BRM Capital Names Mike Mers to Managing Director; Mers to Expand BRM's Investment Focus to Communications and Wireless Infrastructure Companies.

Business Editors

FORT LEE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2001

BRM Capital, a venture capital firm that invests seed and expansion funds primarily in Israeli-related Internet infrastructure companies, has named Mike Mers to managing director. Mers plans to further broaden the firm's investment focus from Internet infrastructure to one that also encompasses companies within the communications and wireless infrastructure domain.

"The morphing of the Internet with telecommunications is happening at a rapid pace," said Mers. "In many cases it's becoming increasingly difficult to even consider them separate industries. With these Industries becoming increasingly interdependent on one another, BRM Capital is taking advantage of the natural opportunity to broaden our investment focus from internet infrastructure to include communications and wireless infrastructure."

Mers added, "I joined BRM Capital because of its reputation in investing and assisting entrepreneurs in building great Internet infrastructure companies. We plan to leverage that experience into the communications and wireless domains. We have already made two investments in these arenas and plan to aggressively identify new opportunities in 2001."

Before joining BRM Capital, Mers was a senior manager of strategic investments at Intel Capital. In Intel Capital's Venture Group, he led investments in, and represented Intel Capital on the board of, several Internet infrastructure companies. Before that, Mers spent the majority of his career with Hewlett Packard, holding several senior marketing and management positions in the US and Europe during his tenure, including the worldwide director of product marketing for HP's Office Inkjet Printer business.

"We pride ourselves on working closely with our portfolio companies by providing technologic, operational and business development assistance," said Nir Barkat, managing director, BRM Capital. "Mike's high-tech management and operational experience from Hewlett Packard and Intel Capital will help strengthen our ability to assist CEOs in these ways."

"Mike's commitment is in line with BRM's strategy to be long-term investors that build successful companies," added Charlie Federman, managing director, BRM Capital. "As BRM Capital expands to include communications and wireless investments, we are certain that Mike's knowledge of that industry, as well as his experience in investing in infrastructure companies, are going to prove long-term assets for us and our portfolio companies."

Mers has an M.B.A. from Bristol University (U.K.) where he was an International Rotary Scholar, and a B.A. in marketing from Boise State University.

About BRM Capital

BRM Capital (www.brm.com) is a venture capital firm that invests seed and expansion funds primarily in Israeli-related Internet and communications infrastructure companies. With its headquarters in the US and offices in Israel, BRM Capital is an active investor that provides entrepreneurs with financial resources, in addition to technological, operational and business development assistance to help them accelerate growth and gain market leadership. Public portfolio companies include BackWeb (NASDAQ:BWEB), Brio Technologies (NASDAQ:BRIO), Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) and CrossWorlds Software Inc. (NASDAQ:CWLD).