Catalyst Technologies

Catalyst Technologies
Type	Private
Founded	1981 (ceased operations in 1986)
Headquarters	Sunnyvale, California, USA
Key people	Nolan Bushnell, founder Larry Calof, founder John Anderson, founder
Industry	Technology incubator
Products
Number of people	8
Website

Catalyst Technologies was a venture capital group that was founded in 1981, making it one of the first technology company incubators.

History

After forming Atari in 1972 and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theatre in 1977, Nolan Bushnell founded a technology incubator with Larry Calof and John Anderson. Catalyst Technologies examined proposals for futuristic concepts and provided money to bring those concepts to fruition.

Startups funded by Catalyst Technologies

Axlon

Axlon Inc. was founded by Nolan Bushnell and John Vurich on March 26, 1980.

Axlon contracted Ron Milner to design a toy bear. The AG Bear, short for Almost Grown Bear, was manufactured by Axlon beginning in 1985. The AG Bear was a teddy bear that responded to a child's voice.

In 1985, Axlon and a team that included the project leader, Tom Zito, and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, began work on a VHS-based video game console codenamed NEMO, and later named Control-Vision. Hasbro agreed to invest $7 million USD in the project in exchange for the video game rights to the technology. Control-Vision was canceled shortly before its planned release date in 1989.

Hasbro acquired Axlon in 1986. In 1988, Axlon made a deal with Atari Corporation to create video games for the Atari 2600. Axlon closed in 1990.

ByVideo

ByVideo was founded on September 4, 1981 by Perry Odak. It developed an electronic shopping system wherein people used a touchscreen to order items from a Laserdisc. The system sent the order via modem to a warehouse, and the warehouse sent the item to the address of the person who ordered the items.

In 1988, the Florsheim Shoe Company employed the ByVideo system in Florsheim Express Shops for customers to order from an electronic catalog of 1,700 shoe styles.

The company lasted until 1989, but its technology led to the modern touchscreen kiosks that have since become commonplace.

ACTV

ACTV Inc. was co-founded by Michael J. Freeman and Stanley Weston in New York in 1983. The company sold a product, invented by Freeman that was an interactive cable television system that allowed for choosing camera angles or for quizzes. ACTV Inc. registered the technology with the United States patent office on March 21, 1984, and the patent was approved on July 22, 1986.

ACTV was funded with an investment from Catalyst Technologies for approximately $1.5 million USD and from an investment of an undisclosed amount by Leisure Concepts. Nolan Bushnell sat on the board of directors at ACTV until 1986. The company raised nearly $4 million USD by going public in 1990. Leisure Concepts sold its stake in 1991 at a loss.

By 1992, the technology was being used by educational and training facilities. On March 17, 1992, the Washington Post Company loaned $1.5 million USD to ACTV in exchange for 15% of its shares and for the right, in effect for a period of five years, to acquire 51% of ACTV’s training and educational business.

Androbot

Androbot was a robotics company that created the personal robot Topo, beginning in 1983.

Cinemavision

Cinemavision was a company that developed a television with four times the resolution of standard television sets of the time.

Cumma

Cumma was an electronics company that created a self-serve kiosk that loaded video games on a reprogrammable cartridge.

Etak

Etak Inc. was founded by Stan Honey, Ken Milnes, and Alan Philips in 1983.

The company was conceptualized in 1983 when Stan Honey was sailing with Nolan Bushnell in a Transpac race. Impressed by his navigational electronics, Bushnell asked Honey if he had any other ideas. Honey suggested an automobile navigation system, which led to the creation of Etak later that year. The name was chosen because etak is a Polynesian term for navigation.

Catalyst Technologies invested $500,000 USD in Etak and the company created the Etak Navigator. The Navigator led to modern GPS navigation systems, as the code in many modern systems is descended from Etak technology.

News Corporation acquired Etak for $25 million USD in 1989. It was then acquired by Sony Corporation in May 1996 and by Tele Atlas in May 2000. After the acquisition, Etak was absorbed into Tele Atlas.

Magnum Microwave

Magnum Microwave was a manufacturer of RF and microwave components.

Vistar productions

Vistar productions was a television show production company.