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'Dashboard to the Net' Hotbar Raises $11 Million

Who would have thought that nifty pictures for drab gray browser toolbars could be a moneymaker? Apparently, the folks behind Hotbar.com Inc., which bills itself as "the dashboard to the Internet."

February 16, 2001
By atnewyork Staff: More stories by this author:

Who would have thought that nifty pictures for drab gray browser toolbars could be a moneymaker?

Apparently, the folks behind Hotbar.com Inc., which bills itself as "the dashboard to the Internet" and helps Web users personalize their browsers with downloads of pictures and graphics.

The startup recently closed a second funding round of $11 million, which includes a $5 million equity investment with Deutsche Banc.

Other co-leaders on the stake were C.E. Unterberg and Towbin Private Equity Partners. The deal is structured to convert an additional $6 million to equity in the company, which so far has achieved about 10 million downloads of its browser skins that help users gussy up their browser's gray toolbar area.

The free downloads offer nature scenes, romantic scenes, famous people faces among the collection of 40,000 of images.

Hotbar.com co-founder and CEO Oren Dobronsky said the funding helps reinforce the company's position as it weathers the dot-com shakeout.

But more important, the company has a revenue model and is apparently delivering on its projections. The company offers integrated branding and marketing messages to other Web sites trying to break through the "clutter" and reach its audience.

Dobronsky said Hotbar, which maintains an office in New York as well as Tel Aviv, Israel, would continue to focus on revenue generation and creating "a clear value proposition for our partners as well as our users."

Prior to this round, the company raised $3 million in its first round in November of 1999. Backers were DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Telekom, Lockheed Martin Corp., Bertelsmann and Technorov.

The company said it would use the funds to build on its headquarters, find new revenue channels and close more deals with other partner sites. The company already has deals with CNET, MySimon.com, Half.com, CNNsi, Dealtime and Uproar.







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