WR Hambrecht & Co, the new investment bank founded by industry veteran Bill Hambrecht, has attracted some more capital to fund its plans to bring companies public via internet-based auctions. The bank announced that e-partners, a recently-created investment vehicle of News Corp, has made an unspecified investment in exchange for a minority stake.
The move marks the first entrepreneurial investment by e- partners, which said it supports Hambrecht’s strategy of using technology to create a more open marketplace. For Hambrecht, the investment follows similar commitments from software maker Novell Inc in April and electronic brokerage Instinet Corp last month – with the latter having paid $20m for an 11.4% stake in the bank. Hambrecht says it is still looking for strategic capital to fund its ongoing business objectives.
