Private companies lead 50 to Watch List

SEATTLE – While several companies planning to go public wait out the slump in the Nasdaq market, the 50 to Watch List for the third quarter once again tips heavily toward the private emerging company sector.

The 50 to Watch List includes 18 public companies and 32 privately held enterprises, of which four are waiting to go public.

The list reflects the diversity of Seattle’s business community. Five of the public companies and 17 of the private enterprises are Internet plays, four are in telecommunications and seven are involved in biotechnology or operate in the health care sector.

Among the newcomers to the list is TeraBeam Networks. To date it has raised $121 million, including a Washington state record of $105 million for its cutting-edge, gigabit Fiberless Optical network services. It’s headed by Dan Hesse, who previously was a top executive at AT&T Wireless Services.

Although not as knee-deep in cash as TeraBeam, Seattle-based digiMine makes its debut on the list due to its rapid growth (20 employees hired in the first month), $16 million in first-round financing and depth of executive experience. This application service provider that performs data warehousing and data mining services hopes to capture 5 percent of its market, or an estimated $3 billion.

By: Rolf Boone

Source: dbusiness.com

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