Digital New York: Net incubator hatches new business plan; It's back to the drawing board for ORP; company won't take stakes.

Publication: Crain's New York Business

Publication Date: 29-JAN-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 Crain Communications, Inc.

Online retail partners Inc. is getting ready to unveil version 2.0. Once one of Silicon Alley's most ambitious Internet incubators, ORP is refashioning itself as an application software provider, or ASP, in order to survive. To mark the company's shift, ORP is also planning a name change next month, but hasn't yet disclosed the new monicker.

Launched two years ago with $100 million from backers including Liberty Digital and Oak Investment Partners, ORP initially focused exclusively on developing e-commerce businesses for bricks-and-mortar retailers that could be spun off as separate public companies. When the dot-crash hit last year and the initial public offering market dried up, that plan quickly fizzled.

``There aren't going to be many companies that will set up separate dot-coms anymore. Therefore, we...

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