AUGUST 2007: DEAL WATCH
MyStrands,
my tastes, their ads
Oregon’s snazziest young high-tech company is
Corvallis-based MyStrands and the 50-employee operation has a
cool $25 million to prove it. Never heard of them? You’re
probably not in their target market — at least not
yet.
There’s a theory out there in the technosphere that
personalization is the new search, the new killer Web ap. That
means MyStrands has a shot at becoming the next Google. Long
shot? Maybe.
But MyStrands’ sizzle is a complicated algorithm that
detects patterns in the things you like (right now their
technology is applied mostly to music) and makes
recommendations of other things you might like. It taps the
wisdom of the masses by also analyzing the listening patterns
of the friends in your social network. And it’s mobile. A
new service, PartyStrands, allows you to send a text message to
a club’s DJ requesting a favorite song.
And the sizzle will find other applications. “We think
the technology can help companies provide personalized
advertising,” says MyStrands spokesman Gabriel
Aldamiz-echevarria. That is, ads that know your preferences,
your friends’ preferences and where you are located.
The $25 million MyStrands investment came from a trio of
investors in Spain, where a third of the employees reside.
Company founder Fransciso Martin, an artificial intelligence
entrepreneur from Barcelona, came to Oregon State University
for a post-doc and developed the MyStrands idea in Corvallis,
where company headquarters will remain.
Aldamiz-echevarria says the MyStrands deal did not capture the
attention of any Oregon investors. We hope there are no
regrets.
— Christina
Williams
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
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ANNOUNCED
|
EXP. CLOSE
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BUYER (HQ)
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SELLER (HQ)/PARENT
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PRICE (TERMS)
|
|
7-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Murphy Co. (Eugene)
|
veneer operation (WA) / Weyerhaeuser Co.
|
ND
|
|
11-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Wilsonville)
|
Sierra Design Automation (CA)
|
$90m (cash+ stock)
|
|
13-Jun
|
Q3 ‘07
|
Kellwood Company (MO)
|
Hanna Andersson (Portland) / Castanea Partners; Dorset
Capital; mgmt team
|
$175m
|
|
13-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
PremierWest Bancorp (Medford)
|
Consumer Finance Division business (Eugene) / Pacific
Continental Bank
|
ND
|
|
15-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Oversee.net (CA)
|
SnapNames (Portland)
|
ND
|
|
15-Jun
|
ND
|
WebTrends (Portland)
|
Webcontrol (Sweden)
|
ND
|
|
15-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
BASIS International Ltd. (NM)
|
AddOnSoftware (Beaverton) / MicroAccounting Sytsems
|
ND
|
|
18-Jun
|
Q3 ‘07
|
Restaurants Unlimited Inc. (WA)
|
Pacific Coast Restaurants (Portland)
|
ND
|
|
18-Jun
|
Q3 ‘07
|
Precision Castparts Corp. (Portland)
|
Caledonian Alloys Group Ltd. (Scotland)
|
ND
|
|
19-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Cardno Limited (Australia)
|
WRG Design (Portland)
|
ND (stock+cash)
|
|
20-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Wacom Co. Ltd. (Vancouver, WA)
|
Touchscreen Konnection Oasis (TX)
|
ND
|
|
20-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Toby’s Family Foods (Springfield)
|
Genesis Juice (Eugene)
|
ND
|
|
21-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
TRM Multitech Services (Canada)
|
photocopier business (Canada) / TRM (Portland)
|
$398,645
|
|
25-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
infoUSA (NE)
|
expresscopy.com (Portland)
|
ND
|
|
25-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
LTC Global Solutions (Medford)
|
Gelbwaks Insurance Services (FL)
|
ND
|
|
26-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Delphon Industries (CA)
|
UltraTape Industries (Salem)
|
ND
|
|
27-Jun
|
Q2 ‘07
|
Aequitas Catalyst Fund (Portland)/Aequitas Capital
Management
|
Paramount Graphics (Beaverton)
|
$10.8m
|
|
CAPITAL RAISING
|
|
ANNOUNCED
|
COMPANY (HQ) / LEADERSHIP
|
INVESTOR
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PRICE (TERMS)
|
|
5-Jun
|
Axial Vector Engine (Portland) / Raymond Brouzes, CEO
|
private lender
|
$250,000 (secured credit line)
|
|
6-Jun
|
Daverci Solutions Inc. (Hillsboro) / Marc Cameron, CEO
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ND
|
$3m (series A3)
|
|
12-Jun
|
MathStar, Inc. (Hillsboro) / Doug Pihl, CEO
|
public offering
|
$32.4m (equity)
|
|
14-Jun
|
Corrigo, Inc., (Wilsonville) / Rick Michaux, CEO
|
Sierra Ventures
|
$10m (series 5)
|
|
14-Jun
|
Oregon State University (Corvallis) / Edward Ray, President
|
Hallie Ford, co-founder, Ford Fnd.
|
$8m (donation)
|
|
18-Jun
|
MyStrands (Corvallis) / Francisco Martin, CEO
|
Antonio Asensio, CEO, Grupo Zeta
|
$25m (series B)
|
|
25-Jun
|
Or. Investment Fund (Portland) / Michael Arpey, mang.
director
|
Or. Public Employees Retirement Fund
|
$50m
|
|
25-Jun
|
Tektronix, Inc. (Beaverton) / Rick Wills, CEO
|
private institutional investors
|
$354m (sr. convertible notes)
|
|
26-Jun
|
Virtugo Software (Beaverton)
|
Foundation Cap.; OVP Venture Partners
|
$4m
|
|
27-Jun
|
YMCA of Columbia-Willamette (Portland) / Bob Hall, CEO
|
Watumull Properties.; Winkler Dev.
|
$9m (sale-leaseback)
|
|
REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
|
|
ANNOUNCED
|
BUYER (HQ)
|
REAL ESTATE (LOCATION)
|
SELLER
|
PRICE
|
|
1-Jun
|
Phillips Edison & Company (MD)
|
Sandy Marketplace (Sandy)
|
-
|
ND
|
|
4-Jun
|
Oregon Liquor Control Commission
|
Wilhelm Warehouse (Milwaukie)
|
-
|
$6.2m
|
|
4-Jun
|
Cascade Industrial LLC (MN)
|
industrial land (14.23 acres) (Gresham)
|
Sandy Boulevard Dev.
|
$2.9m
|
|
4-Jun
|
Vander Houwen Properties LLC
|
industrial space (Portland)
|
Beall Macadam LLC
|
$2.07m
|
|
5-Jun
|
Solena Cellars; John Niemeyer
|
Hyland Vineyard (100 acres) (McMinnville)
|
-
|
ND
|
|
13-Jun
|
Felton Properties (Portland)
|
office building (Beaverton)
|
McGill Commercial LLC
|
$10.3m
|
|
18-Jun
|
Arden Realty (CA)
|
6 buildings (Portland)
|
Blackstone Group LP
|
ND
|
|
18-Jun
|
Bean Investment Real Estate (Portland)
|
Sunrise Meadows apartments (NV)
|
-
|
$103m
|
|
18-Jun
|
Cherry Creek Prop. LLC (Lake Oswego)
|
gas station (Albany)
|
Camden Holdings LLC (CA)
|
$1.48m
|
|
20-Jun
|
Corbett Summit LLC
|
2 office properties (Portland)
|
Michael and Mary Murphy (CA)
|
$2.47m
|
List
researched by Mark Druskoff
ND=Not disclosed
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