Local Internet Start-Up Secures $1.2 Million For Development Translation Technologies Helps Computer-Assisted Design Engineers

Tue., Jan. 18, 2000

By Mike Roarke mikero@spokesman.com

A Spokane Internet start-up company plans to announce today that it has accumulated $1.2 million in local investment cash to fuel product development and marketing.

Translation Technologies Inc. (TTI) was started 18 months ago by Fred Zucker, former CEO of Advanced Input Devices, and two other partners.

Recently, the company has been testing its software, which translates computer-assisted design (CAD) programs from one format to another. The service can be utilized by engineers using separate computer design tools - or CAD and CAM (computer assisted manufacturing) equipment - to more easily share designs.

Bruce Jenkins, vice president of Daratech Inc., a market research company in Cambridge, Mass., said reliable translation programs are much needed.

Jenkins said the market this year for mechanical design software is estimated at $6.6 billion. He added that a handful of companies operate in the design translation niche, but existing programs need improvement.

TTI currently has 10 employees with offices in Spokane and Pullman.

One early investor was the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute.

Rob Daugherty, a principal partner with Northwest Angel Investors, said his business also placed money with TTI. Daugherty sits on the company’s board as one of TTI’s co-founders.

Allison Johnson Venture Partners, a Spokane based investment company, recently added $825,000 to TTI’s coffers, bringing the total to $1.2 million.

In an interview last week, TTI’s Zucker said, “It takes a lot of effort to translate different design parts,” to which some companies have to devote considerable expense.

Zucker declined to talk about the specific techniques TTI uses to enhance reliability in its design translations.

TTI will use the Internet to send and receive drawings to be reformatted. Zucker said costs for projects will range from $75 to $125 for each product “part” that needs to be translated.

Zucker said by year end TTI hopes to have the capacity to translate computer drawings made on 10 different software programs.

The company plans to employ 200 within five years.

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Local Internet Start-Up Secures $1.2 Million For Development Translation Technologies Helps Computer-Assisted Design Engineers

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