The nation’s capital is experiencing a baby boom of sorts — in technology incubators that is.
No sooner had VC Watch profiled the area’s first start-up hatchery Vencatalyst, than we get the birth announcement of CBD Labs LLC, located just over the Washington, D.C. line in the Beltway ‘burb of Silver Spring, Md.
Founders Jomo Thomas and Justin Pierce say they have made three investments since their founding in September ranging from $100,000 to $300,000. Those current investments include nascent legal portal Checklaw.com, and the Internet Publishing Group.
Thomas said CBD is looking for technology start-ups, plans to make up to five investments this year and plans for “at least a dozen” in the year 2000 and is raising an $11 million fund for that purpose. Thomas said they expect from 15% to 40% equity in the companies they fund.
CBD Labs was itself venture funded, a spin-off from the Smith & Keaton Venture Group, headquartered on Pennsylvania Avenue just a few doors down from the White House.
“Our goal is to be the Warren Buffett of Internet companies,” said Thomas.
Onvia.com, which VC Watch profiled on July 22, announced Oct. 15 that it had secured an additional $25 million in financing from a consortium led by GE Equity and including the Internet Capital Group and Mohr Davidow. This brings the business-to-business online entrepreneurial support site’s total VC financing to $48 million. Previous rounds were the $12 million reported by VC Watch in July, and an $11 million round in September.
Eve.com said Oct. 13 that it had received an $11 million investment from Crosslink Capital (formerly Omega Venture Partners). The upscale online cosmetics site, profiled in VC Watch on Aug. 23, has now raised $28.7 million.
Meanwhile, eve.com’s competition mentioned in that column, gloss.com and Sephora, have launched their own sites as promised, cranking up the volume in this highly competitive market. The Sephora site begins with an entrancing Shockwave splash page which — whether it sells product or not — is worth a visit for those with the plug-ins and bandwidth to enjoy it.
Consumer infomediary, imandi.com will be able to match a lot more painters and contractors with consumers thanks to a healthy $15 million first round of venture capital from Menlo Ventures, Bertelsmann ventures, Madrona Investment Group and Norwest Venture Associates.
When VC Watch first
profiled Imandi on June 18, it had just been launched by its 35 employees backed by a startup round of $1 million from angel investors.
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