Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment organization, announced $117 million of investments at the in Phoenix, adding 14 “disruptive” tech startups to its ever-growing portfolio of data-centered companies from around the world.

“At Intel, we’re focused on pushing the boundaries of technology to make amazing experiences possible,” an Intel Capital spokesperson said. “Each of these new portfolio companies is pushing disruptive technologies that advance key areas of focus for Intel.”

New investments continue to signal Intel Corporation’s transition into a data company, shaking up the startups’ respective industries and supporting the advancement of technology intended to improve health, convenience and quality of life for consumers.

“We’ve invested behind new applications of technology, with a shift from manufacturing to service-based solutions, such as smart health care, service robots and AI,” the spokesperson said. “Other investments include IoT, (robotics, drones, connected cars), as well as datacenter hardware and software.”

Intel Capital’s mission is two-fold: create a return on investment for Intel shareholders and support Intel Corporation’s strategic objectives and break ground on new tech.

“Intel has driven disruption for the last 50 years, changing the way we live by making compute ubiquitous,” said Wendell Brooks, president of Intel Capital and senior vice president of Intel Corporation, at the summit. “Intel Capital is continuing that legacy of disruption with these investments. These companies are shifting the way we think about artificial intelligence, communications, manufacturing and health care — areas that will become increasingly essential in coming years as the linchpins of a smarter, more connected society.”

Intel Corporation set up shop in Arizona in 1979, beginning operations in Chandler the following year. Today, the company has more than 10,000 , manufacturing microprocessors that power data centers and hundreds of millions of devices worldwide.

The company’s annual economic impact in Arizona is about $5.3 billion, according to a 2013 study by Arizona State University.

Intel Capital launched the Intel Capital Diversity Initiative in 2015 to provide diverse startups access to Intel Capital’s business development programs, global network, technology expertise and brand capital.

More than 10 percent of the portfolio is now led by entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities, which Intel Capital believes is “an essential part of making the tech industry more inclusive for everyone’s benefit,” the spokesperson said.

In 2018, Intel Capital invested $391 million in 89 companies, 22 percent of which were made in diverse companies. Four companies completed Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and 14 were acquired.

Intel Capital has invested $12.4 billion in 1,544 companies in 57 countries since 1991, and in that time 670 companies in the organization’s portfolio have gone public or participated in a merger.

“In recent years, Intel Capital has typically invested between $300 million to $500 million annually,” the spokesperson said. “At the same time, we’ve been making fewer new investments each year. Making fewer, bigger investments lets us take more meaningful stakes in companies and play a more relevant role in helping them grow and succeed.”

According to Intel Capital, the organization has paid attention to artificial intelligence (AI) for at least five to six years, including machine learning, cognitive computing and more. AI has been one of the most important areas of focus for Intel as the company sets out to “build the future” under its “virtuous cycle of growth” strategy.

This year’s investment recipients comprise a variety of unique new businesses from California, Texas, Canada, the United Kingdom, China and Israel.

“Our continued goal is to leverage the global resources and expertise of the world’s greatest engineering company, and its ecosystem of customers and partners, to help these founders accelerate growth and innovation,” Brooks said.

The 2019 Intel Capital Global Summit invited more than 600 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and Global 2000 business leaders to spend three days networking and company-building.

Here are Intel Capital’s disruptive startups for 2019:

• (Shanghai, China)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Houston, Texas)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Cupertino, California)
• (Santa Clara, California)
• (Guildford, United Kingdom)
• (Haifa, Israel)
• (Roseville, California)
• (San Diego, California)
• (Palo Alto, California)
• (Petaluma, California)
• (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
• (Zhuhai, China)

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Finding a job isn’t the process it used to be. If you’re on the hunt for a new occupation, you’ve probably come across an online chat box personality asking how it can help you find your dream job. These virtual assistants or chatbots have literally popped up everywhere—from mobile banking to entertainment ticket websites to food ordering. Now, they’re helping you find a job.

And in order to create those very happy and helpful virtual assistants there are engineering and software-friendly professionals who create the personalities and algorithms to help job seekers in their quest. One of those companies is Paradox Inc., a Scottsdale-based artificial intelligence recruiting startup, a company that just landed $13.34 million in Series A funding.

The non-institutional funding round, which was open to friends and family and close professional associates of the company, closed on Feb. 28 and is classified as growth capital, essentially laying the groundwork for more investment in the product. The company is also using the funding to pump life into sales, marketing and doubling the size of its current staff.

Company founder and CEO, Aaron Matos, has some experience in the recruiting world as he also carried the titles of founder and CEO of Jobing.com, another Scottsdale-based job posting and recruiting machine. Paradox has been self-financed until the opening round of funding and will move on to more finance opportunities after growth.

“We believe that today the recruiting experience should be mobile first and conversational, so we took these ideas and developed our recruiting AI assistant, Olivia,” says Jessica Rush, Chief Marketing Officer at Paradox. “We believe there is an opportunity to help spend more time with their talent by automating many of the administrative processes that exist in recruiting today.”

Paradox’s mainstay machine learning, artificial intelligence-driven product is the Olivia AI careers assistant. The happy helping chatbot pops up right when you head to the company’s main website and has conversations with job candidates online and touts 24/7 service, answering questions and helping with things like employee referrals and applications. It can even take care of scheduling interviews. The assistant cuts out the middleman in job searching and applying, helping job seekers in communicating with companies through the role of AI.

“We’re proud to work with local Arizona clients, as well as national and global organizations who care about leading their industries in recruitment and candidate experience,” adds Rush.

Currently, the tech startup is housed in southwest Scottsdale and is run by 45 employees as well as 30 off-site employees. Matos is currently planning to bring on another 45 employees within the next year to help with everything from software engineering to sales before expanding to Dallas and Chicago for regional operations.

At this point, Paradox has around 200 mid-market and enterprise customers on its roster with a shift in focus to boost the latter in the coming months. Customers such as Procter & Gamble, CVS Health and Staples are just a few of the startup’s high-profile clients.

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