The fourth founder, Estrella, decided to go off on her own under the PogoPet name when the TCV funding came through.

FORBES: Dog fight

One more time, Reisman drove down from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, where she met TCV's managing partner Jay Hoag and associate Michael Linnert.

FORBES: Dog fight

Some of those included New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Benchmark Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), which invested in some real losers that dragged down the returns of their portfolios.

FORBES: A Punt In Search Of Returns

One further factor was essential in helping DST to gatecrash the party of the handful of private-equity funds, such as Elevation Partners, TCV and Silver Lake Partners, which typically provide successful American internet firms with additional cash.

ECONOMIST: Internet investment's new champions: The emerging online giants | The