Portfolio

Step has 14 patents granted around voice enhancement and noise elimination. Has technology compatible with major Bluetooth chip makers: Broadcom & CSR. Rob Mitro, their new CEO, a veteran next stage executive with multiple public and private M&A deals behind him. The company is currently discussion with On-Star, Motorola, Nokia and other major cell phone providers. Blue Ant won innovation of the year at 2007 CES, based largely on Steps technology.

Co-Invest Series A

Helped launch Demand Media with former MySpace CEO Richard Rosenblatt. Company is now world’s second largest domain registrar and one of the leading social media companies world-wide. With funding over $300,000,000 the company has completed numerous acquisitions. The company is very profitable and growing.

Our role: Helped position eNom as a foundation for launching the new media company, aggregating web traffic and acquiring brands and category leaders in the online social media space. Brought in initial Equity Partners: Spectrum, Oak, and Generation. Facilitated diligence, placement of initial $120,000,000 and concurrent purchase of 3 companies to launch Demand Media.

Company had sector-leading sites in travel, sports, and the outdoors, including Trails.com and GolfLink.com. Hillclimb Media was founded in 1999 to develop premium pay-for-content web sites, creating value for both customers and publishers. Over the last seven years, Hillclimb has amassed and made available on the Web an extensive library of content focused on sports enthusiasts, creating new revenue streams for traditional print-focused businesses, while at the same time connected thousands of online subscribers with unique, premium content, previously unavailable on the web.

Role: Positioned company for sale to Demand Media. Negotiated purchase and facilitated diligence and integration.

MountainZone.com was launched in February 1996 and is recognized for pioneering mountain sports coverage on the web. Long before the popularity of "broadband", MountainZone has cybercast some of the first-ever skiing, mountaineering and snowboarding events from around the globe. From historic coverage of numerous Mount Everest climbs to in-depth stories of big adventure, MountainZone is regarded as the most comprehensive mountain sports destination online. The site offers visitors more than 50,000 pages of award-winning mountain sports news, interviews, and photos on skiing, snowboarding, climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and mountain photography.

A long time on the list of Forbes’ Best of the Web, and Men’s Journal top 100 sites for guys it was sold to Quokka(QKKA) for $30M+ and then repurchased after the .com bust by some of the original founders and a few investors. At its peak it had over 1 million daily visitors.

Role: Positioned company for sale to Demand Media. Negotiated purchase and facilitated diligence and integration.