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Portland has entered the Amazon.
Seattle-based tech bruiser Amazon announced yesterday that it has secured a deal to acquire Portland-based video streaming company Elemental Technologies.
Elemental specializes in software that converts video meant
for traditional TV broadcasts into multiple digital formats to stream it to devices
over the internet. In a blog post, the company's CEO and co-founder Sam
Blackwell stated that Elemental Technologies has already been working with
Amazon for the past four years, and the deal will be finalized later this year.
Blackman states that Elemental "will continue to operate
under our existing brand" as part of Amazon Web Services, the online retailer's
cloud computing arm.
Last year, at a TechFestNW panel alongside Charlie
Brown of Context Partners, Blackman talked about how his company has embraced
Portland's culture, and uses it as a selling point to recruit talent from
outside of Oregon.
He also talked about the need to carry on the legacy of earlier
Portland entrepreneurs like Phil Knight.
"We haven't built companies the way we have in the
past," Blackman said. "We have a responsibility to do it again."
Elemental Technologies spokeswoman Laura Barber tells WW that the company's Portland location
was something its leadership didn't want to lose in the buyout.
"That was a really important consideration," she said. "We
want to stay here."
WWeek 2015