Meet Infonautics
Infonautics was founded in 1992 by then Wharton student turned sage early-stage investor Josh Kopelman and his dreamer mentor Marvin Weinberg, Infonautics is legend in Philadelphia’s investment and entrepreneurial communities.
Sparked by Weinberg’s idea to make information accessible pre-World Wide Web, younger Kopelman’s business strategy and a cast of startup characters, the Wayne-based venture created an online library before the likes of Google and Wikipedia. Spanning the decade, it offered membership products like its consumer-facing $9.95 per-month Electric Library subscription. It had its IPO in 1996 — a $130 million valuation on just $500,000 in annual revenue in those heady days — but struggled to find its purpose and failed to reach the full potential many in the region thought it might, before eventually being acquired in 2001.