Idealab

Idealab (formerly known as idealab!) is a technology incubator — possibly the most famous business incubator of the dot-com era. It is based in Pasadena, California.

[edit] History

Idealab was founded by Bill Gross in March 1996. Prior to Idealab, he founded GNP Loudspeakers (now GNP Audio Video), an audio equipment manufacturer; GNP Development Inc., acquired by Lotus Software; and Knowledge Adventure, an educational software company, later acquired by Cendant. Gross graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and Idealab! has historically hired many alumni; Gross now sits on the Institute's board of trustees.

The company leased the right to use the .tv domain, giving the island nation of Tuvalu enough money to join the United Nations in 2000.

Idealab has spun off a variety of companies including:

Insider Pages, city guides with customer reviews of restaurants, beauty salons, dentists and other local services.
CitySearch, acquired by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).
Commission Junction
Compete, Inc
HomesDirect.com
Infogate
Intranets.com
Oraxion Diagnostics
WeddingChannel.com
NetZero
Goto.com - Later renamed to Overture Services Inc.. After its acquisition by Yahoo! it became Yahoo! Search Marketing.
eToys
jackpot.com
New.net
Picasa, acquired by Google
PETsMART.com
.tv
FreePC
Spun.com
Kidsonline
Swap.com
Internet Brands[1], parent of:
- CarsDirect.com [2]
- Autos.com[3]
- Vamoose.com[4]
- Vacationhomes.com[5]
- Realestateabc.com[6]
- Wikitravel.org[7]
- Wikicars.org[8]
Desktop Factory
Energy Innovations
Tickets.com
X1
Snap (search engine)
PayMyBills.com, acquired by PayTrust
Omnilux, Inc.[9]
Blastoff.com