Bear Ventures Leads $2 Million Seed Round for deliverEtoday.com.

Business Editors

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

deliverEtoday.com, a guaranteed same-day delivery and fulfillment service of e-commerce goods, announced today the close of its seed round -- a $2 million package led by Bear Ventures, L.L.C., a New York-based private equity investment fund.

deliverEtoday.com is a total solutions provider offering same-day delivery and fulfillment for the e-commerce economy. The company announced earlier this week completion of its successful 90-day test of services in the San Francisco Bay Area. It also disclosed plans to deploy into six additional major U.S. markets within the next six months.

deliverEtoday.com has reached agreement with two large retail chains, which will be incorporated in the company's expansion plans into the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Boston markets.

"One of our major attractions to deliverEtoday was the strength of its concept," said Philip Erdoes, founder and CEO of Bear Ventures. "Currently, the problem with e-commerce is the disconnect customers feel when they order off the Net for ease, convenience and speed, then have to wait three to six days to actually get the product. Consumers want products faster, and every retailer is trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to achieve that.

"deliverEtoday closes the gap," Erdoes observed. "As an Internet-based, horizontal player, deliverEtoday is able to service retailers all over the country. And, as a non-merchandiser, the company is not a competitive threat to the retailers, which creates a win-win for both the retailer and the customer."

Erdoes, a start-up veteran with experience in creating, financing, growing and managing start-up and entrepreneurial ventures, founded Bear Ventures in 1997. The Silicon Alley-based fund specializes in emerging growth and Internet investments and is operationally focused to provide value beyond capital to all of its portfolio companies.

Bear Ventures, backed by one of the largest private banks in the United States, leads or co-invests on deals and has done so with some of the biggest industry players. A few of its current investments also include Internet Media Placement (Net-mercial), Zkey.com, iExplore.com, SportsID.com, National Tile + Stone and FloorExchange.com.

"Another reason deliverEtoday was so bankable is the successful track record of its leadership," Erdoes emphasized. "The management team has worked together over the last seven years to build a thriving B-to-B shipping company - a company still experiencing phenomenal growth today. So, deliverEtoday has the benefit of a proven team with a clear vision. Our objective is to help them get where they want to go as quickly and as efficiently as possible."

"We chose Bear Ventures to lead our seed round of funding because the company is accessible, very hands-on, and brings sound strategic expertise to the table -- all key factors to our growth," said Brian Clark, chief operating officer of deliverEtoday.com. "We also were impressed with the quality of the companies in which Bear Ventures has invested, as well as the fact that it has extensive capital resources and strategic relationships to help with future rounds of financing."

"The seed round has helped us build deliverEtoday.com's foundation and will enable us to accelerate our deployment nationwide as we scale the same-day delivery space," Clark said.

deliverEtoday.com is also the first and only non-merchandiser offering same-day delivery service targeting national retail chains and e-tailers. The company has reached agreement with two national retail chains and is in ongoing discussions with several others. deliverEtoday.com plans to formally announce all agreements within the next 30 days.

This release can be found at the company Web site, www.deliveretoday.com.