AUCTIONWATCH.COM SECURES $9.6 MILLION IN SERIES B FINANCING
PR Newswire
Aug 10 1999 7:16AM ET
Sequoia Capital Leads Round With @Ventures, Argus Capital, Angel Investors LP,
Stanford University, and Private Investors
SAN BRUNO, Calif., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- AuctionWatch.com, the only independent and comprehensive resource for the online auction community, today announced that it has completed a $9.6 million round of Series B financing. Sequoia Capital leads the round with @Ventures, the affiliated venture capital arm of CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI), Argus Capital, Angel Investors LP, Stanford University, and private investors.
AuctionWatch.com is an online destination that aggregates auction-related information, posts daily content, and provides value-added services for buyers and sellers in the auction process. The company has attracted executives from leading companies such as CNET, Wired, Quantum, Netscape, and Ziff-Davis, and recently expanded its management team with the addition of Andre Neumann-Loreck, former vice president of operations for Quantum (NYSE: DSS, HDD), as its chief operating officer. A major relaunch of the Web site with exciting new user-requested features is planned in the coming weeks.
As a result of the financing round, Mark Stevens, general partner of Sequoia Capital, joins the board, which consists of Rodrigo Sales, AuctionWatch.com co-founder and CEO and Mark Dodd, AuctionWatch.com co-founder and Vice President of Product Development. This financing round follows a January 1999 seed round of under $1 million from private investors.
"We are honored by the financial support of one of Silicon Valley's pioneer venture capital firms, the innovative Net economy affiliate network, the leading group of angel investors and select visionary individuals," said Sales. "We will count on their strategic guidance as we deliver on our promise to build the only independent, trustworthy, and comprehensive resource to the online auction industry."
As the de facto authority on online auctions, AuctionWatch.com is uniquely positioned to become a rich destination for users throughout the auctioning life cycle," said Stevens. "Over the next year, we anticipate that AuctionWatch.com will evolve from becoming the first stop for resources on auctions to a broad-based Internet services company."
According to industry sources, the market for consumer-only auctions is projected to grow from 1.5 million registered users and $1.5 billion in revenues in 1998 to 17.5 million users and $15.5 billion in revenues in 2001.
"Online auctions are revolutionizing Internet commerce and will continue to change the way people find the goods and services they need," said Brad Garlinghouse, a general partner at @Ventures. "Rodrigo and Mark will be pivotal in defining the future of this rapidly evolving industry -- leveraging AuctionWatch.com's unique position as a monitor of the segment and its strong relationships with consumers and auction sites to enhance the auction experience in interesting and dynamic ways."
Since its founding in January 1999, AuctionWatch.com has become the definitive resource for online auctions with services such as:
* free image hosting and auction counters, enabling sellers to better
present their products and monitor the demand for their auctions
* a lively message center and ePostcards system, promoting communication
between buyers and sellers
* a categorized directory of auction sites including eBay, Yahoo,
Amazon.com and daily index of industry articles, providing a central
resource for all participants in the auction process
Currently, AuctionWatch.com receives hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month. A typical user averages three to four visits to the site every month and spends an average of 10 minutes per visit. Registered sellers launch more than 25, 000 third-party auctions each day from the AuctionWatch.com Web site. AuctionWatch.com is the largest image hosting provider to the online auction community, serving over 2 million auction images daily.
About AuctionWatch.com
AuctionWatch.com is an Internet services company whose mission is to empower participants in the auctioning process by building the only independent and comprehensive resource for online auctions. The company's online destination aggregates information, posts daily content, and provides value-added services to new and experienced buyers and sellers in the auction process. Based in San Bruno, California, AuctionWatch.com is privately held and funded by Sequoia Capital, @Ventures, Argus Capital, Angel Investors LP, Stanford University, and private investors. SOURCE AuctionWatch.com
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