VenVest, a St. Louis-based venture capital and holding company, is launching a self-service Internet portal for the more than 750 members of VenVest portfolio companies AirTime500 and Plumbers' Success International.

Plumbing and HVAC contractor-members will be able to buy equipment from AirTime500 and PSI through the Internet portal, called BuyMax The Contractor's Warehouse.

PSI and AirTime500 will be able to use the portal to build and maintain personal relationships with contractor members, as well as to better track and aggregate spending.

The BuyMax portal pilot, expected to go live in May, will be rolled-out in June to PSI and AirTime500 members. The portal will be available to nonmembers in Fall 2002.

The portal is hosted and managed by CoreHarbor, an e-commerce solutions provider, and uses Blue Martini Software's applications.