Foundem also was set up by people with very rich friends in British society :-)
And only the rich get richer in these cases. ;)
"Today, Foundem’s website is the digital equivalent of a boarded-up house"
Their business is dead, because they were artificially demoted to 4th page in search when Google Product Search was created.
Kellys Directory for example which had its roots in a company founded in the 1700's
Even though the content itself seems non-existent now, I would have used an ecommerce/comparison site which is that fast despite lacking on the quality side.