Private companies band together

Mansueto Digital has just launched IncBizNet.com, a networking site and database specifically for privately-held companies.

Mansueto is the online arm of Fast Company and Inc. magazines.

IncBizNet is positioned as a directory for private companies based in the United States. Data will be provided, trimmed and hedged by the companies themselves.

Special hosted business tools include:

• A press release newswire
• Company blogging software
• Local community group listings
• Directories for marketing products or services

Companies featured in Inc.'s 5,000 have assisted in pre-populating the destination before its official launch. All Stateside private ventures are eligible.

Initial sponsors include American Express OPEN and Comcast.

A hodgepodge of social networking consultants assisted in developing the site, which was built on open source platform Drupal, which lends itself well to sites that expect to blossom fairly quickly.