eCompanies
Operating Status: Inactive
eCompanies was an internet incubator and venture capital firm that launched and funded online startups.
Founded
1999eCompanies was an internet incubator and venture capital firm that launched and funded online startups.
eCompanies was founded by two established internet executives, Sky Dayton of EarthLink and Jake Winebaum of Walt Disney's internet group, which helped it raise its first venture fund in about 60 days.
The firm combined an in-house incubator that supplied office space, recruiting, finance, technology and marketing support with a venture capital arm, allowing it to launch and fund internet companies rapidly and to draw on a network of prominent backers including Disney, Sprint, KKR and Soros Fund Management.
Source: nytimes.com
eCompanies depended heavily on advertising-backed consumer internet business models just as the dot-com market turned hostile in 2000, and several of its incubated companies struggled to attract follow-on funding.
Its build-to-flip approach of generating ideas internally rather than backing outside entrepreneurs was criticized as producing weak concepts, and by late 2000 the firm had laid off staff and suspended new incubation after its first company, eParties, was sold to eToys at a loss.
Source: labusinessjournal.com
eCompanies operated through two investment arms: an incubator, Econpanies LLC, that launched internet start-ups in-house, and a venture capital arm, eCompanies Venture Group, that made early-stage investments in both incubated and outside companies.
In 2000 the venture capital arm was combined with New York investment firm Evercore Partners under eCompanies-Evercore Venture Management, and a separate wireless incubator was formed in partnership with Sprint Corporation.
Source: forbes.com