Idealab says happy trails to Silicon Valley

Idealab, the venture capital firm that helped create companies including eToys and Ticketmaster, will close its Silicon Valley offices, the company said Wednesday.

In the coming weeks, Idealab will fold its Palo Alto, Calif., "company creation" operations into its Pasadena, Calif., headquarters, Idealab spokeswoman Teresa Bridwell said. Idealab will try to move the 33 employees based in Silicon Valley to one of the three Idealab start-ups in the area, she said.

"We will no longer be launching new companies out of the Palo Alto office," Bridwell said. "We are consolidating the company's West Coast creation activities in Pasadena."

One of the best known of the so-called Internet incubators, Idealab has, like most of its competitors, seen some of the companies it helped create wither and die as a result of the Internet shakeout.

Idealab's flagship company, eToys--one of the best-funded Internet-only retailers--filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Tuesday. The Los Angeles-based e-tailer went into a tailspin after suffering a severe earnings shortfall during the holidays.

Eve.com, the cosmetics site Idealab owned a piece of, closed its doors last October.

Idealab filed to raise about $300 million in an initial public offering last April, right as the downturn in the tech sector was beginning. The company withdrew its IPO plans last October.

Idealab opened the Palo Alto office in fall 1999. The company's three remaining offices besides its Pasadena headquarters are in New York, Boston and London.