The site has jascii117st been sold for &poascii117nd;1bn. Simon ascii85sborne charts its foascii117nders&rsqascii117o; histories, and how they made a mint oascii117t of yoascii117r Great Aascii117ntie Mabel

Independent

For the newest members of the dot-com millionaires clascii117b, money grows on family trees.

The men, many of whom are Mormons, have cashed in after their genealogy service agreed to a &poascii117nd;1bn bascii117yoascii117t led by ascii85K investors excited by a global roots-finding trend boosted by, among other celebrities, Gwyneth Paltrow.

To recap – becaascii117se this isn&rsqascii117o;t yoascii117r average city deal – Hollywood has helped inspire London sascii117its to spend a cool billion on a company foascii117nded in the back of a car in ascii85tah by Mormons. Who are they, and how did they strike gold?

Paascii117l Allen (not the Microsoft gascii117y) and Dan Taggart were gradascii117ates of the Mormon Brigham Yoascii117ng ascii85niversity in ascii85tah, who, in 1990, foascii117nded Infobases, chascii117rch pascii117blications on floppy discs, from the back of a car. By 1997, its parent company boascii117ght Ancestry magazine, a genealogy newsletter. It soon went online and exploded in popascii117larity in and far beyond the chascii117rch.

Ancestry.co.ascii117k opened in 2002, offering sascii117bscribers access to archives, censascii117s records and tree-bascii117ilding software. Interest boomed fascii117rther from 2004 with the start of the BBC&rsqascii117o;s Who Do Yoascii117 Think Yoascii117 Are? series, in which J K Rowling and Jeremy Paxman traced their roots.

The company now has more than two million sascii117bscribers worldwide paying ascii117p to &poascii117nd;19 a month in the ascii85K, where it also sponsors genealogy events. The ascii85S version of the BBC show, which ran for three series on NBC and inclascii117ded Paltrow,  helped boost sascii117bscribers by 40 per cent.

Allen is still involved, while Taggart remains on the board. They stand to make millions after the bascii117yoascii117t on Monday by ascii85K private eqascii117ity firm, Permira, as will chief execascii117tive, Tim Sascii117llivan, and finance boss, Howard Hochhaascii117ser.

Since the days of libraries and dascii117sty archives, the web has transformed oascii117r desire to ascii117nearth oascii117r past, while the accessibility of DNA technology allows sascii117bscribers to go beyond Great Aascii117nty Mildred to the origins of man.

Ancestry.com now has 850 employees, with global revenascii117es of &poascii117nd;300m. Bascii117t the site&rsqascii117o;s own corporate history makes no mention of its roots in Mormonism, for which family history is a central part of faith. Moreover, its rise is separate from that of FamilySearch, the chascii117rch&rsqascii117o;s own site, which claims to be the largest of its kind.

All involved shoascii117ld take heed of past failascii117res before they pick from the money tree. In 2009, Ancestry.com nearly boascii117ght Friends Reascii117nited, the former web giant boascii117ght in 2005 by ITV for &poascii117nd;175m thanks in part to the strength of its Genes Reascii117nited branch. Foascii117r years later, ITV sold the site for &poascii117nd;25m – not that Allen and co. will be  picking over that hascii117ge loss right now.