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USA: AOL, Time Warner among investors in DealTime.com
From Reuters English News Service
NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters) - DealTime.com an independent, online
comparison shopping service, said on Monday it has secured $50 million in financing, including
some from Time Warner and America Online which are merging to form an Internet and media giant.
"As the world's leading media company, Time Warner recognises the
incredible synergy between content and e-commerce," said Olaf Olafsson, vice chairman of Time Warner Digital Media.
"This stands behind the digital investments we're continuing to make.
DealTime.com is in a good position to leverage this synergy."
Len Leader, president of AOL Investments, said: "With online comparison
shopping coming of age, DealTime.com is well-positioned to add substantial value and convenience
to consumers' online buying experience and to capitalise on this growing trend, enabling
customers to use the Internet to make informed buying decisions."
DealTime said the financing was led by Bain Capital, with additional
investments from Bank of America, Switzerland's UBS Capital, Hollinger Capital and Singapore
Telecom, as well as AOL and Time Warner.
It said it will use the new financing for working capital, business
development, and marketing.
"DealTime.com attracted our attention because it sits at the sweet spot
of e-commerce, acting as
a liaison between buyer and seller," said John Connaughton, managing
director at Bain Capital.
"Europe offers a huge opportunity for DealTime.com , with a rapidly
growing online community in
a market of almost 400 million consumers, less transparent pricing of
retail goods across regions and
where the window is still open to create leading Internet brands," said
Robert Kahn, head of
European Technology Investing at UBS Capital.
"As part of the largest Swiss bank and one of the leading banks in Europe,
UBS Capital is in a strong
position to help DealTime.com succeed in defining and leading online
comparison shopping
services throughout Europe."
DealTime.com , which claimed more than 2.4 million visitors in December,
scours the World
Wide Web for products and can offer consumers deals through its Desktop
Notifier and other offline
notification methods.
Based in New York City, with research and development facilities in Israel,
DealTime.com is a
privately held company with investments from Israel Seed Partners, Odeon
Capital Partners,
Nomura International plc., WaterView Partners, Advanta Partners, Israel
Infinity Venture Capital
Fund and Axiom Venture Partners.
02/14/2000 |
