Redleaf Group Provides ThreadExchange.com $4.8 Million in Initial Funding; Internet Operating Company Partners With Promising Business-To-Business E-Commerce Start-Up.

Business Editors, High Tech Writers

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 6, 2000

Redleaf Group, LLC, a business-to-business e-commerce company, today announced a partnership with ThreadExchange.com, an online sourcing exchange for the global apparel market.

As part of the agreement, Redleaf Group will provide $4.8 million in capital to the e-commerce start-up.

Co-founded by L. Martin Patti, chairman and CEO, who has led several major, publicly-traded apparel companies, and Adam Patti, president and COO, ThreadExchange.com provides an automated option to the global apparel supply chain. Working with a massive factory network, ThreadExchange.com provides full-service sourcing solutions to retailers as well as wholesalers/importers. The worldwide apparel industry generates an estimated $375 billion in revenue each year.

"Redleaf Group believes ThreadExchange.com is on the pulse of a growing market," said Mike Nelson, managing director of Redleaf Group's Pittsburgh office. "We were attracted to the complexity of the apparel supply-chain process, and ThreadExchange.com's management has over 300 combined years of domain expertise. They have an excellent team that knows how the industry works."

ThreadExchange.com's business operations act as part of what Redleaf Group terms an "e-process hub," which serves to automate business processes in industry supply chains. Redleaf Group believes that the next phase of Internet business adoption will be dominated by the rise of e-process hubs for private business exchange.

According to Lloyd Mahaffey, Redleaf Group's co-CEO and managing director, Redleaf Group's partnership with New York-based ThreadExchange.com demonstrates how the company's networked grid of offices and operating expertise seamlessly delivers value to businesses.

Redleaf Group's Pittsburgh office took the lead in cultivating the partnership with ThreadExchange.com, while Redleaf Group's New York office will take the primary management and leadership responsibilities for the company.

Redleaf Group provides practiced management, engineering synergies and capital to its partner companies. Established in December 1999, Redleaf Group has 16 partner companies in its portfolio. The company conducts operations in eight cities in the United States.

"Redleaf Group has the operational expertise to help its companies develop quickly into market leaders and assist them with strategic alliances," said Adam Patti, president and chief operating officer of ThreadExchange.com. "They're with us as partners."

ThreadExchange.com has operations capabilities in 38 countries and employs a team of 12 well-known executives in the apparel industry. The company's overseas quality control team approves all foreign factories using its global network to ensure that they meet human and labor relations guidelines, as well as ThreadExchange.com's rigorous quality standards. Redleaf Group's investment is part of ThreadExchange.com's total $5.5 million Level A financing.

Redleaf Group, LLC is an Internet operating company that develops seed-stage business-to-business e-commerce companies. Redleaf Group provides strategic counsel, capital and extensive operational support through a network of in-house consultants whose expertise includes finance, marketing, human capital management and systems integration. These capabilities are offered to partner companies through Redleaf Group's grid of offices located in "Net Hubs," the areas Redleaf Group believes are most likely to spawn the next generation of Internet entrepreneurs. Redleaf Group currently has offices in Saratoga, CA; Pittsburgh; Los Angeles; New York; Boston; Reston, VA; Raleigh, N.C.; and Seattle.