eSAT Inc., a Fountain Valley high-speed Internet access provider, has backed out of a previously announced $12 million financing deal and instead raised $7.5 million from an existing shareholder.
Company officials said the deal offered better financial terms and resulted in less shareholder dilution than the outside funding would have. Ballsbridge Finance Ltd. was to have purchased a $12 million stake to boost eSAT’s satellite broadband Internet service. Instead, Grand Cayman-based Wentworth LLC will kick in an additional $7.5 million to up its stake.
The announcement comes on the heels of eSAT’s acquisition of PacificNet Technologies Inc. and its affiliated company, InterWireless Inc. PacificNet makes software that will allow eSAT to wholesale its Internet service to other Internet access providers.
For more: www.esatinc.com.
Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down
Not all OC-area e-tailers are created equal.
Just ask financial news web site CBSMarketwatch, which contrasted two of the area’s most prominent dot-coms in a recent report about Wall Street’s recent disenchantment with technology stocks.
Despite Aliso Viejo retailer Buy.com’s fall from more than $30 per share to less than $10 these days, the article warned that the stock still may not be a good deal,even at the rock-bottom pricing.
Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com, meanwhile, was listed as a “quality bargain” because it meets a real consumer need and has a strong business-to-business component.
And You Came for the Weather
Orange County residents may be some of the best-connected people in the country, at least according to Industry Standard magazine.
OC’s Tech Coast Venture Network and the Orange County chapter of the Southern California Software Council were listed among the country’s top networking organizations in a recent issue, appearing on a map of the “Schmooze Stars.”
But alas, for purposes of the short article, Orange County was counted as part of LA.
Valet.com
And speaking of schmooze-fests, the most recent meeting of the Orange County chapter of the Society for Internet Advancement at the Irvine Marriott gave area entrepreneur Ryan Steelberg a chance to reminisce. Steelberg, who was at the event to share how his Broadband Digital Group venture is personalizing customers’ experiences on the Internet, got his start in business at that very hotel.
“Last time I was here, I was parking cars,” he told the crowd. And that’s about as personalized as you can get.
You’ve Got Voice-Mail!
ServiceEssentials.com, a Newport Beach company that sells computer telephony products, has formed an alliance with Compton-based integrator Belkin Components, which will install the Orange County company’s InternetPBX system for corporate and small-business customers.
Under the deal, the two companies will cross-promote each other’s products and services while sharing resources. And the cooperation is more than just philosophical: the two companies will be physically connected to one another through voice-over-Internet lines, allowing the offices to call one another as if they were dialing an internal department.
InternetPBX is a communications server that integrates voice-mail, e-mail and faxes into a modified version of Microsoft’s Outlook that can be accessed over the Internet or by phone. ServiceEssentials has an exclusive Orange County franchise to sell the system, which was created by COM2001.com of San Diego.
Bits:
eMachines Inc., Irvine, launched several new computers, ranging from a $399 desktop Celeron 500 MHz model to a $999 laptop called the eSlate … Irvine networking services firm Lantronix will put in the infrastructure for the upcoming NetWorld+Interop industry trade show in Las Vegas. More than 750 exhibitors will use the temporary network Broadband Digital Group will use technology by controversial Internet advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. to serve up ads to BDG’s FreeDSL subscribers. DoubleClick has come under fire for allegedly compromising the privacy of web surfers OhGolly.com, the Newport Beach company that provides free web sites for small businesses, is sponsoring Industry Standard’s second-anniversary party this month in San Fransisco, an event expected to draw in more than 1,500 people, the firm is giving away its trademark propeller hats. NowDocs.com, Aliso Viejo, is launching its two-hour document delivery service in Toronto, Canada JungleJungle, a new Orange County-based Internet access provider, has pledged to donate $2 per subscriber every month for the next two years to the Fender Museum in Corona. Company officials estimate that the donation could total more than $150,000 Fountain Valley point-of-sale systems maker CAM Commerce Solutions Inc. (formerly CAM Data Systems Inc.), is teaming up with National Data Corp. to provide a common payment processing system. For more: www.camcommerce.com FutureLink Corp., an Irvine company that hosts computer software over the Internet, is teaming up with StrataSource Inc., a Menlo Park company that recently opened an Irvine data center. The companies will offer an application-hosting and network-management package to increase the reliability of businesses’ networks and databases.
Ken Spencer Brown can be reached at kbrown@ocbj.com or at (949) 833-8373, Ext. 239.
