S$20.7 Million Dollar Investment for Singapore Start Up; SurfingBananas.com Secures One of the Largest First Rounds of Financing in Asia to Date.

Business Editors

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000

Leading Singapore auction &classifieds website, SurfingBananas.com, announces its first round of funding with a phenomenal S$20.7 million injection.

Financing has been secured from four investors:

Lycos Asia; the leading powerhouse portal in the region. SurfingBananas.com is Lycos Asia's exclusive online auction partner and will be paralleling the portal's regional rollout of localised e-commerce web sites in 10+ countries this year. CEO, Mary Ong said, &uot;Lycos Asia has a close working relationship with SurfingBananas.com and I believe this is the next logical step to seal our commitment with them. We are impressed by the tremendous scope for growth in SurfingBananas.com's plans and would like to help them realise their expansion.&uot;

Ricardo.de; the largest online auction company in Europe. The alliance between SurfingBananas.com and Ricardo.de will provide both companies with a cross continental link as well as a technology and business knowledge transfer. Commenting on the alliance, CEO of Ricardo.de, Christoph Linkwitz said, &uot;Our investment in SurfingBananas.com enables us to participate in the rapid growth in Asia. Ricardo.de is the European market leader and we want to be a recognised world-wide brand.&uot;

AsiaCommerce.com; established by the original founders of AsiaContent (e.g. CNET, MTVonline, Eonline) and Interwoven. AsiaCommerce.com is positioning itself to be one of the e-commerce giants in Asia. Its partnership with SurfingBananas.com will provide strategic access for SurfingBananas.com to their other internet investments.

OCBC, Wearnes &Walden (OWW) Management; a blue chip VC, with funds invested in private companies within South East Asia, Greater China and the United States. One such fund under OWW Management is PGGM, the second largest pension fund in the Netherlands. Chong Joo San, Vice President of OWW said the ability to foster strategic alliances and leverage different markets is one of the key factors in OWW's investment considerations. He added, &uot;SurfingBananas.com is also the best auction site around.&uot;

The funding, received just four months after a highly successful launch in Singapore, effectively secures SurfingBananas.com's regional leadership position in the online dynamic pricing market, which will in turn accelerate the company's growth.

&uot;This injection of investments from local and overseas companies, is a strong vote of confidence for SurfingBananas.com. It not only endorses our status as the leading online auction provider in the region but it also advocates the future of e-commerce and Internet trading,&uot; commented John Saliling, co-Founder and CEO of SurfingBananas.com, &uot;at SurfingBananas.com we feel the key factors for success in the Internet space are: great vision, the ability to capture the market quickly, good timing, a great team, the right partners and of course money. This investment means we are able to consolidate our regional presence in 2000, deliver top quality customer service to our members and stay those few crucial steps ahead of the crowd. We are proud and very lucky to have entered into partnership with LycosAsia, Ricardo.de, AsiaCommerce.com and OCBC, Wearnes and Walden and I look forward to sharing our success with them&uot;, he continued.

Peter Zapf, CEO of AsiaCommerce, said, &uot;SurfingBananas.com's auction selling format provides businesses with a new sales channel and a dynamic pricing format that doesn't exist in the bricks and mortar world. With this unique positioning, and its rapidly growing base of participants, SurfingBananas.com is well positioned for success in its target market.&uot;

Offering a wide spectrum of items online through its fun, user-friendly auction format, SurfingBananas.com, with its dedicated teams of employees throughout the region, blue-chip partnerships and substantial capital, is building an Asia-wide community of avid buyers and sellers on the Internet.

The funding will be used primarily for regional expansion, dynamic marketing, site innovation and technological advancement.

About SurfingBananas.com:

SurfingBananas.com is the leading auction &classifieds website in Singapore, and is set to be the major regional auction/classified channel in Asia by mid-2000. Offering a wide spectrum of items online through its fun, user-friendly auction format, SurfingBananas.com is building a community of avid buyers and sellers on the Internet. Through its site, www.surfingbananas.com, consumers and businesses have access to items in over more than 100 product categories, including electronics, computer equipment and antiques and furniture. SurfingBananas.com also provides a unique listing format for cars and real estate classified ads.

SurfingBananas.com provides a dynamic platform for manufacturers and distributors to launch and promote new products through its exciting e-commerce channel. This evolving sales channel is creating a major impact and influence on the way business is now being done, and SurfingBananas.com is at the forefront of this exciting new era.

SurfingBananas.com's core values are simple; an unwavering dedication to customer service, savvy technological innovation and fun!

For more information please surf on down to: http://www.surfingbananas.com