ABS Capital, Best Buy Lead $27 Million Investment in Simplexity.

Business Editors

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 2000

Telecom Market Maker Gains Momentum

Simplexity,(TM) the leading market maker for telecommunications services, today announced that it closed a $27 million second round of financing, led by ABS Capital Partners and Best Buy Co., Inc.

Also participating in the round were: CNET, one of the world's leading new media companies, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, the lead investor in Simplexity's first round; Scient, an industry leader in building e-commerce systems, Sonera, one of Europe's leading telecommunications companies, Trans Cosmos USA, a global strategic investment and business development company, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, the leading law firm representing technology companies.

"We are redefining the way telecommunications services are bought and sold," said Simplexity CEO and President, Thomas J. Kilcoyne. "With such a powerful, diverse and synergistic group of investors validating our business model, we now have substantial leverage in the marketplace."

Simplexity launched its site in January as the only company granted direct access to the rates and plans of every leading carrier. Customers on the Simplexity.com(TM) site are able to learn about telecom products and services, submit anonymous Requests-for-Proposals, and receive customized bids from multiple carriers. Bids are organized in a neutral and unbiased `apples-to-apples' format for easy comparison, and customers can purchase telecom services right on the site. Simplexity.com guarantees customer confidentiality by not releasing the customer's name until they have chosen a carrier, and offers full customer support via phone and e-mail throughout the selection, order and provisioning process. The site's current offerings include long distance, international and wireless plans. Local voice, Internet access and data services will be added in the near future.

ABS Capital, with offices in Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA, Nashville, TN, and Northern Virginia, will serve as the lead investor to Simplexity.com. ABS Capital is an independent private equity fund with more than $900 million under management that specializes in private equity companies with significant growth potential. Don Hebb, a founding partner of ABS Capital and former President & Chief Executive Officer of Alex. Brown Inc., will serve on Simplexity's Board of Directors.

"We look at hundreds of investment opportunities every year in search of companies that have the potential to change entire markets," Hebb said. "We feel Simplexity is poised to be the market maker in the online telecommunications market. Their architecture, direct carrier relationships and leading distribution partners make for a powerful combination in resolving an unmet need in the telecommunications market, namely the cost effective exchange of information between carriers and small and medium businesses."

BestBuy.com, Inc. (http://www.BestBuy.com), the wholly owned Internet subsidiary of Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY), joins ABS Capital as a major investor. With more than $10 billion in annual revenues, Minnesota-based Best Buy Co. Inc. is the nation's largest volume specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances. In addition to its BestBuy.com web site, the company operates 357 retail locations in 39 states.

BestBuy.com also has formed a strategic alliance with Simplexity to offer tools to help consumers and small businesses make the right telecommunications choices. Best Buy's strength in the consumer technology segment allows Simplexity to make its service available to consumers nationwide, while still allowing Simplexity to focus on its core market of small and medium businesses. Scott Bauhofer, General Manager of BestBuy.com, will join Hebb on Simplexity's Board of Directors.

"Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing segments for Best Buy," Bauhofer said. "The addition of Simplexity's telecommunications offering will enable us to design and deliver bundled solutions for customers that include computers, software and communications services."

As part of the agreement, Simplexity's technology and content will be incorporated into BestBuy.com to make it easy for customers to choose the best services and plans for their needs.

"Simplexity's underlying architecture has the potential to completely reshape today's complex telecommunications marketplace," Bauhofer added.

About Simplexity, Inc.

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Reston, VA, Simplexity is changing the way telecommunications are bought and sold. The Simplexity.com website, and Simplexity's unique and powerful XACTtm architecture, have attracted major telecommunications carriers and strategic partners. The company's mission is to help bring clarity to the complex and confusing telecommunications marketplace. Simplexity enables users to learn about and compare the thousands of options available to them and enables carriers to interact directly with small and medium businesses, the fastest growing but most fragmented segment of the telecom market. Simplexity has raised $28.5 million from both strategic and venture capital investors. Simplexity's highly experienced management team comes from such leading internet, technology and telecommunications companies as @home, AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Cable & Wireless, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, MCI WorldCom, Omnicom, PathNet, Sun Microsystems, VeriFone, WinStar and Vicinity. The Simplexity.com website meets the strict disclosure, choice and security requirements of TRUSTe, the leading online privacy seal program.

For further information, please visit the Simplexity Web site at www.simplexity.com.

Simplexity, Simplexity.com, and Xact are trademarks of Simplexity, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Statements made in this news release, other than those concerning historical financial information, should be considered forward looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions regarding information currently available, and are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause results to vary include, among others, those identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company has no obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements that may be in this news release.