Virtual Market Enterprises

What Virtual Market Enterprises does

Virtual Market Enterprises (VME) is a Davis, California-based privately held web design and hosting company founded in 1994-1995 by G. Richard Yamagata, PhD. The company operates a network of community-oriented online business directories branded as "Virtual Markets," with individual sites serving six California cities: Davis, Woodland, Fresno, Vacaville, Reedley, and Sacramento. It employs between 11 and 50 staff and reports no institutional funding, no acquisitions, and no external capital events on record.

The company's core offerings include website design, shared web hosting, virtual domain hosting, custom feature development (Java, JavaScript, animations, and shopping-cart implementations), and internet/email account services delivered to local small businesses, professionals, community organizations, and agricultural enterprises primarily in California's Central Valley. The underlying technology stack is consistent with late-1990s to early-2000s web architecture, with no indication of cloud-native modernization, containerization, or machine-learning components. Pricing is tiered from a $5/month basic tier up to $392/month for full-feature hosting and custom development, supplemented by one-time setup fees.

VME monetizes through these monthly subscription fees plus setup charges, distributed via a multi-channel go-to-market that combines a regional agent network with traditional media advertising on radio and in local newspapers. The company's most recent visible operational activity dates to Winter 2018 across the site network, and no product refresh, hiring surge, or strategic capital event has been disclosed.

Name

Virtual Market Enterprises

Legal name

Virtual Market Enterprises, Inc.

Website

https://vme.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Davis, California-based web design and hosting company founded in 1994-1995 that operates a network of community business directories ("Virtual Markets") across six California cities, serving local small businesses, professionals, and agricultural enterprises with subscription-based website services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Davis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Web Hosting and Presence Services: Monthly rental fees for website hosting with various pricing tiers based on number of pages, graphics, and features. Setup fees charged for new website creation.
2. Set-up and Design Fees: One-time setup fees for website creation, page design, and special features including Java, JavaScript, graphics tiling, mouse-overs, animations, Flash, shopping carts, and search engines

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Virtual Market Enterprises (VME) designs, hosts, and promotes websites for local small businesses, professionals, community organizations, and individuals across California through a network of community-branded online directories called "Virtual Markets." The company offers tiered website packages (from $5/month business card sites to $392/month 240+ page sites), virtual domain hosting, special-features web development (Java, JavaScript, shopping carts, animations), email/internet accounts, classified ads, and an online shopping directory, supported by a regional agent network.

Product overview

Virtual Market Enterprises operates a multi-city online business directory and web hosting platform called the Virtual Markets. The core offering is the Virtual Market Directory Service—a 24-hour local search engine and community website system that includes Website Creation and Hosting (ranging from basic Business Card websites at $5/month to 240+ page sites at $392/month), Virtual Domain Hosting, Special Features Web Development (Java, JavaScript, animations, shopping carts, search engines), Internet and Email Accounts, and an Online Shopping Directory. The platform spans six regional sub-brands: Davis Virtual Market (DVM), Woodland Virtual Market (WVM), Fresno Virtual Market (FVM), Vacaville Virtual Market (VVM), Reedley Virtual Market (RVM), and Sacramento Virtual Market (SVM). The company also offers a Classified Ads Service and radio/newspaper advertising support for community events. The system reportedly receives over 10 million visits per month across all markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Virtual Market Directory Service A 24-hour online business directory organized by regional community markets that allows local businesses to be listed and discovered through a local search engine across multiple California cities (Davis, Woodland, Fresno, Vacaville, Reedley, Sacramento).
• Website Creation and Hosting

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 10 million potential customer accesses per month to Virtual Market pages
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Alignable: Alignable is a small-business network and local directory that helps SMBs connect with and be discovered by neighboring businesses and customers. Like VME, its core value proposition is local visibility for SMBs, though delivered via a modern SaaS platform.
• Citysearch: Citysearch was a city-by-city online business directory that helped consumers find local businesses—an early commercial analog to VME's Virtual Markets concept. Both organize SMB discovery by city/region and monetize via enhanced listings and advertising.
• Network Solutions: Network Solutions is a long-standing web hosting, domain registration, and SMB website services provider. It is comparable to VME in its SMB-targeting hosting and website product mix, though operating at significantly larger scale.
• Local.com: Local.com operates an online directory of local businesses and SMBs, paralleling VME's Virtual Markets directory concept. Both monetize by selling enhanced web presence and advertising to small businesses seeking local customer discovery.

Broad incumbents

• Yelp: Yelp is the dominant consumer-facing local business directory and competes with VME's Virtual Markets for local search-driven traffic to SMBs. Unlike VME, Yelp does not design or host SMB websites but competes heavily for the local-discovery eyeballs that VME sells against.
• GoDaddy: GoDaddy is a mass-market web hosting, domain, and website builder provider that competes with VME on hosting and basic site creation. GoDaddy also operates a small-business directory/listing product, overlapping with VME's directory offering at vastly greater scale.
• Thryv: Thryv (formerly Dex Media) is an established SMB marketing and business-management platform offering websites, directories, listings, and advertising—directly overlapping with VME's web hosting + local directory model, but at national scale and with broader product breadth.
• Yellow Pages (YP / DexYP): YP/DexYP operates digital versions of the traditional Yellow Pages directory, providing SMB listings and advertising tied to local search and discovery—directly comparable to VME's directory-and-advertising model, though at much larger national scale and with a stronger print heritage.

Emerging players

• Squarespace: Squarespace is a website builder and hosting platform aimed at SMBs, freelancers, and creators. Like Wix, it competes with VME's traditional design-and-host service by enabling SMB customers to publish professional sites without an agency relationship.
• Wix: Wix is a leading DIY website builder and hosting platform targeting exactly the same SMB segment that VME serves with its hands-on web design service. Wix represents the self-service threat to VME's design-and-host value proposition, particularly as it has expanded into commerce, bookings, and marketing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Virtual Market Enterprises