SEPTEMBER 2008: THE STATE WE'RE IN, DEAL WATCH
It’s Elemental: cutting-edge video processing
FROM THE OUTSIDE, what Elemental Technologies does is pretty
easy to understand.
The Portland-based startup, which spun out of Pixelworks in
2006, produces the Badaboom Media Converter, a software program
that quickly converts DVDs and other digital videos for viewing
on iPods and other devices. ETI’s arsenal also includes
the RapiHD Accelerator for Adobe Premier Pro, a high-speed
video editing program for creative video professionals.
But peek inside, and ETI becomes a complex world of algorithms,
graphics processing units and an advanced type of computer
programming called parallel programming, where multiple
instructions are carried out simultaneously.
Perhaps we’ll stay outside a little longer.
The company, which employs 14, closed its first round of
venture financing in July with a $5.5 million investment led by
Seattle’s Capital Voyager and Boston-based General
Catalyst Partners. CEO Sam Blackman says ETI will use the
funding to deliver its first products later this year via
relationships it’s built with companies like Adobe
Systems and Nvidia Corp.
“We are also going to use it to go after larger markets,
including the Internet video space,” he says.
Blackman says ETI’s one-of-a-kind technology —
essentially a graphics processing unit-accelerated video
encoding/transcoding engine — gives the company an edge
over competitors when it comes to performance, cost and
flexibility. And though finding skilled parallel programmers is
proving to be an on-going challenge, Blackman says ETI is at
the front edge of tomorrow’s video processing.
“The wave of parallel computing is just beginning, driven
by the physical limitations we are running into on the silicon
manufacturing front,” he says.
“I can see all video processing moving into the parallel
domain over the next few years, and Elemental’s software
has the potential to be the fundamental technology for this
shift. If in five years Elemental’s software is powering
not just PC video but IPTV delivery, Internet video services
and broadcast facilities, then we’ll have done our
job.”
JON BELL
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MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
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PRICE
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EXP. CLOSE
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BUYER / PARENT (HQ)
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SELLER / PARENT (HQ)
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ANNOUNCED
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$400M
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Q3
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Boeing/(IL)
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Insitu (WA)
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7/22
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ND
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Q2 ‘08
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Aequitas Capital Management (Lake Oswego)
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Skagit Gardens (WA)
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7/9
|
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ND
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ND
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Ferro/(OH)
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Fluid Logic (Portland)
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7/21
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|
ND
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Q3
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Guardian Management (Portland)
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Eight branches of Sperry Van Ness (CA)
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7/29
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|
ND
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ND
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RoadLink (GA)
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American Frieght Systems (Vancouver, WA)
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7/2
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|
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REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
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PRICE
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BUYER / PARENT (HQ)
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REAL ESTATE (LOCATION) / SELLER (HQ)
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ANNOUNCED
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$1B
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Not yet known
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132 properties (Not disclosed)/Sunwest Management
(Salem)
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7/25
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$5M
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NBS Real Estate Capital (Portland)
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Sagebrook Apartments (CO)
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7/8
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$2.75M
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SKL Properties LLC (Beaverton)
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Forest Creek Apartments (Milwaukie)/Shields Family
LLC (Lake Oswego)
|
7/14
|
|
$2.14M
|
SDM Development (WA)
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Heritage Park Apartments (Beverton)/Julie Emerick
(CA)
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7/21
|
|
$2.05M
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Key Mechanical (Portland)
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Commons at Southshore Building (Portland)/Lone Eagle
Investments (TX)
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7/24
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$2.03M
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KMC Investment Group (Gresham)
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Riverside Apartments (WA)/Vretenar (WA)
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7/25
|
|
$1.98M
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Bookman Family Trust (CA)
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Robert’s Landing Apartments/SKL Properties LLC
(Beaverton)
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7/7
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$1.42 M
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2021 Morrison
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11, 045 sq. ft. at the Kingston Building
(Portland)/Viking Investment (Portland)
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7/24
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ND
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Northwest Real Estate Capital (ID)
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Four apartment complexes (Portland)/Winkler
Development (Portland)
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7/25
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CAPITAL RAISING
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PRICE (TYPE)
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COMPANY (HQ) / LEADERSHIP
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INVESTOR (HQ)
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ANNOUNCED
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$145M (equity securities)
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Vulcan Power (Bend)/Steve Munson
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Denham Capital (MA)
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7/28
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$16.1M (Series D equity)
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Wellpartner (Portland)/Michale Wright
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Burrill & Company (CA)
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7/29
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$14.5M (round three)
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NexPlanar Corp. (Hillsboro)/ Jim LaCasse
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InterWest Partners LLC (CA)
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7/11
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$5.5M (round two)
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Elemental Technologies Inc. (Portland)/Sam Blackman
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Voyager Capital (WA)
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7/17
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$600,000 (seed round)
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Clear Catheter Systems (Bend)/Ed Boyle
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Bend Venture Conference (Bend), X Gen Ltd. (OH),
Cleveland Clinic (OH)
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7/24
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$300,000 (corp. gift)
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Oregon State University’s Open Source Lab
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Google (CA)
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7/25
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