Now, I don’t usually write about traditional software companies. But it seemed like this one definitely deserved it.
Portland-based Elemental Technologies has secured more than $7 million in its first round of funding.
Okay. So what’s being funded and why am I writing about it?
Utilizing general purpose, programmable “off-the-shelf” graphics processing units (GPUs), ETI software performs video encoding, transcoding, and filtering at unprecedented speeds while maintaining the highest video quality.
Who’s a-what-uh hunh? Okay. Maybe this will help:
[This technology] allows consumers to format their media up to 10 times faster than existing solutions.
Ah ha! Now you’re talking.
With the growing popularity of services like Seesmic, Vimeo (Portland connection), and Viddler—oh and that little site called YouTube—it’s obvious that video is very much a part of our future existence in the Web world. And while any number of companies have come up with ways to deliver that video content on the Web, there always seems to be one major sticking point to widespread adoption: Encoding video content for posting is excruciatingly slow.
To be successful, we’re going to have to be able to encode and upload video as quickly as we can download it. And Elemental may just be able to deliver.
The first product out from Elemental is consumer oriented, will arrive sometime before September and is expected to cost between $30 and $100, depending on the features. The software will allow consumers to take HD inputs such as a Blu-ray disc or homemade HD video and rip it to a computer, iPod or other device five to 10 times faster than existing technologies using the CPU.
No doubt, the infusion of cash will go a long way in promoting this offering—and ensuring that development continues.
Industry-leaders General Catalyst Partners of Boston, Massachusetts and Voyager Capital of Seattle, Washington co-led this $7.1M investment. Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian and the Silicon Forest blog notes:
In Oregon’s venture capital community, [Elemental]’s new investment represents the second big funding round this month. Last week, NexPlanar Corp., a small semiconductor company that recently moved to Hillsboro, announced it had raised $14.5 million in venture capital.
And let’s hope that greases the skids for other Silicon Forest startups looking for some backing.
For more information on the funding, see the Elemental press release on the investment. For more on the company and its technology, visit Elemental Technologies.