Business-to-business marketplace BizBuyer.com said it has raised $38.5
million in third-round financing.
Lead investors in this round include TMCT Ventures, a recently formed venture
fund by Times Mirror and Chandler Trust; previous investor @Ventures, the venture
capital affiliate of Internet holding company CMGI Inc.; and Redpoint Ventures, a
technology-focused venture capital firm formed by Brentwood Venture Capital
and Institutional Venture Partners.
Additional investors include eCompanies Venture Group, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Ventures and US Venture Partners.
Since January 1999,
BizBuyer.com has raised a total of $44.5 million that includes a previous $5
million investment from @Ventures and a $1 million angel round that included
eBay’s Meg Whitman.
TMCT Ventures partner and Times Mirror executive vice president and CFO Tom
Unterman was named to BizBuyer’s board of directors.
“BizBuyer.com has done an outstanding job of maintaining its first-to-market
advantage in the small to mid-size business arena,” said Unterman. “I look
forward to playing an integral role in the rapid development of their core
business strategy of building a global marketplace for small and mid-size
businesses.”
“This new financing validates the strength of our business model and gives us
the freedom to execute on our vision of revolutionizing the way small and
mid-size businesses do business,” said Bernard Louvat, president, founder and
CEO of BizBuyer.com.
Since the launch of the site, the company has grown to 53 product and service
categories with over 15,000 vendors bidding on the purchasing needs of small
and mid-size businesses. Strategic partnerships include Qwest Communications,
PSINet, UUNET and PageMart Wireless.
