Four years later, Stellar Technology 'launches' itself

Stellar Technologies LLC was created about four years ago as a support entity and holding company for several fledgling firms backed by principals in DBSI Group, a Boise-based commercial real estate firm.

Now, with a track record in developing four technology companies, Stellar has made a “formal company launch” – according to Stellar Chairman John Foster, “to let everyone know we are here in this business.”

Stellar was created in 1999 “to be an investment company for providing funding for a number of startup ventures we wanted to become involved in,” Foster said in an interview last week.

Since then, according to the ‘launch’ announcement, Stellar has invested more than $50 million in EmergeCore, Boise; BioReaction Industries, Portland; Wavetronix, Provo, Utah; and iTerra Communications, Fremont, Calif. The four companies, owned primarily by Stellar, employ a total of 91.

The company’s announcement says Stellar provides “our portfolio companies with mentoring and business resources” that include back-office functions such as accounting, human resources management, payroll functions and legal services.

That, Foster said, “allows them to focus entirely on the strategic areas of product development and sales.”

While Stellar’s launch announcement, timed for this week, does not mean the company is actively looking for other startups in which to invest, Foster said “over time we will.”

“We don’t have any goal or plan, but we’re always looking for new ideas, new companies,” said Foster, a retired DBSI partner.

The companies Stellar has funded include:

* BioReaction, Portland, which designs filters for mediation of industrial air pollution, particularly for removing volatile organic compounds from emissions produced by paint and engineered-wood plants. Eric Mott, director of business planning, said the company employs 18 and expects $6.5 million in revenue this year.

* EmergeCore, Boise, which develops “low-cost integrated IT solutions for small businesses and branch offices, and which in April launched an “IT-in-a-box” product combining a four-port switch, wi-fi access, FTP server, multiple domain support, an email server and VPN services.

EmergeCore, which employs 16 in a 67,000-square-foot leased facility at Blackeagle Center, is “on track for $3 million to $4 million” in sales this year, said CEO David Brown, and expects to make an announcement soon about a sizeable client in Japan.

* Wavetronix has developed a radar-based device for monitoring traffic on highways and is “developing several other products that can be used in the transportation industry,” Foster said. The company employs 22.”

* iTerra Communications designs “very high-speed, unique computer chips” in Fremont, near San Jose, and operates a manufacturing facility in New Jersey and a design office in Rome. Employment totals 35.

The four companies are majority-owned by Stellar.

Foster said principals in DBSI are Doug Swenson, Walt Mott, Charles Hassard and John Mayerson, who are principals also in Stellar, as are Var Reeve, Gary Bringhurst and John Wasden – all of Boise.