Nov 02, 2022

WiSA Technologies

WiSA Technologies, a developer of spatial, wireless sound technology for smart devices and next-generation home entertainment systems, is moving forward in its exploration of strategic alternatives to consider a wide range of options for the company. To explore strategic opportunities specifically involving the company's IP and licensable software used in WiSA E and WiSA DS technologies, the board of directors approved the engagement of AQ Technology Partners during the third quarter to assist in this process. To date, four companies have executed NDAs in consideration of a potential transaction. WiSA Technologies, with its advisors, is evaluating a broad range of strategic transactions. Potential strategic transactions that may be explored or evaluated as part of this process include the potential for capital raising transactions, an acquisition, sale of assets, including substantially all of the company's assets, merger, business combination, partnership, joint venture, licensing and/or another strategic alternative. Despite devoting efforts to identify and evaluate potential strategic transactions, the process may not result in any definitive offer to consummate a strategic transaction. WiSA Technologies does not expect to disclose developments with respect to this process unless or until the evaluation of strategic alternatives has been completed or the board of directors has concluded disclosure is appropriate or legally required. WiSA Technologies is headquartered in Beaverton, OR.

ATREG

ATREG announced that the acquisition of onsemi's operational manufacturing fab located in Pocatello, Idaho, by LA Semiconductor has officially closed. Established in 2022 by Tallmadge, OH-based Linear ASICS, LA Semiconductor is the newest U.S.-owned and -operated, fully operational semiconductor foundry for analog, mixed signal, and power products. The Pocatello fab is located on a 33-acre campus with over 50,000 square feet of cleanroom space and over 550,000 square feet of building space. Headquartered in Seattle, ATREG specializes in helping global companies divest and acquire infrastructure-rich advanced technology manufacturing assets, including front-end and back-end semiconductor fabs, cleanroom facilities, and technology campuses in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Nov 01, 2022

BERK

Immel

Seattle-based consulting firm BERK hired Madison Immel as an associate. She will focus on community outreach and engagement. Before pursuing her master's degree, Immel was the community engagement manager for Next Up, a nonprofit activating young people in politics and social justice in Oregon, where she expanded the organization's volunteer base to break down barriers disproportionately impacting marginalized communities. Prior to joining BERK, Immel also worked for the cities of Bellevue and Sultan. She has a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and a B.A. in Politics and Spanish from Willamette University.

Qumulo

Data storage company Qumulo announced its position as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Distributed File Systems and Object Storage for the fifth consecutive year. Gartner positioned Qumulo in the Leaders quadrant based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute. Over the past 12 months, Qumulo has added core functionality while expanding platform options for customers. Customers can now deploy Qumulo's software on a variety of platforms: All three major public clouds (AWS, Azure & GCP) as well as multiple hardware platforms for various price-performance needs from a variety of industry leading platform vendors including HPE, Supermicro, Arrow and Fujitsu. According to Gartner Peer Insights, Qumulo has an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars in the Distributed File Systems and Object Storage market, based on 119 reviews, as of October 2022. Qumulo is based in Seattle.

GridStor

Portland-based GridStor, a developer and operator of grid-scale battery energy storage systems, announced the acquisition of a portfolio of storage projects currently in development in the greater Los Angeles area from Upstream Energy of San Diego. The portfolio consists of multiple projects, with proposed on-line dates between 2024 to 2026. The projects will be going online in an important time for California's transition to clean energy, as the state works toward a carbon free electricity system by 2045. The battery storage projects will be built on previously disturbed sites in urban areas in the LA basin area near existing power lines and substations, allowing the batteries to quickly connect to the electric grid upon completion. Once online, the projects will provide needed capacity for regional utilities to ensure power grid reliability and will be key to the increasing volumes of renewable energy being added to the state's electric grid and managed by California's Independent System Operator. GridStor was established to build the infrastructure needed to transition the electricity grid toward a renewable, low-carbon future. GridStor is backed by the Sustainability and Infrastructure Investing groups within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. GridStor has assembled a team of experienced professionals with over 125 years of combined energy experience to develop, design, construct and operate battery storage systems at scale.

Oct 28, 2022

Atlas Health

Seattle-based Atlas Health named five new executives to its leadership team: David Franklin, president; Christopher Parks, chief client officer; Nicole Nye, vice president of product management; Nicole Hess, senior vice president of marketing; and Todd Helmink, head of strategic partnerships. Atlas Health connects patients to $30 billion in annual philanthropic aid from over 20,000 patient assistance and social support programs. Franklin will lead marketing, sales, partnerships, pharmacy, cancer services and client success functions. He previously served as co-founder and COO of Connance, a health care revenue cycle and predictive analytics technology company acquired by Waystar. Parks will be responsible for managing the company's patient advocacy, client success and implementation teams. Previously, he founded Change Healthcare, a technology platform that improves information flow and cost and quality transparency for payers, providers and patients. Parks also held several senior-level positions with Avaneer Health. Nye will lead the management team to advance product strategy and execution. Over the past 25 years, she launched one of the first consumer-driven health plans in the country and has delivered advanced technology solutions to the provider market. She previously guided product management and strategy in senior roles at McKesson, Connance and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. Most recently, Hess helped to build the marketing and demand generation functions at Olive, a health care AI automation leader. Previously she held marketing leadership roles at Surgical Information Systems, MedAssets (now FinThrive and Vizient), DocASAP (now owned by Optum) and Connance. Helmink will focus on building out the partner strategy and ecosystem to expand the company's hospital and health system network, as well as establishing new relationships within the payer, pharmaceutical and specialty pharmacy verticals. He has held both sales and strategic partnership executive roles at PocketScript, Allscripts Healthcare, and most recently at ConnectiveRx.

fabric

Commerce platform fabric hired Yon Nuta as its first chief product officer. In this role, Nuta will lead product vision and development across fabric's suite of commerce offerings. He joins fabric from Babylon Health, where he guided analytics, product design and development as CPO. He has also held product leadership roles at Gaia, Talenthouse, ComScore and Microsoft. Previously, he was the co-founder/CEO of TalkIQ. Fabric secured $140 million in Series C funding in February. Headquartered in Seattle, with offices around the world, fabric is backed by SoftBank, Glynn Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Stripes, B Capital Group, Greycroft, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Innovation Global Capital, Ascend Venture Capital, and Expa.

Quinault Indian Nation

Business Wire photo [enlarge]

Quinault Indian Nation is planning this cable landing station.

The Quinault Indian Nation launched Toptana Technologies, the first Indigenous-owned cable landing station and backhaul network provider on the West Coast. This new venture will bring connectivity to unserved and under-served markets across Washington and Oregon, and extending to surrounding communities, rural areas and other tribal groups. Toptana will provide trans-Pacific network capacity from the Pacific Northwest to Asia-Pacific and Oceania markets, while enabling network access from the coast to the I-5 corridor with onward connectivity to Seattle, and Hillsboro, Oregon. The cable landing station will support four sub-sea cable customers at launch, with the capacity to expand up to 16 over time. Construction of the landing station will begin in mid- to late 2023, and is expected to be operational in 2025. Assured Communications Advisors was selected to be the primary operations service provider and facilitator of sales and industry partnerships. The Quinault Indian Nation is a sovereign Indian nation covering about 210,000 acres, including 27 contiguous miles of coastline, in the Pacific Northwest. Its population consists of the Quinault and Queets tribes and descendants of five other coastal tribes: Quileute, Hoh, Chehalis, Chinook and Cowlitz.