Of the thirty-four (34) technology companies that Oasis Capital Partners has advised over the past four years, five were companies where the firm also made a principal investment. These companies are profiled below, with particular emphasis on the value that Oasis Capital principals added during the investment process.The firm continues to maintain its equity position in these companies as portfolio holdings. It has made a partial exit from its investment in Mother Nature Inc. (See below for a description of the company).
Berliner Communications, Inc. (BCI)
Berliner Communications Inc. (BCI) provides end-to-end services to the wireless communications industry including planning, deployment and management of network build-outs. Its product line covers four major service areas: radio frequency engineering, site acquisition, infrastructure engineering and project management. Telecom carriers, equipment suppliers and tower management companies all use BCI for its single-source, turnkey solutions.Oasis worked extensively with BCI management to create a corporate strategy for building value through selected acquisitions. Over an 18-month period, the Oasis/BCI team assembled a supporting financing strategy, identified investors and completed an $11.5 million equity raise. As a result, BCI is positioned to lead an emerging consolidation among telecom infrastructure companies.
Mother Nature, Inc.
Mother Nature, Inc. (“Mother Nature”) was formed to complete the acquisition of the assets of MotherNature.com, the #1 rated online health product retailer in 2000. Mother Nature, Inc. becomes the seventh company to join the network of online companies in the “healthy living” market aggregated by naturalist.com, inc. (“naturalist.com” or “naturalist”), another Oasis portfolio company. The addition of Mother Nature gives naturalist.com presence in the health products, eco-travel, environmental news/newswire and responsible investing segments of a growing market.Oasis worked with naturalist.com to identify, negotiate, structure and fund the acquisition. Additionally, Oasis assisted the company in developing and executing a new business model retaining core competencies in-house, and outsourcing operations and order fulfillment.
Naturalist.com, inc.
Naturalist.com, Inc. (“naturalist.com” or “naturalist”) is a broad-based online aggregator of companies in the “healthy living” market. Ranging from eco-travel to alternative health, healthy living is a large ($227 billion), rapidly growing (20% p.a.), but highly fragmented marketplace. As a market intermediary, naturalist uses the Internet to cross-sell complementary products and to extend the reach of healthy living companies. Naturalist is both a business-to-business (B2B) and a business-to-consumer (B2C) player in e-commerce.Oasis co-founded and incubated naturalist.com as a uniquely positioned lifestyle portal. Oasis principals, then, worked with management to develop the Company’s contrarian strategy (growth on the Internet through acquisitions) and facilitated naturalist’s evolution into a premiere online network. This careful positioning, and an effective telling of the “naturalist story,” enabled the Company to complete an $850,000 equity private placement in a difficult (March 2000) market.<
SuperDrive, Inc.
SuperDrive, Inc.("SuperDrive") is a 3-year old startup built around the patented invention of an auxiliary motor drive system that increases fuel efficiency and reduces emissions in motor vehicles. The Company is working with truck manufacturers and truck fleet operators, as strategic partners, to bring the product to the original equipment manufacturer ("OEM") and retrofit markets for heavy vehicles.Oasis is working with SuperDrive's management team to define marketing and financing strategies, and to raise the Company's next round of financing.