Intel makes first foray into European healthcare

Intel Capital, the chip-maker’s corporate venture capital unit, has bought shares  worth $7.3 million (€5.7 million) in  BrainLAB, a German medical technology company.

BrainLAB, which provides software and hardware components for image-guided surgery and radiotherapy, is Intel’s first investment in the healthcare segment in Europe.

Mathias Raeck, a spokesman for Intel Capital, said healthcare had been a neglected market in the last decade and was now a priority for Intel, although it was not setting aside a specific pool of capital.

The corporate venturing arm invests for financial return but also to help the computer chip company move into new markets. Intel’s investment will help provide patients with consistently better, standardized and more cost-effective healthcare, he said.  

Intel and BrainLAB will share technology roadmaps to enable each to take advantage of research and development, as well as new innovations in both medical devices and IT platform technologies.