1. On the way to work I heard about the Internet INcubators. There are about a dozen of them in the US.
2. Of course we already have CMGI.
3. Oracle has announced an INternet investment fund.
4. IBM and MSFT and a few others have a lots of investments in Internet companies.
5. Last week IBM set aside 500 mil for Internet investments.
6. Soros is investing in Indian internet companies.
7. This is a rat-CHASE, man! -g- bloomberg.com
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Chase to Open European Internet Fund With Episode-1 (Update2)
By Robert B. Cox
Chase to Open European Internet Fund With Episode-1 (Update2)
(Adds Chase earnings in eighth paragraph.)
London, Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Chase Manhattan Corp., the
second-largest U.S. banking company, said it would team up with
Episode-1 Partners to open a $100 million fund to invest in
European start-up companies, extending its bid to profit from the
growth in the Internet.
Chase Capital Partners and Episode-1, founded by pioneer U.K.
Internet investors Richard Tahta and Simon Murdoch, will provide
funds for companies in the process of starting operations, known
as ''stage-one financing.''
By working with Tahta and Murdoch, who founded a British
online bookseller they later sold to Amazon.com Inc., Chase said
it's hoping to identify and buy stakes in new businesses that may
become the next Amazon.com or Yahoo! Inc. The new partnership will
compete with U.S. and European venture capital firms, such as
Carlyle Group, Apax Partners and TL Lee, Putnam Capital.
''In Europe there is a lack of this kind of seed money, so
part of the idea was to bridge that gap by working with these
people who have experience managing Internet companies and who are
very hands-on,'' said Ian Oxley, who specializes in investing in
Internet-related companies for Chase Capital Partners.
Repeat Success
Chase hopes to repeat the success of its Internet investment
partnership with Flatiron Partners in the U.S. and Latin America,
said Lindsay Stuart, head of Chase Capital Partners in Europe.
Chase and Flatiron have been active in Latin America, where
they plan to invest in two health-care sites, a women's site, and
a site that is part traditional retailer and part online company
by the end of March. Among their most profitable investments, the
partnership's $29.5 million investment in StarMedia Network Inc.
now has a market value of about $350 million.
The bank last month said that it may sell shares to the
public in its Internet business, using the Internet stock to pay
and retain executives and to make acquisitions. Chase has spent
about $3 billion annually in the last three years on technology.
Fourth-quarter profit from operations rose a better-than-
expected 46 percent, Chase said today. The bank, led by new
Chairman and Chief Executive William B. Harrison Jr. benefited as
investments in new Internet and telecommunications companies
soared. Private equity gains rose more than fivefold to $1.31
billion, Chase said.
The London-based venture will be an investment of Chase
Capital Partners, the bank's private equity business, which has
500 investments worth more than $9 billion worldwide. About 100 of
them are investments in technology companies. Chase Capital
Partners invested about $380 million in Europe last year.
Morever.com Investors
Tahta and Murdoch are well known in the London Internet
community. The two became executives at Amazon.com after selling
Bookpages.co.uk to the Seattle-based online bookstore. Since
leaving Amazon, they have invested in a handful of startups,
including Moreover.com, which provides custom-made newsfeeds, and
Magicalia Ltd., which operates action sports Web sites.
The experience the duo gained starting up Bookpages.com and
later working as senior Amazon executives will help them to assist
entrepreneurs building their own companies, Murdoch said. ''It's
bloody hard to cope with the growth you get in an Internet
business -- we can provide some experience with that,'' he said.
The fund will make investments from $1 million to $10 million
in companies whose management teams have experience in the
industry they are taking on with their Internet start-up. If
backing a financial services Web site, for example, Chase Episode-
1 will look for management with experience in traditional banking
businesses.
Finding management with experience in the online world will
also be a bonus, said Oxley. ''There is a perception that all
Internet companies should be run by people who are 28 years old,
yet we see a lot of potential managers in the 35 to 45 range.'' |
