In March 1996, ICG was founded to focus exclusively on building leading business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce companies. Although Internet commerce was still in its infancy, the Company's visionaries believed that the Internet would be pervasive and create a demand for efficiency that would have a dramatic impact on how businesses do business. Later that same year, ICG closed its initial financing round and began identifying and acquiring interests in B2B e-commerce companies.

ICG was extremely aggressive during this stage and acquired interests in leading companies across the entire B2B e-commerce spectrum. Before the ink had even dried on some of those acquisitions, a significant shift in the marketplace decimated the stock market in 2000.

ICG responded quickly to the market downturn. First, it dramatically reduced costs through significant downsizing and focused its human and financial resources on those partner companies believed to hold the greatest potential to generate stockholder value. The goal was to position ICG and these “Core” partner companies to not only weather the storm, but to capitalize on the opportunities in the technology market that began to emerge once it was over.

ICG took disciplined and measured actions to strengthen its financial position by cutting costs and restructuring its convertible debt. It also increased its liquidity position by selling its stake in LinkShare and through the Blackboard IPO.

ICG is in a very strong financial position, with considerable cash and marketable securities and poised to make new acquisitions. ICG continues to drive its partner companies toward profitability and market leadership. These companies span key markets, but all deliver on demand Internet software and services that drive business productivity and reduce transaction costs between firms. Valuable companies such as Blackboard, LinkShare, ICG Commerce and StarCite are excellent examples of the success of the ICG model.

The objective was, as it is today, to provide operational, strategic and financial support to own and build profitable, industry-leading software and service companies. ICG has used its unique insight into the technology market to evolve with the industry, and often stay ahead of it.