Industrial B-to-B Firm Nails Down Big Venture Bucks.

YET another local company has secured a major round of funding. Prime Advantage Corp., founded in 1998, inns a business-to-business online marketplace for the industrial manufacturing industry and recently secured $23 million.

Through its Web site at www.primeadvantage.com, the company links buyers and sellers of industrial products and supplies. Thus, factory owners can buy materials from suppliers through the site. Unlike conventional business-to-business auction sites, Prime Advantage guarantees buyers will get a discount, and guarantees sellers a high volume of sales. Like many b-to-b outfits, Prime Advantage generates its revenue by charging a transaction fee for each sale conducted over its site.

The company is growing rapidly.

While the company does not release revenue figures, Prime Advantage said the volume of sales handled over its site has exploded from about $7 million in the company's first year to $70 million last year. The company is projecting $150 million in sales this year.

With its recent round of venture capital, the company plans to pay for marketing-related activities and possibly an acquisition, as well as add more staff.

"We have about 15 sales and marketing people; our goal is to go to about 40 or 50 in the next six months," said Ross Berner, cofounder and senior vice president of strategy for Prime Advantage.

Most of those new hires will be based in the company's Chicago office, which the company set up to focus on the Midwestern states with a high number of industrial companies. The founders selected L.A. for the headquarters and tech center because of the attitudes of the highly skilled workers here.

"In Northern California, people have unrealistic expectations of when a company should go public, and how much options should be worth in six months. They'll leave if they don't get that confidence level," Berner said. "We get just as competent people in L.A. without the unrealistic expectations."