In releasing its results for the first time as a public company, Divine Interventures Inc. said Thursday that the firm's long-term growth prospects are largely tied to a healthy IPO market.

The Lisle-based Internet incubator announced a second-quarter net loss of $75.4 million on consolidated revenue of $12.1 million. That compares with a net loss of $44.2 million on $5.2 million in consolidated revenue in the first quarter.

Including preferred dividends, the net second-quarter net loss was $84.0 million, or 91 cents per diluted share, compared with $77.4 million, or 96 cents per share, in the first quarter, when fewer shares were outstanding.

Divine executives said they are encouraging the firm's associated companies to consider raising later rounds of funding from private sources or fueling growth through mergers and acquisitions if the market for initial public offerings remains sour.

Nonetheless, to convince investors that Divine can deliver on its promises and regularly churn out successful companies, Divine needs to push some of its wide-ranging portfolio of 53 Internet-related companies to the public markets, an executive acknowledged.

"I don't think it's urgent, but I think it's desirable [that] we show a couple of IPOs within the next 12 months, because I think that will be proof to Wall Street that this model works," Michael Cullinane, Divine's chief financial officer, said in an interview Thursday.

Andrew "Flip" Filipowski, Divine's chief executive, told analysts that if the appetite for public offerings does improve, between six to eight of its companies could go public as early as the end of the first quarter.

Divine's stock gained 53 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $7.50 on Thursday. Results were released after the close of regular Nasdaq market trading.

Year-old Divine finds itself having to prove the firm's strategy to skeptical investors. The company's stock rests nearly 17 percent below its $9 offering price last month, and hasn't closed above that level in more than three weeks.

Still, with the $338.2 million Divine raised last month with its IPO and concurrent investments, the company is pressing forward with its plan to piece together a global collection of technology firms. Divine has invested in companies with similar incubation models in Canada, Israel and Latin America, which collectively own 17 firms.

Despite the difficult IPO market, Divine saw one of its investments go public in the second quarter: Maryland-based Sequoia Software Corp., which closed Thursday at $10 per share--above its $8 offering price and about 3.5 times Divine's cost basis of $2.81 per share. Divine owns 8.8 percent of Sequoia.

Divine also highlighted two firms that have received new investments recently at higher valuations. LaunchWorks Inc., an Internet incubator in Canada, completed its third round of funding at 4.5 times higher than the buy-in level of the previous round, and i-Fulfillment Inc., which helps online sellers manage their inventories, closed its latest round at double its previous buy-in level.

While Divine will try to limit the cash it uses for future investments, its executives say they are scouting out new deals. The rough IPO market has forced many firms to look for more private funding.

The shift in market conditions also has caused Divine to work with many of its companies to scale back growth in exchange for trying to achieve profitability sooner.

"If the IPO markets are not worth tapping, we will work very hard on the consolidated revenues of the entire group," Filipowski said.