Infobase Ventures Portfolio Companies

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Infobase Ventures Portfolio Companies

Infobase Ventures was involved in starting or funding the following companies. (View a web site traffic report for all of these companies.) Learn about our 7 Steps to Launching a Start-Up Company. Read about some of our early stage ideas that are still being incubated. Learn about the companies we are advising through our Mentor Program.

Name Date Formed Description

GMAP SOLUTIONS July 2005 Most companies with web sites can add value to them by overlaying data on top of Google Maps, such as their business address, retail outlets, or data about their industry that their customers will find useful. GMAP Solutions offers low-cost integration with Google Maps for commercial websites. Founders: Paul Allen, Richard Miller

2005 A free "matching service" for entrepreneurs and angel investors. Entrepreneurs can also find service providers (marketing, PR, legal, accounting) and mentors who can help them prepare their companies to be fundable and to succeed in the marketplace. Angels can join the network to find deals and to interact with other angels. Organized angel groups can use the service to rate and vote on business plans that they want to pitch to their angel groups. The privacy of the angel investors is protected. FundingUtah.com launched in January 2005 and was so successful that sites were launched for every other state by summer 2005. Founders: Paul Allen, David Bradford. CEO: Brock Blake.

ConstantPR.com coming soon Every company that wants to grow needs to tell its story constantly. But most startup companies cannot afford to hire a PR agency. ConstantPR helps startup companies plan their growth strategy and then issue regular online press releases to attract interest in the company. The news releases will be designed to interest potential employees, customers, business partners and investors in the business. The service will be priced under $500 per month.

iCount 2004 A web service that empowers citizens to be involved in self-government by using online organizational and communication tools. Status: phase I web site launched in July 2004, phase II (with social networking functionality) still under development. Initial seed capital has been provided. This web site has the strongest potential of any Infobase Ventures start-up company to gain millions of members through viral marketing. Founders: Paul Allen, Dan Taggart, Phil Windley.

LDS MEDIA 2004 In partnership with Deseret Book, LDS Media operates LDSLibrary.com and publishes the LDS Collectors Library CD ROM. It also runs the Online LDS Library. Both products containing more than 3,300 searchable full text books. The company also owns LDSAudio.com, the leading mp3 download site for LDS music, talks and audio books. Founders: Paul Allen, Dan Taggart; CEO: Doug Smith; CTO: Lee Gibbons; VP Marketing: Jim Ericson; VP Operations: Neal Bergstrom.

2003 With the explosion in popularity of MP3 as a new audio format, the opportunity exists to provide religious audio texts to millions for portable, personal use. LDSAudio.com provides biblical and other scriptural texts (a free audio Book of Mormon download) and religious music in audio format for virtually any device. A funding round of $1.15 million was announced in October, 2004. CEO: Doug Smith, CTO: Lee Gibbons.

2003 Directory.net generates free traffic for business web sites. The Searchability(TM) service helps web site managers select keywords, build web pages, and get incoming links in order to get high natural rankings from search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. The service can be private labelled for partners who do web hosting, payment processing, and domain name registration. Partners include The Search Doctor and PMG. The company also operates an online portal with more than 4 million links to other web sites in more than 80,000 categories. The site receives more than 500,000 unique monthly visitors and has growing revenue. The company has raised $300,000 to date from angel investors. CEO: Dane Robertson. VP Business Development: Dan Lynch.

2002 10x Marketing is an internet marketing agency focused on search engine traffic and affiliate marketing. Customers served include: Omniture, Senforce, Relative Genetics, One Minute Millionaire, Frontline Phonics, Power-Glide, Franklin-Covey, and RealAge. 10x Marketing has signed a multi-year deal to do search engine optimization in 6 languages (UK English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish). Led by CEO Curt Porritt, the profitable company has 17 employees and is headquartered in Orem, Utah.

1999 Worldhistory.com provides more than 700,000 pages pages of historical and biographical content. The site receives hundreds of thousands of visitors each month, making it one of the leading history sites on the web. It is now developing a large-scale open timeline project with the eventual goal of having the largest historical database of events in the world.

1998 MyFamily.com was launched in December 1998 and quickly became one of the fastest growing community web sites in history, gaining 1 million registered users in its first 140 days. Led by CEO Curt Allen, the company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors such as Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners. Today, MyFamily.com owns Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com and is the leading genealogy company in the world. According to the New York Times (Oct 2002), sales for 2002 were projected at $62 million. 2003 sales were $99 million. CEO: Tom Stockham

1996 Infobases, Inc. invested in Ancestry, a 13-year old print publishing company, in May 1996 and became its managing shareholder. Later, Infobases acquired 100% of Ancestry from its original founder, John Sittner. By July 1997, Paul Allen and Dan Taggart were running Ancestry as a company independent from Infobases and began building the world's largest online genealogy database and subscription service. Ancestry.com changed its name to MyFamily.com in November 1999.

2003 Infobase Ventures has a minority interest in 10x Media, a leading web site development and marketing company with a focus on the real estate industry. CEO: Wendy Hudman.

Infobases Inc. 1990 Founded in 1990 by Paul Allen and Dan Taggart. Published religious and educational software on CD-ROM. An Inc. 500 company in 1996, growing from $0 to $4 million in revenue in its first five years. Acquired Bookcraft, Inc. in 1997. Acquired by Deseret Management Corp in 1999.

Infobase Development Fund 2005? One of the ultimate goals of Infobase Ventures is to establish a perpetual fund for training entrepreneurs and investing in enterprises in developing nations.

We believe it is possible to help reduce poverty and human suffering through the creation of intelligent enterprises with the potential to stimulate development and economic growth worldwide.

Our philosophy is this: You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, or, you can teach a man or woman to run a successful fishing company, employ hundreds or thousands of people, and feed entire villages forever.

When funded, the Infobase Development Fund will help entrepreneurs create successful ventures by providing business education scholarships, networking, information technology, knowledge bases, seed capital and ongoing mentoring.

