Anyone see this
Webvan
Founder: Louis Borders
Backing: Benchmark Partners, Sequoia Capital
Location: Foster City, Calif.
Buzz Score: 8
Odds of Success: 5 to 2
What It Will Do: Webvan, originally started with the punishing name Intelligent Systems for Retailing, will be an online supermarket. It will launch with grocery sales in the first quarter of next year and will expand into other product lines, including nonprescription drugs. It's a tough field: To say that online grocer Peapod is struggling is to put things charitably. NetGrocer, backed by venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins, has entered the fray; Digital Chef has locked up ad deals with Yahoo and America Online; and more entrants are likely to follow. Louis Borders, the onetime MIT math grad student who started Borders Books, had played with a number of less-promising ideas early in the company's development. One, says a source who saw Webvan early in its development, involved a chain of coffeeshops with shopping kiosks. "That was just a back-of-the-napkin idea, before we even got funding," says Borders.
Why There's Buzz: The involvement of Louis Borders, who ran his bookstore chain for 20 years before selling it to Kmart six years ago, gives Webvan the patina of real-world experience. The joint involvement of backers Benchmark and Sequoia (who backed Yahoo) gives it Silicon Valley standing. And two Oracle executives – Peter Rowen and Randy Hodge – have joined up. Until now, even the name has been a secret.
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