Deja News Closes $10 Million Second Round Financing from Leading Venture Capital Firms.AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 1997-- Internet Capital Group, Austin Ventures and Prime New Ventures Fund Growth of Popular Discussion Forum Web Site Deja News The Deja News Research Service was an archive of messages posted to Usenet discussion groups, started in 1995 by Steve Madere in Austin, Texas. Its powerful search engine capabilities won the service acclaim, generated controversy, and significantly changed the perceived nature of , Inc. (http://www.dejanews.com), the worldwide leader for Internet-based discussion forums, today announced it has secured $10 million in new equity capital. The Internet Capital Group led this round with a $7 million investment. Deja News' existing investors, Austin Ventures and Prime New Ventures, filled out the balance of the funding. The closing of this second round financing brings Deja News' total investment capital to just over $14.5 million. Deja News is the most highly trafficked site on the World Wide Web for people discussing common interests. Deja News President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Guy Hoffman Guy Hoffman (born May 20, 1954 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is a drummer and vocalist, formerly of such bands as Oil Tasters, BoDeans, Violent Femmes and Absinthe. He is a composer for such films as Field Day and a founding member of Radio Romeo. explained the company will use the new capital to improve the usability, breadth and scope of the site. "I am particularly excited about the business and marketing expertise that our new investors bring to the company," Hoffman said. "Internet Capital Group, its venture partners and portfolio companies give us an unparalleled resource as we seek to expand and enhance Deja News. We are also very pleased that our initial investors are increasing their investment in our company. Their long term knowledge of our business and continued support have been critical to our success." Kenneth A. Fox, managing director, Internet Capital Group, said, "This is one of our largest investments to date. Deja News is the greatest untapped asset on the Internet with more that 3.5 million unique visitors A count of how many different people access a Web site. For example, if a user leaves and comes back to the site five times during the measurement period, that person is counted as one unique visitor, but would count as five "user sessions. a month, 75 million page views and a highly-effective new management team lead by Guy Hoffman. Deja News is already the defacto search engine for Usenet newsgroups and has the opportunity to become the ubiquitous brand for discussion and community on the Internet." Ken Fox and Doug Alexander of the Internet Capital Group will join Deja News' Board of Directors. Joe Aragona, general partner, Austin Ventures, commented, "Deja News is one of our premiere portfolio companies in the explosive Internet space. Our additional investment represents our firm's belief that Deja News has defined and established a leadership position in this market and is now poised to capitalize on this significant opportunity." Deja News, Inc. Deja News is the leading source for discussion forums on the World Wide Web. Founded in May 1995, Deja News provides an easy and powerful Web interface to participate in discussions with people of like interests and for searching discussion forums, including Usenet newsgroups. Deja News' eMarketing services offer marketers a comprehensive suite of Internet-based marketing programs for rapidly reaching and influencing large, highly segmented and dynamic audiences. Deja News serves as the discussion forum search resource for America Online, AT&T WorldNet Service, Bell South, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, The Microsoft Network, Open Text, WebCrawler and Yahoo! Deja News is free to users and can be found on the Web at http://www.dejanews.com . Internet Capital Group Internet Capital Group ("ICG ICG indocyanine green. ") was founded in March of 1996 to invest exclusively in Internet software and service companies that enable electronic commerce or make the enterprise and its constituents more efficient. The firm's pioneering investment model stresses integration and cross-fertilization among its portfolio of Internet software, content and service organizations. Its investment philosophy is long-term, and its approach is guided by a pro-active, world-class advisory board of information technology professionals. ICG's capital was raised exclusively from strategic investors who can give its portfolio companies a distinct competitive advantage. Among Internet Capital Group's largest investors are Compaq Computer Corporation (company) Compaq Computer Corporation - The largest US manufacturer and vendor of IBM PC compatible personal computers and servers. Compaq was started in 1982 by three ex-Texas Instruments employees. Quarterly sales $2499M, profits $210M (Aug 1994). http://compaq.com/. , Comcast Corporation and Safeguard Scientifics. The firm has offices in San Francisco, Calif., and Wayne, Pa. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.internetcapital.com . Austin Ventures With $448 million in capital under management, Austin Ventures is the most active and experienced provider of private equity capital and business assistance to emerging growth companies throughout Texas and the Southwest. In its 17-year history, Austin Ventures has invested in some of the most successful growth companies in the region including Tivoli (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) ), Pervasive (Nasdaq:PVSW PVSW Pervasive Software Inc. ), IntelliQuest (Nasdaq:IQST IQST Intel Quiet System Technology ), CompUSA (NYSE:CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. ), Benchmarq (Nasdaq:BMRQ), VTEL VTEL Video Teleconferencing (Nasdaq:VTEL), and DAZEL. In addition, Austin Ventures has the largest portfolio of Internet-related investments in the Southwest including Deja News, Garden Escape, Human Code, MoneyStar, AnswerSoft, Outreach, SMART Technologies, Vignette, Vital Sign, and XTRA XTRA Extra XTRA X-band Thin Radar Aperture (US DoD) XTRA Xml Transaction Architecture On-Line. -0- Note to Editors: Deja News is a registered trademark of Deja News, Inc. All other names are the trademarks of their respective companies. CONTACT: Deja News, Inc., Austin Claire Campbell, 512/502-6244 E-mail: clairec@dejanews.com or Alexander Communications, Inc. Dave Faupel, 404/897-2300 Ext. 339 E-mail: dfaupel@alexander-pr.com |
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