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1-800-WEDDING Closes Doors After Investors Balk
A couple of years ago, online wedding referral service 1-800-WEDDING was attracting cash from venture capital firms and big Orange County names such as Dennis Morin, founder of Wonderware Corp.
The Anaheim Hills-based company raised about $30 million, much to the credit of its energetic founder and president, Donne Kerestic, a young entrepreneur and former photographer.
The site accumulated a database of more than 70,000 brides and had several thousand vendors paying $200 to $700 a month to be listed, according to Frank Singer, a private investor with the Tech Coast Angels who also served as an adviser to 1-800-WEDDING's board.
The company was expected to reach $6 million in sales this year, Singer said.
Instead, it hit a wall.
1-800-WEDDING silently closed its doors about two months ago. About 50 employees, which at one time numbered more than 100, were laid off.
"It's a shame," said Singer, whose Tech Coast Angels collectively invested about $1.5 million in the company. "Everything was put in place. The concept worked."
The dot-com had four key ingredients, according to Singer: vendors, brides, a Web site that tied it together and a call center.
But he said 1-800-WEDDING needed more-about $2 million and six to nine months-to get to profitability.
"The major investor was ready to put more money in," Singer said. "However, the other VCs didn't want to belly up to the bar."
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