BenefitPoint Raises $52 Million From Prestigious Group of Investors.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2000

HarbourVest, Goldman Sachs, First Union, Sequoia, IVP,

Comdisco, and Scient Endorse BenefitPoint Leadership

BenefitPoint Inc., the leading employee benefits infrastructure company for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products, today announced that it has completed a $52 million second round of funding.

Leading the round was HarbourVest Partners, LLC, a global, private equity investment firm. Corporate investors, representing some of the most prestigious names in insurance, information technology, and finance include:

-- HarbourVest Partners, LLC;

-- GS Capital Partners III, L.P.;

-- First Union;

-- Sequoia Capital;

-- Institutional Venture Partners (IVP);

-- Comdisco; and,

-- Scient.

BenefitPoint will use the new funds to expand its business-to-business infrastructure and services offering. "The investors supporting our company are leaders in the fields of finance, insurance, and information technology. We highly value their support of our vision and management team and their understanding of BenefitPoint's incredible potential," said Mark A. Pulido, chairman and chief executive officer.

"BenefitPoint will use the funds to finance product delivery activities as well as the next generation of research and development for our infrastructure and services," said Brian W. Bair, chief marketing officer and co-founder of BenefitPoint.

"This funding provides us with the resources to continue executing on our vision of developing and providing the central nervous system for the employee benefits industry that links carriers, brokers, employers, and employees," commented Kurt M. de Grosz, chief sales officer and co-founder of BenefitPoint.

BenefitPoint: A Hot Investment

"We consider BenefitPoint to be a very solid investment because the company is pursuing one of the largest and most compelling opportunities in the business-to-business infrastructure space. They are creating a robust solution that enables the highly fragmented insurance distribution chain to leverage aggregation and efficiency via the Internet," said Ofer Nemirovsky, managing director of HarbourVest Partners. "BenefitPoint has emerged as the industry standard in creating a sensible and complete eCommerce standard for the $600 billion employee benefits market. HarbourVest partners only with experienced industry leaders who have a large market opportunity, a clear vision, and the management team to execute their plan quickly and in a quality manner. BenefitPoint clearly is such a company."

About the Investors

HarbourVest Partners, LLC is a global, private equity investment firm, founded in 1997 to assume the business of Hancock Venture Partners, Inc. With more than $12 billion under management, the partnership invests in three distinct areas: new partnerships, secondary interests in partnerships, and direct investments in operating companies within select industries. HarbourVest is 100 percent owned by its 12 managing directors, who have been investing together since 1979. The managing directors have expertise in the areas of software, hardware, data communications, telecommunications, financial services, and management buyouts of operating companies.

Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking and securities firm, providing a full range of investing, advisory, and financing services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, which includes corporations, financial institutions, governments, and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and other major financial centers around the world.

First Union is a leading provider of financial services to 16 million retail and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation. With $254 billion in assets and stockholders' equity of $17 billion as of March 31, 2000, the company operates full-service banking offices in 12 East Coast states and Washington, D.C., full-service brokerage offices in 41 states, and international offices worldwide.

Sequoia Capital is a renowned venture capital firm that funds early-stage technology and health care companies in new markets with very significant growth potential. Sequoia Capital currently has more than $750 million under management and has financed over 350 early-stage technology companies with more than 100 of these companies undergoing an IPO or acquisition.

Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is a leading venture capital firm that funds companies in emerging technology areas. IVP is currently investing in companies in eCommerce, Internet media, communications, digital/personalized TV, web infrastructure and services, and medical devices. IVP has been venture investing since 1974 and now manages more than $1 billion, having funded more than 200 companies. IVP has consistently funded companies that have become dominant players in new industries.

Comdisco is a leader in providing equipment leasing and other financing and services to venture capital-backed start-up companies. The company's revenue for the 12 months ending March 31, 2000, was $4.2 billion. With more than 100 locations around the world, Comdisco serves more than 4,000 customers in North America, South America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific Rim.

Scient(R) is a leading provider in the new category of professional services called systems innovation. Scient provides eBusiness strategy and technology services to clients who are creating eBusinesses. These services include strategy consulting, customer experience design, systems architecture, application and technology infrastructure development, and asset-based services. Scient is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Dallas, Boston, Singapore, London, Chicago, Silicon Valley, Austin, and Los Angeles.

About BenefitPoint, Inc.

BenefitPoint, Inc. delivers the leading Internet-based employee benefits infrastructure for the distribution and management of group insurance and financial products. As the central nervous system of the employee benefits industry, BenefitPoint provides a complete set of b2b services enabling benefits professionals to manage the entire group health insurance and benefits lifecycle. Building on the existing industry relationships among carriers, brokers, employers, and employees, the BenefitPoint solution combines the efficiency of the Internet with the established distribution model of the insurance industry to eliminate paper (saving everyone time and money), to make it possible to deliver more products and services (giving everyone more choices), and to make better information available (enabling everyone to make better decisions).

Releasing its first solution in December 1999, BenefitPoint has already received widespread industry adoption by more than 105 major insurance brokerages and consulting firms, representing more than $30 billion in annual premiums.

The company, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, can be reached at 415/837-4120 or at www.benefitpoint.com. BenefitPoint, Inc. is privately held.

BenefitPoint is a trademark of BenefitPoint, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned here are trademarks of their respective owners.