NexTag Finds Holiday Cheer

Business: NextTag Inc. operates an online comparison-shopping site.

Founded: NexTag launched the site, www.nextag.com, in 1999.

Headquarters: San Mateo, Calif.

Employees: About 100, almost tripled in size a year ago.

Most recent capital raised: $1.6M in late-stage funding in December 2000.

VC raised to date: $12.6M

Valuation: Had a post-money valuation of $16M when it raised $4M through a Series A in May 1999.

Investor: Morgenthaler Ventures

Directors: Gary Little and Jim Broderick, both general partners at Morgenthaler.

Competitors: Shopping.com and BizRate.

Financials: The privately held company would not disclose revenue. But based on consumers’ growing interest in online shopping sites and price comparisons, NexTag is expecting to report nine consecutive quarters of profitability for the quarter ended Dec. 31. NextTag derives revenue from merchants who pay for referrals.

Notable: Last year, was ranked 7th fastest growing company in North America in the Deloitte 2003 Technology Fast 500 Rising Stars.

Plans two years ago: When NextTag raised $7M in a Series B in 1999, the company said that the funds will be used to support continued marketing efforts as NexTag.com introduces four new categories, consumer electronics, books, music and movies.

Current status: The company declined to comment on future plans. But NexTag has had no problem attracting eyeballs. In the three-day shopping frenzy weekend following Thanksgiving last year, more than 1.9 million users shopped and compared prices on NexTag. This was a three-fold increase from the number of users on the site during the same three-day period in 2002, based on the company’s internal tracking.