founded by Osman Rashid. In 2005, he co-founded online textbook rental provider Chegg Inc. and led the company to $100 million in annual sales in less than five years. While at Chegg, he raised seed funding for Kno, which was then called Kakai.
--Editors: Stephen West, Nick Turner
To contact the reporters on this story: Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at Dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net; Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net; Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
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