Joe Fedele, FreshDirect

Grocery shopping over the Net looked like an idea that got buried in the dot-com rubble. Nothing seemed to prove that more than the collapse of Webvan, the Foster City (Calif.) upstart that raised $1 billion only to shut down in July, 2001.

Now, however, Joe Fedele is rekindling hopes that people across the country will be able to stock their refrigerators without darkening a grocery's doors. Armed with $100 million, Fedele, 50, launched FreshDirect in Manhattan last September. Next up is expanding into the outer boroughs and, within three to five years, opening operations in Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago.