VC Rating: Engage (Tech Confidential

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VC Rating: Engage

[Posted on July 12, 2006 - 12:13 PM]

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Company: Engage Corp.
Description: Online dating
Competitors: Match, Yahoo Personals, eHarmony
Location: San Francisco
Amount Raised: $5 million
Round: Second
Date Announced: 7/11/06
VC Firms: Advanced Technology Ventures, The Founders Fund, Revolution Ventures
VC Directors: Steve Baloff, Greg Mauro
Quick Take: If online dating's entire market value is estimated to be about $1 billion in the US, what's the payoff here? Engage is not going to dramatically expand the size of the market with its unique approach to online dating. And even if I believe that its matchmaking approach is going to allow it to beat out all of its 850 competitors (which I don't), then it's still only targeting a market of limited size. Engage is an angel or bootstrap play, not an institutional venture play. I like the idea of applying Web 2.0 to online dating. I just don't think venture capitalists should participate.

Technology (1 out of 10): 2
Market: 4
Management: 6
Chances for IPO: 2
Overall VC Rating: 3

For more on Engage.com's funding, see:
The Deal
Dave Evans
SiliconBeat

Technorati tags: engage, atv, dating, vc, venture+capital

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