Verio is a global web hosting provider headquartered in the United States. Incorporated in 1996 in Denver, Colorado, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) Communications, which acquired the company in 2000. Verio was formed from a consolidation of over 200 smaller Internet service providers (ISPs)[1] and web hosting services.
History
Verio was founded by Darin Brannan and Justin Jaschke, and several senior management team members subsequently joined from OneComm/Nextel. The company idea, including the initial business plan and pitch deck, began in the halls of Norwest Venture Partners after several months of market diligence and target acquisition discussions. Venture Capitalists George J. Still, Jr. and Darin Brannan from Norwest Venture Partners ultimately teamed with Steven C. Halstedt from the Centennial Funds and Steve Schovee from Telecom Partners to syndicate and launch the business in 1996.
In order to validate the strategy and raise capital, Brett Sharenow and Lynn Morris from Morris Associates were hired to create the first detailed engineering-driven financial model consisting of ISPs, core network infrastructure, and server farms, allowing Verio to raise substantial funds ($1.1 billion) from principal founders, several top tier VC's, NTT and institutional investors with which to purchase target acquisitions and build out centralized back office, support, national sales and infrastructure. By the year 2000, Verio had purchased 55 ISP/Hosting companies, most in the U.S. but some in Europe. During this time Verio went public on the