The dot.com networking group First Tuesday is reported to be up for
sale at a price of just £2 million. Israeli venture capital fund
Yazam paid a rumoured £33 million for it last year. It has reduced
its London Head Office staff to just eight.
First Tuesday began in a London Soho bar in October 1998 with
four friends informally putting entrepreneurs in contact with
venture capitalists, lawyers and other advisers. Now First
Tuesday’s matchmaking events take place in cities all over the
world, with entrepreneurs being introduced to potential investors
and others such as technology, knowledge and service providers.
First Tuesday charges a fee for each introduction that leads to
an investment. The success fee is charged at 2% of the total
investment amount.
In view of what Yazam described as “changing market conditions,”
First Tuesday has cut its London head office staff from around 30
in November to just 8. On Monday, its Board of Directors announced
that the company was to “institute immediate cost reductions,
whilst it continues to examine all strategic options for the
business.”
According to FT.com, the network’s city representatives, almost
all of whom work voluntarily, have approached Yazam with a view to
taking control of the company.
