Dave Barrett Joins Polaris Venture Partners.

Business/Technology Editors

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2000

Polaris Venture Partners today announced that David Barrett joined Polaris as a Venture Partner June 1. Barrett brings deep operating experience with him, most recently as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Calico Commerce, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLIC). Polaris invests in the areas of Internet solutions and services, networking, biotechnology, medical technology, and health care services, and recently closed on Polaris Venture Partners III, an $800 million early-stage venture fund. Polaris has backed such industry leaders as Akamai, Allaire, Centra, deCODE Genetics and Aspect Medical, and manages over $1 billion in committed capital.

"I'm delighted to join the Polaris partners, who have, in a short period of time, built one of the top-tier early-stage venture funds -- I've been especially attracted to their focus on emerging internet and e-commerce technologies. I'm looking forward to contributing my experience across a range of organizations and industry market segments and in working closely with the management of their portfolio companies."

As a Venture Partner at Polaris, Mr. Barrett will participate in the firm's emerging investments as well as help to speed the growth of Polaris' portfolio of companies by mentoring entrepreneurs, serving on Boards of Directors, identifying and attracting managers to portfolio companies, and facilitating strategic partnerships and mergers & acquisitions. Barrett was Executive Vice President and COO at Calico through April 2000. During his tenure, he and his team established Calico as the leader in sell-side commerce solutions for enterprises and net market makers -- leading five-fold revenue growth, worldwide business expansion, a successful public offering, and sustained, consistent growth and operation as a public company.

Previously, Barrett served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations for Pure Atria Software Corporation, a $150M revenue leader in the enterprise & Internet software development automation space which was sold to Rational Software in 1997 for $1B. Prior, he held a number of senior executive roles in a twelve-year career with Lotus Development Corporation, including Vice President, Field Sales & Services, where he led the build-out of that company's global sales effort. Lotus was sold to IBM for $3.5B in 1995. He serves as a director with Centra Software (NASDAQ: CTRA), as well as a number of privately held firms, and holds a 1978 BS degree in Marketing Management from The University of Rhode Island.

"Dave brings a unique blend of talents and over 20 years of operational success as a senior executive to our venture efforts," said Jonathan Flint, a Polaris founding partner. "He will be extraordinarily helpful in identifying, coaching and growing Polaris' portfolio companies from start-up to maturity, and will bring them a large network of industry leaders and an outstanding depth of experience. His leadership and team-building abilities make him a great addition to our team," said Mr. Flint.

The addition of Barrett adds to Polaris' growing national coverage. "Dave's knowledge of the e-commerce and Internet software and services spaces -- both as an executive and by virtue of his outside board experience -- will help to further position Polaris as a key player in financing promising startups in these sectors," said Terry McGuire, a Polaris founding partner. "Dave's integral role in the growth of each company he has been an executive with, his extensive operational successes and his experience in helping to not only drive two companies' public offerings -- but more importantly, their successful operation as public companies - reflect the broad and highly-relevant experience that he brings to our activities," said Alan Spoon, General Partner.

Polaris Venture Partners is a group of early-stage investors with a history of backing successful entrepreneurs in companies developing information and medical technology. With over $1 billion under management, Polaris provides deep domain experience, industry contacts, and partnership to technology entrepreneurs. Polaris-backed companies include Akamai Technologies, Allaire Corporation, Centra Software, Classifieds2000, Aspect Medical, deCODE Genetics, Exchange.com, MicroCHIPS, Worldstream Communications, Wrenchead.com, and Kestrel Solutions. The firm has offices in Boston, Seattle, and Austin.