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Search - Wednesday, October 17, 2007

VCs Buy The Generations Networks For $300M

Spectrum Equity Investors has led a $300M investment for a majority interest in geneology stalwart The Generations Network, reports PeHub and Techcrunch. The Provo, UT-based firm operates Ancestry.com, MyFamily.com and other sites). The startup dates back to 1996, when Infobases invested in Ancestry, a print publishing company founded in 1983, later purchasing the company outright from founder John Sittner. Paul Allen (another one) and Dan Taggart began running Ancestry independently from Infobases in July 1997, and transformed it into an online subscription-based genealogy database services. The company changed its name to MyFamily.com in November 1999.

Along the way, it raised The company raised more than $90M from investors including Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners. The Generations Network is reported to have some $150M in annual revenues with a headcount at 1500 or so.