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Incubator Seeds Investing Portal

LaunchCenter 39 seeds Internet start ups indigenous to New York.

What sort of financial Internet sites win venture capital these days? In January, Investorama, an online financial community geared to educating novice investors, said it would receive $1 million from LaunchCenter 39 (LC39), a New York City-based incubator that seeds Internet start ups indigenous to New York in industries, including financial services. Last month, LC39 (www.lc39.com) closed its first round of financing, raising a total of $25 million. Four million came in from eVentures, Europe@Web and Jay Chiat, chairman of ScreamingMedia.

The so-called "full-service" incubator focuses on industries native to NYC including financial and professional services, media, advertising, fashion and luxury goods. LC39 provides its portfolio companies with capital, office space, business development, marketing and technology services, legal and tax support and executive recruitment, among other services. According to the company, LC39 was the lead investor in Investorama's first round of funding and will be one of the leading investors in their second round.

In a statement, commenting on the investment, James Butterworth, co-CEO of LC39, said "the site facilitates market growth for online brokers and other online financial service providers and is already proving its viability in the market, driving our interest for continued involvement."

Investorama.com, whose goal is to improve financial literacy, maintains over 14,000 links to finance-related sites-helping investors navigate through a maze of investor information on the 'Net. The site also offers free access to market news, stock and mutual fund quotes, research, market commentary, portfolio tracking, message boards, member e-mail and a customized start page (My Investorama). The site's founder and editor-in-chief Douglas Gerlach is a prolific author of articles and books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Investing (1999). Its president and CEO is Lewis Schiff, who is the creator of ArmchairMillionaire, an investing site produced by iVillage.com and the author of The Five Steps to Financial Freedom.

Ivy is Editor-at-Large for Advanced Trading and Wall Street & Technology. Ivy is responsible for writing in-depth feature articles, daily blogs and news articles with a focus on automated trading in the capital markets. As an industry expert, Ivy has reported on a myriad ... View Full Bio

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