Cephren Closes $41.5 Million Mezzanine Funding Round; Leading Internet B2B Company Secures Funding from GE Equity Investments, GE Power Systems, Goldman Sachs, and Grupo Picking Pack.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2000

Cephren, Inc., formerly known as Blueline Online, Inc. and eBricks.com, Inc., announced today it has closed a $41.5 million mezzanine funding round lead by GE Equity Investments, GE Power Systems, Goldman Sachs, and Grupo Picking Pack (GPP). The latest financing increases total private funding for Cephren to more than $60 million since its inception. Cephren, which is a reference to the master builder of the Great Pyramids, also announced today that it had agreed to merge with eBricks.com, Inc., a leading e-commerce firm, to deliver procurement services for its collaboration and e-commerce framework.

Cephren intends to leverage the mezzanine investment and the combination of Blueline Online and eBricks.com to drive the expansion of its collaboration and e-commerce framework and establish the Company as the construction industry's B2B standard. Customers can, and will, access Cephren's collaboration and e-commerce services as stand-alone service offerings. Cephren's unique integration of services and its strong customer base distinguish it from competitors in this market.

"The global building and construction industry, valued at $3.2 trillion, is made up of teams of architects, contractors and other players who need to collaborate and procure material in real time to get projects completed on time and on budget. Cephren is creating the collaboration and e-commerce standard for this huge industry which makes them a very attractive B2B e-commerce investment opportunity," said Keith Miller, Senior Vice President, GE Equity Investments.

All of Cephren's current investors also invested in the mezzanine round including Telos Venture Partners, Bay Partners, Montreux Equity Partners, RWI Group, and Donald L. Lucas, as well as the firm's founders and executive management team. Montreux Equity Partners II was instrumental in negotiating the financing round. E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co. was the leading venture investor in eBricks.com and will continue as an active investor and board member in Cephren; GE and GPP will also each hold a Board seat.

"Civilization's longest lived assets are its buildings and infrastructure. The financing will accelerate our ability to support our customers in delivering these assets better, faster, smarter, and cheaper," said Cephren Chairman Jas Dhillon, a Blueline Online founder.

"We are totally dedicated to help our customers change the way the world gets built. Today's announcements are key components of our ability to execute on our vision for the future -- to become the pre-eminent provider of online collaboration and e-commerce services for this huge and complex industry," said Robert J. Majteles, the President and CEO of Cephren.

About Cephren

Cephren is changing the way the world is built with its collaboration and e-commerce framework. Through its integrated, online collaboration and e-commerce services, the Company increases revenues, reduces risk and improves time-to-market for the global building construction industry. Cephren is the industry pioneer serving this market and currently has customers in more than 800 firms and 10,000 registered users on five continents, representing construction value that exceeds $40 billion. Cephren's framework is being used at internationally renowned firms, including The Bechtel Group, Webcor Builders, Gensler, HOK, Odebrecht, 3Com, and Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo; charter E-Commerce customers include, Avon-Wesco, Mass Electric, E-J Electric Co., Liberty-Wesco, Fischbach & Moore LLC, DualStar Technologies, Forest Electric (EMCOR) and Midwest Mechanical of New Jersey. Cephren is based in Palo Alto, California with offices across the United States, and the United Kingdom. Cephren works through resellers in Asia and Latin America. Visit its website at www.cephren.com.

About GE Equity Investments

GE Equity, a subsidiary of GE Capital, is the private equity arm of GE. GE Capital, with assets of more than US $300 billion, is a global, diversified, financial services company with 28 specialized businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), GE Capital, based in Stamford, Connecticut, provides equipment management, mid-market and specialized financing, specialty insurance and a variety of consumer services, such as car leasing, home mortgages, and credit cards, to businesses and individuals around the world. GE is a diversified manufacturing technology, and services company with operations worldwide. Additional information is available at http://www.geequity.com.

GE Equity's staff of over 100 investment professionals manages a portfolio of 150 companies around the world, continually assessing investment opportunities across four broad industry groups: new media, financial services/healthcare, business services, and technology/communications. GE Equity typically takes a minority holding of 10% to 49%. It also leads change of control investments, such as LBOs and MBOs, with partners.

About GE Power Systems

GE Power Systems is one of General Electric Company's major businesses and is the world's leading supplier of power generation technology, energy services and energy management systems. GE Power Systems serves customers globally through a network of local offices and service centers.

About Goldman Sachs

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. After more than a century as a private partnership, the firm became a public company in 1999. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is headquartered in New York and has 41 offices in 23 countries around the globe.

About GPP

Barcelona, Spain-based Grupo Picking Pack (http://www.pickingpack.net/) operates the largest global digital reprographics network focused on the AECGD markets (Architects, Engineers, Construction and Graphic Designers). GPP will provide important synergies to Cephren by offering the Company's products and services to Construction Professionals through its worldwide presence and over 350 service points. GPP employs 2000 people in offices in Europe, North America and the Far East. In the U.S., GPP is directly present with its subsidiary Charrette (www.charrette.com), the largest U.S. provider of design services and supplies to the building and construction industry. Grupo Picking Pack is quoted in the Spanish Stock Exchange (GPP.MC).

Note to Editors: Cephren, Inc. Blueline Online, Inc., and eBricks.com are trademarks of Cephren, Inc.