Wednesday 08 September 2010
ICG’s core company portfolio of Channel Intelligence, Freeborders, ICG Commerce, Investor Force, Metastorm, StarCite, Vcommerce and WhiteFence each have powerful data collection capabilities which can be harnessed to produce additional value for their customers and create a competitive advantage for the firms. ICG was one of the pioneers of web-based businesses during the late 1990s, and is one of the few survivors of the Dot.com bust. Like THINKstrategies, ICG believed after the demise of the Dot.com era that there were could still be tremendous opportunities via the Internet once the enabling technologies and business models matured to meet customers’ changing requirements.
Unlike other investment firms which might have a set of ‘theses’ for the types of companies they fund, ICG has attempted to build a portfolio of companies that can leverage their commonalities to create additional synergies. Among the ideas discussed were the burgeoning array of economical development resources available worldwide via the web and new methods to create differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Riding this momentum into last week’s event in Philadelphia, the theme of the ICG gathering was finding new ways to accelerate growth and streamline operations.
