Intel Capital invests $24 million in seven new companies

Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital, has invested $24 million in seven new startups, the company announced today.

So far this year, Intel said it has seen two initial public offerings and 10 acquisitions from its portfolio of investments in startups.

The new investments include five new software startups and two follow-on investments. Since the company is a strategic corporate investor, it shoots for both a financial return and investments that help Intel’s strategic interests. The deals show Intel isn’t slowing down its investments despite a slow world economy.

“These are the latest investments that show we invest in the software ecosystem,” said Lisa Lambert (pictured) vice president at Intel Capital, the investment arm of the world’s biggest chip maker, at Intel’s software day in San Francisco.

Intel invested in enterprise cloud automation software provider DynamicOps; building management software provider enLighted; real-time analytics provider Guavus; platform-as-a-service commerce company IP Commerce; and social games analytics service provider Swrve.

Intel Capital also said it recently closed follow-on investments in predictive analytics company Revolution Analytics and cloud-based media streaming service Gaikai.

Lambert said the company has invested $427 million in 76 companies so far this year. Lambert said it has made an investment in a music delivery company this year, but it hasn’t disclosed the name yet.