Direct Hit Secures $26 Million in Mezzanine Financing; TA Associates and Commonwealth Capital Lead Premier Group of Investors.

WELLESLEY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 1999--

Direct Hit (www.directhit.com), provider of the world's most relevant search results, today announced it has raised $26 million in mezzanine financing. TA Associates, a premier venture firm with $2.5 billion under management, and Commonwealth Capital, a prominent venture firm specializing in high growth New England companies, are the lead investors in this round. TA Associates has assisted over 60 companies since 1991 in successful public offerings with top tier investment banks. Commonwealth Capital was a lead investor in Smarterkids.com, Mothernature.com, Stratus, and Viewlogic. Foremost technology investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Viventures Partners, Mosaic Venture Partners, NeoCarta, and Cornerstone Capital Group LLC also participated in the Direct Hit investment.

Direct Hit's Popularity Engine analyzes the search activity of millions of Internet searchers to provide the world's most relevant search results. With this new funding, Direct Hit intends to aggressively pursue its vision of providing Internet and e-commerce search results to as many Internet users as possible. To achieve this aim, the company will seek to boost its brand name and image in the consumer and Internet industry markets. In addition, Direct Hit will continue its focused product development efforts and recruitment of leading portal partners.

"Direct Hit's method for providing web users with highly relevant search results is the best I have seen," said Jonathan Goldstein, Principal at TA Associates. "With many of the Internet's most successful portals as partners and its patented technology, Direct Hit is strategically poised to become the market leader in search."

"Direct Hit is pleased to receive this vote of confidence from the venture capital community," said Mike Cassidy, CEO of Direct Hit. "Not only are we adding a substantial amount of capital, but this new group of investors brings a tremendous wealth of experience to our team."

About Direct Hit

Direct Hit provides the most relevant search results in the world. Direct Hit is available to more than 50% of all web users and through its partners possesses an unduplicated reach of 54.4% or 33,666,000 unique visitors, according to Media Metrix. Direct Hit's relevant results are available at the Lycos Network; the Microsoft Network; HotBot, a service of Wired Digital; ICQ, a division of America Online; LookSmart, the Internet's leading category-based Web site; ZDNet, the leading Internet news, information and entertainment site; Scandinavia Online, one of the top three online services in Europe; UKMax, the leading online service in Britain; InfoSeek Express, the browser-based metasearch engine; and Apple Computer, the makers of the innovative search tool Sherlock. Founded in 1998 and privately held, Direct Hit is funded by TA Associates, Commonwealth Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mosaic Venture Partners, and other leading venture firms. Direct Hit is headquartered in Wellesley Massachusetts and can be found on the Internet at www.directhit.com.

Direct Hit and Popularity Engine are trademarks of Direct Hit Technologies, Inc. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.