Benchmark Capital Invests in Sulake, the Company behind the Leading Online Teen Community and Game Property Habbo Hotel; Current Owners 3i and Elisa Co-Invest.

LOS ANGELES -- Benchmark Capital joined the Habbo success story by leading an investing round of $23.5 million in Sulake Corporation - the creator of Habbo Hotel. Current owners of Sulake, 3i Group plc and Finnish telecom company Elisa Group, co-invested in the financing.

Sulake is an interactive entertainment company specializing in developing, publishing and distributing multiplayer online communities and games. Sulake's top brand franchise, Habbo Hotel, is an online game environment designed for teens and has become one of the most popular and fastest growing teen websites in the world. To date, over 22 million Habbo characters have been created, with three million unique users visiting Habbo Hotel each month.

Sulake operates in various areas of the interactive entertainment industry, which is the fastest growing segment of the global entertainment and media market. Interactive entertainment is expected to grow from $25 to $55 billion between 2004 and 2008, averaging an impressive 20 percent compound annual growth.

"During this year we will focus on the further development of the Habbo Hotel concept and its launch in the promising Asian markets, particularly China and Korea," said Timo Soininen, CEO of Sulake Corporation.

"Our strategic aim is to build Habbo into a new type of youth brand which is anchored in the largest online teen community. The Habbo brand will also extend to include mobile games and content, animation series and merchandising products. We are also looking to broaden our product portfolio with other kinds of game and community concepts for new target audiences," adds Soininen.

"Benchmark is excited to invest in Sulake Corporation to help achieve the goal of Habbo Hotel becoming the largest global teen multiplayer game community. We have been very impressed by the achievements of the founders and management to date, and believe Benchmark can help further this success, through its global network and company building experience, " said Johan Brenner, General Partner of Benchmark Europe. "We believe multiplayer game communities spanning both the online and mobile worlds will be a major force in the increasing convergence of entertainment, interactivity and communication. Sulake is well positioned to be one of the leaders in this rapidly growing industry."

Jussi Nurmio, CEO of Taivas Group and co-Founder and Chairman of Sulake, said, "We are very pleased to have Benchmark as a new investor, as I feel that their expertise and experience will help us in realizing our vision of building a new type of global teen brand."

Ere Kariola, Managing Director of 3i Finland, added: "As a long-standing supporter of Sulake, 3i was attracted by the company's pioneering, fresh and innovative approach to building online social communities for teenagers and its highly effective revenue model. Progress to date is excellent and 3i sees great potential in further expanding the Habbo and other brands to new business areas and regions leveraging the full support of 3i's global network of corporate contacts and decades of expertise."

Note to Editors:

About Sulake

Sulake is an interactive entertainment company specializing in developing, publishing and distributing multiplayer online communities and games. Sulake more than doubled its annual revenues to $18 million in 2004, and this growth is expected to continue during 2005.

The main shareholders in Sulake include Taivas Group, 3i Group plc, Elisa Group and Benchmark Capital followed by the company's founders Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrola, and Sulake CEO Timo Soininen.

Sulake has localized Habbo Hotel communities in 16 countries on four continents: North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. To date, more than 22 million Habbo characters have been created, with almost three million unique users visiting Habbo Hotel each month. The US version of the hotel, www.habbohotel.com, was launched in September 2004 and has already attracted users, who have created more than 1.3 million Habbo characters.

Sulake has headquarters in Finland and activities in 16 countries. Currently Sulake has more than 160 employees worldwide.

About Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs build great technology companies. Benchmark's partners take a team-oriented, labor-intensive approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm's portfolio companies. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Alphyra, the leading pan European electronic payments provider, Betfair, the world's largest online betting company, eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY), Juniper Networks (Nasdaq:JNPR), MySQL, the leading open source database business, founded in Sweden, and Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT).

Managing more than $2.7 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on investing in entrepreneurs with original ideas. Since arriving in Europe in May 2000, Benchmark has made more than 30 investments across a variety of market sectors and geographies. The $375 million raised by Benchmark Europe II follows Benchmark's first European fund of $500 million.

About 3i

3i is a world leader in private equity and venture capital. We focus on Buyouts, Growth Capital and Venture Capital and invest across Europe, in the United States and in Asia Pacific. Our competitive advantage comes from our international network and the strength and breadth of our relationships in business. These underpin the value that we deliver to our portfolio and to our shareholders.

In the 6 months to 30 September 2004, 3i invested EUR760 million, including co-investment funds. 3i's venture capital business invested EUR108 million in the 6 months to 30 September 2004 in early stage technology companies. 3i's Venture Capital business is focused on early stage technology investing in the Healthcare, Software, Communications and Electronics sectors.