Benchmark Capital Creates $500 Million European Venture Fund; Leading Silicon Valley Venture Firm Opens London Office to Tap Potential of European Market.

Business Editors

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2000

Benchmark Capital, Silicon Valley's leading early-stage high-technology venture capital firm, today announced the creation of a $500 million fund devoted exclusively to the European market.

This represents the first time a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm has created a fund to capitalize on the investment opportunities that exist in Western Europe. The fund will be managed from Benchmark Capital's new office in London, and will apply the same team-oriented, hands-on approach to investing that has made Benchmark's previous funds so successful.

"The opportunity to help the most talented entrepreneurs build great companies in Europe over the next several years is a great one," said Bruce Dunlevie, General Partner at Benchmark. "The social and political attitudes that exist in Western Europe toward technology start-ups and risk-taking have recently undergone significant transformation, and the prospects for creating world-class companies in Europe now rival those of the U.S. We're excited about taking the techniques and business model that have worked so well for us domestically, and making Benchmark the first top-tier Silicon Valley venture firm to extend these company building concepts to Europe's entrepreneurial community."

"Exploding use of the Internet, and in particular wireless Internet applications, are creating many exciting new markets in Europe," said Kevin Harvey, General Partner at Benchmark. "We have studied the evolution of the European technology markets closely, and believe that the time is ripe to broaden Benchmark's reach outside North America."

The new fund will provide European entrepreneurs the same services that Benchmark offers the companies in its domestic portfolio. These include high impact executive recruiting, the refinement of corporate strategy, and the facilitation of key strategic partnerships. These services can be extraordinarily valuable to new start-ups, often accelerating their time-to-market by months, if not years.

"The European technology market is ready to take off. The infrastructure is finally in place, and consumer interest in the Internet is growing rapidly. Benchmark Capital is smart to make this move now and is probably one of the best-positioned companies to take advantage of this opportunity." said Pierre Omidyar, founder and Chairman of eBay, the world's leading person-to-person online trading community and an early Benchmark investment.

"Benchmark not only has the capital to help European start-ups, it has experience building successful companies and an extensive network of industry relationships which, in the long run, may be even more valuable than money," said Bob Howe, Chairman and CEO of Scient, the leading e-Business systems innovator, and also a Benchmark portfolio company.

"I've worked with many of the Benchmark partners over the last several years, and have first-hand experience with their ability to provide guidance, add value and make high level introductions for my company," said Marc Andreessen, a founder of Netscape and now co-founder and Chairman of Loudcloud, a recent Benchmark investment.

"Benchmark has set a new standard in providing service to entrepreneurs, and their track record of helping these entrepreneurs build successful companies speaks for itself," said Brad Koenig, Head of Goldman Sachs Global Technology Investment Banking practice.

Benchmark Europe I will pursue a similar investment strategy to Benchmark's U.S. funds. It will focus on early-stage investing in technology companies that seek to create new markets in areas where the partners have direct experience. These areas include application services, consumer devices, eCommerce (business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer), infrastructure services, networking equipment, semiconductors, and software.

Company Background

Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 with the mission of helping talented entrepreneurs build major technology enterprises focused on long-term growth. Benchmark takes a labor-intensive, team-oriented approach to venture investing in order to deliver a superior level of service to its portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Ariba, Broadbase Software, CacheFlow, Critical Path, eBay, Juniper Networks, Kana Communications, Northpoint Communications, Red Hat Software, Scient, Turnstone Systems, Webvan and Wink Communications. Managing more than $1.4 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on early-stage investing in markets where the partners have directly relevant experience. For more information on Benchmark, visit their Web site at www.benchmark.com.