Brightpod Receives First-Round Financing From Aurora Funds; Start-up Packages Mobile Internet Services for Businesses of All Sizes.

Business Editors

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 2000

Brightpod, Inc., a mobile Internet services provider incubated by Ericsson since its founding in May 2000, today announced the initial close in a $5 million round of external venture financing.

The Aurora Funds, Inc. of Durham, N.C., leads the investment group. Ericsson will maintain an equity stake and preferred technology relationship with Brightpod.

Brightpod provides a portfolio of integrated services to help businesses establish, maintain and continually upgrade their wireless Internet and Intranet properties. Brightpod delivers these services in a subscription-based ASP model backed by a team of experts who determine the best applications and services for each customer's specific business needs. This approach enables businesses of all sizes to quickly and easily implement their mobile Internet strategies, significantly reducing the complexities and hassles of mobile technology deployments.

The company's services include customized Web-to-wireless translation services, which enable customers to extend their Internet or Intranet content and applications to a full range of wireless devices, including smart phones, PDAs and two-way pagers. Brightpod also offers instant messaging, mobile access to corporate databases and other services. Planned offerings include secure mobile e-commerce, location-based Internet services and mobile multimedia. Brightpod's experienced support team provides advisory services, corporate training and other assistance to customers.

Brightpod chooses best-of-breed technologies in building its pre-integrated service offerings. The company has entered into agreements with a wide range of technology partners, including Ericsson and IBM. Additional partnerships will be announced in the coming weeks.

Brightpod's management team is comprised of industry veterans and is led by Don Shirley, co-founder and chief executive officer. Shirley, most recently director of business development for Ericsson's wireless Internet division, has 17 years of wireless industry experience, including eight years in technology and marketing management roles at PageNet, the wireless service provider. Shirley has been recognized as a Top 50 wireless newsmaker by Wireless Week.

"With analysts predicting that more people will access the Internet through wireless devices than PCs by 2003, every company that has an Internet or Intranet presence should be focusing on how to extend this presence to their mobile customers and employees," said Shirley. "However, because of the complex tangle of wireless devices, networks, protocols and operating systems, this can be an intimidating task. To date, companies have spent a lot of money on consultants and custom development projects, but have usually ended up paying too much for projects that have taken too long to accomplish too little. The recent proliferation of wireless ASPs has only added to the confusion.

"Brightpod provides a simpler solution. We bring together the best mobile applications available today as a single subscription-based service that can be integrated quickly and cost-effectively into any company's IT infrastructure. Most Brightpod deployments can be completed in weeks, not months," Shirley said.

Aurora Funds partner Rich Brown said the venture capital firm was impressed by Brightpod management's understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the wireless environment. "We are attracted to strong management teams operating in high-growth markets, and Brightpod is a perfect fit by those criteria," Brown said. "Brightpod has the additional advantage of offering its integrated suite of services based on best-of-breed technologies; this makes for an extremely flexible competitor in a rapidly evolving market."

Brightpod will be an exhibitor at CTIA WIRELESS I.T. 2000, October 16-18 in Santa Clara, Calif. To find out more about Brightpod and its services, prospective customers and partners are invited to call the company toll-free at 888/439-9932, or visit the company's Web site at www.brightpod.com.

The Aurora Funds, Inc. is a Research Triangle, N.C.-based family of venture capital funds focused on early stage technology-based software, mobile Internet, and life science companies primarily in the southeastern United States. Aurora has assembled a unique, experienced investment team with firsthand operational and entrepreneurial experience that actively partners with entrepreneurs to build companies. Aurora's portfolio consists of more than 25 companies, including Alerts.com, Blackboard, Haht Commerce, InterAdNet, Technauts, Xanthon, Cogent Neurosciences, and Virologic (Nasdaq:VLGC). The firm is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices in Tyson's Corner, Va. and Birmingham, Ala. For more information, contact Pam Newton at 919/484-0400, ext. 105, [e-mail] or visit the firm's Web site at www.aurorafunds.com.