| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Online shopping and price comparison startup Become Inc. has raised $17.5 million in a third round of investment from TPG Growth, a fund operated by private equity firm TPG. The deal provides some liquidity to stakeholders, although Become chief executive Michael Yang would not provide details. Among the early investors in the Mountain View, Calif., company were Transcosmos Investments & Business Development Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., and angel investors Ron Conway and Bob Bozeman of Angel Investors LP. Although Yang characterized the new investment as growth capital, he conceded that there was a "small secondary transaction." Fort Worth-based TPG wanted to do an exclusive round, rather than syndicate the deal among existing investors, he said. Become had previously raised $11.7 million in two rounds during 2004 and 2005, and reached profitability last fall. Yang confirmed that the latest funding comes at an increased valuation for the company, but declined to specify the amount. He said Become spoke with a variety of venture investors, late-stage investment specialists and private equity firms before settling on TPG. Founded in early 2004, Become offers a search engine that lets users search other online shopping and product information sites, filtering out references that might turn up on general-purpose search engines. It also includes a price comparison engine, a "social shopping" widget and other features. Yang said Become will continue to invest in its core technology, while pursuing other unspecified business opportunities. Although the company has expanded by launching a Japanese subsidiary, Yang said additional international expansion remains a longer-term goal. He added that TPG operating partner Taek Kwon previously worked for travel search engine Hotwire Inc. and local Web guide Citysearch (both now operate as units of IAC/InterActiveCorp), as well as for social network Friendster Inc. Kwon will join Become's board of directors. Consolidation has struck many areas of the vertical search market in recent years, including online comparison shopping. A spate of deals in 2005 included eBay Inc.'s acquisition of Shopping.com Inc. for $620 million, GUS plc's $485 million deal for PriceGrabber.com Inc. and E.W. Scripps Co.'s $525 million buyout of Shopzilla. More recently, online advertising firm ValueClick Inc. last summer bought comparison-shopping site MeziMedia Inc. in a deal worth as much as $352 million based on performance incentives, while private equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC paid $830 million for NexTag Inc. Venture money also continues to flow into the sector. Retrevo Inc. said last week it had secured $8 million in third-round funding from existing investors Alloy Ventures Inc. and Norwest Venture Partners, while Bain Capital Ventures last year led a $15 million Series C investment in TheFind.com Inc. Yang said Become is not yet considering going public, while noting that it may pursue an offering in the future. He added that the company is likely to remain profitable as it seeks to boost sales, while declining to specify revenue goals. Become, which did not hire a financial adviser in connection with the deal, received counsel from Mark Tanoury in the Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters of Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. -- Paul Bonanos
 Deal Video
    Community
 Elsewhere on The Deal.comDealwatchThe Deal MagazineCorporate Dealmaker
The Deal VideoCategories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
