Early Stage Investments

We actively seek early stage investments where we find exciting, new growth opportunities. Below are representative investments we have made - directly, or as advisors on behalf of Family Office partnerships.

Current Representative Investments

Higher Digital

Higher Digital guides higher education institutions through digital transformation. The company’s SaaS platform, called (SEA)RESULTS, manages the digital transformation lifecycle from assessment to measurement. Early clients include trendsetting institutions as Arizona State University, Southern New Hampshire University, American University and University of Maryland Global Campus.

Founded: 2017 | Privately Held

Shout About Us

Shout About Us is a private label Online Review Management solution for Agencies, Publishers and Enterprise businesses. The Shout About Us platform provides a turn-key solution to generate, listen and respond to online reviews on today's most impactful review sites. In partnership with IBM Watson, Shout About Us is leveraging Artificial Intelligence to shape the future.

Founded: 2013 | Privately Held

Circulate, Inc.

Circulate helps publishers (Web and App), networks and SDK providers maximize their first-party data monetization strategies with one simple integration, on a privacy friendly basis. Circulate advances the science of targeting and media attribution by enabling industry partners to utilize match Data as a Service. Marketers and their agencies are empowered to provide a unified consumer experience, attribute success, prioritize marketing investments, extend their reach and personalize their content.

Founded: 2008 | Acquired: 2016 LiveRamp (Acxiom)

 

Select Realized Investments (with great stories)

Tickets.com

Tickets.com is the leading provider of ticketing software and online tickets. The company's ticketing solutions include mobile phone tickets, print-at-home tickets, box office software, and ticket marketing services.

Founded: 1997 | IPO: 1999 NASDAQ (TIXX)

Overture Services

Idealab launched GoTo.com and introduced the concept of paid search to the Internet. A controversial idea at the time of launch, GoTo completed hundreds of millions of paid introductions, each of which represented the successful match of a user need with an advertising offering. The company went public in 1999 and in 2001, became Overture Services. Two years later, the company was acquired by Yahoo! for $1.6 billion. Today, this business model is the underpinning of the multi-billion dollar online search market.

Founded: 1998 | Acquired: 2003 (Yahoo!) | IPO: 1999 NASDAQ (GOTO)

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eToys

Shortly after Idealab launched eToys, it became the preeminent online seller of children's products and quickly became the third largest e-commerce site in the country. During the 2000 holiday season, it was the second most trafficked site on the Internet. Despite the company's bankruptcy in 2001, the company had built such strong brand loyalty among customers that the name and website were purchased by KB Toys, and subsequently went through several ownership changes and continues to operate.

Founded: 1997 | Acquired: 2001 (KB Toys); several ownership changes followed | IPO: 1999 NASDAQ (ETYS)

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WeddingChannel.com

WeddingChannel was launched to be a central resource for couples about to be wed. The site attracts millions of unique visitors each month and contains the bridal registries of a wide variety of retailers. WeddingChannel.com merged with The Knot in 2006.

Founded: 1997 | Aquired: Merged with The Knot in 2006

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IdeaLab

Idealab has prototyped and tested hundreds of ideas, and from those, has formed and operated more than 125 companies spanning a wide range of markets. Idealab accelerates technology innovation and provides the infrastructure to help early stage technology companies succeed.

 

Epic Missed Opportunities

Bluemercury

Andrew Sachs was kind enough to invite us to participate in the earliest round for Bluemercury. The Co-founders of the nation’s largest luxury beauty retailer—Bluemercury – proved to be creative, entrepreneurial winners. 

When their acquisition was announced in February 2015, they garnered a $210 million purchase price. Today, Bluemercury is considerably more valuable. Oops.

Yext

In 2010 Howard Lerman spent some time with us in our Bethesda office. He had incredible energy, intelligence, and vision. 

Now, Yext (NYSE: YEXT) is a New York City technology company operating in the area of online brand management. It offers brand updates using its cloud-based network of apps, search engines and other facilities. The company was founded by Howard Lerman, Brian Distelburger, and Brent Metz.