Norwest Venture Capital Invests Additional $2.5 Million in ShowCase Corporation.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 1998--Norwest Venture Capital, one of the country's oldest and largest independent venture capital firms, today announced a $2.5 million follow-on investment in ShowCase Corporation, the leading provider of end-to-end data warehousing solutions for AS/400 clients.

Norwest Venture Capital led this $3.5 million round of financing, which will better enable ShowCase to attack the broad base of AS/400 customers and provide them with a complete data warehousing solution that helps meet their business intelligence needs. "We're very pleased with the progress that ShowCase has made in the seven years that we've been working together," said Promod Haque, general partner at Norwest Venture Capital and ShowCase board member. "In that time, ShowCase has seen substantial growth year on year, built a highly impressive customer base, and emerged as the leader in providing end-to-end data warehousing solutions for the IBM AS/400 platform."

"We are very happy to continue our close relationship with Norwest Venture Capital and are pleased to close this round of financing," said Ken Holec, president and CEO of ShowCase Corporation. "Norwest Venture Capital's investment clearly demonstrates their confidence in both our management team and our comprehensive data warehousing solution. With their support, we will accelerate our efforts to aid AS/400 customers in building leading-edge business intelligence solutions."

ShowCase's product, STRATEGY*, is the first complete, fully-integrated enterprise-wide data warehousing solution for the AS/400. STRATEGY allows customers to perform data extraction, transformation, distribution and analysis with the scalability, security and maintenance of a server-based architecture. The STRATEGY suite consists of three product sets: relational data server products, multidimensional data server and presentation products, and desktop data access products. ShowCase also provides consulting, planning, education, database design, custom query and report development, and on-going support programs for its customers.

ShowCase was recently awarded IBM Corporation's Star Stream award for the AS/400 data warehousing solution it provided to customer Strauss Discount Auto. This award recognizes AS/400 business partners who meet a unique customer need and positively impact a customer's business with cutting-edge AS/400 solutions. ShowCase has also received awards from publications including Midrange Computing and Midrange Systems.

Corporations across a wide variety of markets and vertical industries worldwide use ShowCase's products to gain competitive advantage through better business decisions based on accurate and timely information. Select customers include At-a-Glance, Famous Footwear, ICS Learning Systems, Parfums Givenchy, Prestone Products Corporation, Snyders of Hanover, The Sports Authority, Strauss Discount Auto, Tiffany & Co., Toys 'R Us International, Abbott Laboratories International and Trek Bicycle. The company also has strategic relationships with major software companies including Arbor Software, J.D. Edwards, Infinium Software (formerly Software 2000) and Lawson Software. IBM has assisted and supported ShowCase as a key provider of data warehousing solutions for the AS/400.

Norwest Venture Capital has made previous investments totaling $2.8 million in ShowCase. The company is part of Norwest Venture Capital's portfolio of data warehousing and decision support companies, which also includes Prism Solutions (NASDAQ:PRZM); Information Advantage (NASDAQ:IACO) and Decision-ism.

About ShowCase Corporation

ShowCase Corporation is the leading provider of end-to-end data warehouse solutions for the IBM AS/400 platform which assist its customers in building strategic enterprise-wide business intelligence solutions. ShowCase STRATEGY(TM) is an integrated offering that enables customers to perform data transformation, extraction, distribution, and analysis, with the centralized security and maintenance of a server-based architecture. Founded in 1989, ShowCase has more than 200 employees worldwide serving customers at more than 2,600 active client sites in 50 countries. The company sells products in the U.S. and Canada through direct sales operations and operates subsidiaries in Asia-Pacific, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Benelux region of Europe, in addition to its worldwide distribution network. For information regarding products and services, contact ShowCase at 800/829-3555 or visit its World Wide Web site at http://www.showcasecorp.com.

About Norwest Venture Capital

Norwest Venture Capital, founded in 1961, actively manages $600 million in investments, and has raised more than $1 billion since inception. The firm has seven partners with offices in Palo Alto, Boston and Minneapolis. Norwest Venture Capital has a broad private equity investment focus, including software and the Internet, data communications, telecommunications, semiconductors and subscriber-based services. Norwest Venture Capital's portfolio investments represent successes such as PeopleSoft (NASDAQ:PSFT); Xylan (NASDAQ:XYLN); Tivoli Systems (NYSE:IBM); Vantive (NASDAQ: VNTV); Advanced Fibre Communications (NASDAQ:AFCI); Brooks Fiber (acquired by WorldCom (NASDAQ:WCOM)); Raptor Systems (acquired by Axent (NASDAQ:AXNT)); Documentum (NASDAQ:DCTM); Transaction Systems Architects (NASDAQ:TSAI); 3Dfx Interactive (NASDAQ:TDFX); Information Advantage (NASDAQ:IACO); and Verio, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRIO). Additional information on Norwest Venture Capital may be obtained via the World Wide Web at www.norwestvc.com or by calling 650-321-8000 (Palo Alto) or 781-237-5870 (Boston).

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