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2006	2007	2008

Name	Date Formed	Description
GMAP SOLUTIONS	July 2005	Most companies with web sites can add value to them by overlaying data on top of Google Maps, such as their business address, retail outlets, or data about their industry that their customers will find useful. GMAP Solutions offers low-cost integration with Google Maps for commercial websites. Founders: Paul Allen, Richard Miller
	2005	A free "matching service" for entrepreneurs and angel investors. Entrepreneurs can also find service providers (marketing, PR, legal, accounting) and mentors who can help them prepare their companies to be fundable and to succeed in the marketplace. Angels can join the network to find deals and to interact with other angels. Organized angel groups can use the service to rate and vote on business plans that they want to pitch to their angel groups. The privacy of the angel investors is protected. FundingUtah.com launched in January 2005 and was so successful that sites were launched for every other state by summer 2005. Founders: Paul Allen, David Bradford. CEO: Brock Blake.
ConstantPR.com	coming soon	Every company that wants to grow needs to tell its story constantly. But most startup companies cannot afford to hire a PR agency. ConstantPR helps startup companies plan their growth strategy and then issue regular online press releases to attract interest in the company. The news releases will be designed to interest potential employees, customers, business partners and investors in the business. The service will be priced under $500 per month.
iCount	2004	A web service that empowers citizens to be involved in self-government by using online organizational and communication tools. Status: phase I web site launched in July 2004, phase II (with social networking functionality) still under development. Initial seed capital has been provided. This web site has the strongest potential of any Infobase Ventures start-up company to gain millions of members through viral marketing. Founders: Paul Allen, Dan Taggart, Phil Windley.
LDS MEDIA	2004	In partnership with Deseret Book, LDS Media operates LDSLibrary.com and publishes the LDS Collectors Library CD ROM. It also runs the Online LDS Library. Both products containing more than 3,300 searchable full text books. The company also owns LDSAudio.com, the leading mp3 download site for LDS music, talks and audio books. Founders: Paul Allen, Dan Taggart; CEO: Doug Smith; CTO: Lee Gibbons; VP Marketing: Jim Ericson; VP Operations: Neal Bergstrom.
	2003	With the explosion in popularity of MP3 as a new audio format, the opportunity exists to provide religious audio texts to millions for portable, personal use. LDSAudio.com provides biblical and other scriptural texts (a free audio Book of Mormon download) and religious music in audio format for virtually any device. A funding round of $1.15 million was announced in October, 2004. CEO: Doug Smith, CTO: Lee Gibbons.
	2003	Directory.net generates free traffic for business web sites. The Searchability(TM) service helps web site managers select keywords, build web pages, and get incoming links in order to get high natural rankings from search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. The service can be private labelled for partners who do web hosting, payment processing, and domain name registration. Partners include The Search Doctor and PMG. The company also operates an online portal with more than 4 million links to other web sites in more than 80,000 categories. The site receives more than 500,000 unique monthly visitors and has growing revenue. The company has raised $300,000 to date from angel investors. CEO: Dane Robertson. VP Business Development: Dan Lynch.
	2002	10x Marketing is an internet marketing agency focused on search engine traffic and affiliate marketing. Customers served include: Omniture, Senforce, Relative Genetics, One Minute Millionaire, Frontline Phonics, Power-Glide, Franklin-Covey, and RealAge. 10x Marketing has signed a multi-year deal to do search engine optimization in 6 languages (UK English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish). Led by CEO Curt Porritt, the profitable company has 17 employees and is headquartered in Orem, Utah.
	1999	Worldhistory.com provides more than 700,000 pages pages of historical and biographical content. The site receives hundreds of thousands of visitors each month, making it one of the leading history sites on the web. It is now developing a large-scale open timeline project with the eventual goal of having the largest historical database of events in the world.
	1998	MyFamily.com was launched in December 1998 and quickly became one of the fastest growing community web sites in history, gaining 1 million registered users in its first 140 days. Led by CEO Curt Allen, the company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors such as Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners. Today, MyFamily.com owns Ancestry.com, Rootsweb, Genealogy.com and is the leading genealogy company in the world. According to the New York Times (Oct 2002), sales for 2002 were projected at $62 million. 2003 sales were $99 million. CEO: Tom Stockham
	1996	Infobases, Inc. invested in Ancestry, a 13-year old print publishing company, in May 1996 and became its managing shareholder. Later, Infobases acquired 100% of Ancestry from its original founder, John Sittner. By July 1997, Paul Allen and Dan Taggart were running Ancestry as a company independent from Infobases and began building the world's largest online genealogy database and subscription service. Ancestry.com changed its name to MyFamily.com in November 1999.
	2003	Infobase Ventures has a minority interest in 10x Media, a leading web site development and marketing company with a focus on the real estate industry. CEO: Wendy Hudman.
Infobases Inc.	1990	Founded in 1990 by Paul Allen and Dan Taggart. Published religious and educational software on CD-ROM. An Inc. 500 company in 1996, growing from $0 to $4 million in revenue in its first five years. Acquired Bookcraft, Inc. in 1997. Acquired by Deseret Management Corp in 1999.
Infobase Development Fund	2005?	One of the ultimate goals of Infobase Ventures is to establish a perpetual fund for training entrepreneurs and investing in enterprises in developing nations. We believe it is possible to help reduce poverty and human suffering through the creation of intelligent enterprises with the potential to stimulate development and economic growth worldwide. Our philosophy is this: You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime, or, you can teach a man or woman to run a successful fishing company, employ hundreds or thousands of people, and feed entire villages forever. When funded, the Infobase Development Fund will help entrepreneurs create successful ventures by providing business education scholarships, networking, information technology, knowledge bases, seed capital and ongoing mentoring.