Tradex Technologies Inc. was a developer of Java-based B2B e-commerce software. It primarily operated in the industries of financial services, telecommunications, plastics, and foodservice. It offered a platform for vertical trading hubs, another for large enterprises, and a third for the distributor channel segment. The software used JavaBeans technology.

At the peak of the dot-com bubble in March 2000, SAP Ariba acquired Tradex for 19 million shares of Ariba stock, then worth $5.6 billion.^[1]

The company received 60% of revenue from licensing its software, 30% from support services, and 10% from transaction fees. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone was the largest customer of the company and VerticalNet was also a customer.^[2]

History

The company was founded by Daniel Aegerter as an Internet-based system for automating the purchase of computer peripherals for electronic publishing, which were distributed by his company, Dynabit.^[2]

At first, in 1996, Tradex offered a wholesale marketplace for computer equipment, with 40 vendors offering 15,000 products.^[3] In 1999, the company had 180 employees and 480 customers.^[4]

In 1996, it received an award from the Gartner Group and InformationWeek as the best Internet B2B e-commerce solution.^[5]

Revenues in 1998 were estimated to be less than $5 million.^[6]

By September 1999, the company had raised $28 million from investors including Internet Capital Group, Sigma Partners, Apex Investment Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, First Analysis Corporation, Imlay Investments, and United Parcel Service.^[6][2]

In 1999, it was negotiation a headquarters move to Atlanta. It also had offices in Boston, Dallas, Tampa, San Francisco, Washington D.C., London and Tokyo.^[6]

In December 1999, Ariba announced the acquisition of Tradex for stock then valued at $1.86 billion.^{[4][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

In January 2000, the company reached a reselling agreement with JD Edwards.^[13]

On March 8, 2000, at the height of the dot com bubble, Ariba completed the acquisition.^[1] Ariba shares had tripled since the announcement of the acquisition 4 months earlier and Tradex was therefore valued at $5.6 billion, making Daniel Aegerter a billionaire on paper.

References