RealNames Corp.,
the brainchild of British entrepreneur Keith Teare, has secured a third
round of venture funding of $70 million.
RealNames has pioneered the Internet Keywords system which enables
people to go direct to a company’s Web page simply by typing a
corporate, brand or product name in the browser. Companies pay to
be listed.
The latest funding for the two-year-old company was led by Morgan
Stanley Dean Witter Venture Partners and includes finance from
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Bowman Capital, Access Technology
Partners, MSD Capital, Robertson Stephens’ Bayview Investors and
the J & W Seligman New Technology Fund.
“The new level of funding reinforces investors’ belief that RealNames
is creating an essential piece of the Internet’s infrastructure with
unlimited potential,” said president and CEO Keith Teare.
“The additional investment will help us continue our mission of
ubiquity for Internet Keywords, complementing the adoption by major
brands on the Web such as Barnes and Noble, eBay, Ford, and
Specialized Bicycles among many others and working with Internet
leaders MSN, AltaVista, The Go Network, LookSmart, Inktomi and
Network Solutions.”
Existing investors in RealNames also put in additional funds. They
included: Draper Fisher Jurvetson, idealab! Capital Partners,
Amerindo Investment Advisors, New Millennium Partners and
Network Solutions, Inc.
RealNames is based in San Carlos, Calif.