Company: aSmallWorld
Description: High-end social networking
Competitors: The snobs, celebrities and petty aristocrats using MySpace and Facebook
Location: London
Amount Raised: Undisclosed (not enough to scare anyone)
Round: First
Date Announced: 5/22/06
VC Firms: The Weinstein Company
VC Directors: N/A
Quick Take: Where to begin? This is The Weinstein Company's first investment in an Internet company and unless you believe in beginner's luck, there are a few things they missed during due diligence. They should have syndicated this deal to a professional venture capital firm for their expertise. They also failed to realize that there is a limit to how big this high-end invitation-only social network can really get without imploding. ASmallWorld is a great concept that can make angel investors or bootstrap founders a good chunk of change. But, it's not a venture deal. The very scale aSmallWorld is raising money to achieve will strip away the semblance of exclusivity that makes it work. Its rise will continue as luxury advertisers pay to reach the beautiful people. But, the beautiful people will flee as aSmallWorld is soon forced to hit its growth targets by allowing in the just, pretty good looking people. The moment that happens, the advertising dollars will wane, ushering in aSmallWorld's demise.

Technology (1 out of 10): 2
Market: 6
Management: 3
Chances for IPO: 1
Overall VC Rating: 2

For more on aSmallWorld's funding, see:
The New York Times
CNN (via YouTube)
DealBreaker
Dubuc's Blog
Fred Wilson

Technorati tags: asmallworld, theweinsteincompany, vc, venture+capital