From: Rohit Khare (rohit@uci.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 21:23:52 PST
Monday January 24, 11:08 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
CMGI and @Ventures Launch New $1 Billion Technology Venture Capital Fund
ANDOVER, Mass./MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000--
@Ventures Technology Fund to Focus on Next-Generation Internet
Enabling Technologies and Infrastructure Companies
CMGI, Inc., (NASDAQ: CMGI - news) and its venture capital affiliate,
@Ventures, today announced the launch of the @Ventures Technology
Fund. The new venture fund will focus exclusively on investing in and
supporting the rapid development and growth of Internet enabling
technologies and infrastructure companies that are synergistic with
the CMGI and @Ventures network. The fund will total up to $1 billion
in capital and is immediately available for investment in this sector
of the Internet economy.
The fund will be managed by Lior E. Yahalomi, Managing Partner of the
@Ventures Technology Fund. Mr. Yahalomi joins @Ventures from his
previous position as Vice President for New Ventures at Gateway,
where he led a team responsible for Gateway's diversification into
Internet, Internet access, and e-commerce businesses. He was at the
forefront of Gateway's drive to move beyond its traditional hardware
toward more ``non-system'' revenue and into the center of e-commerce.
Prior to Gateway, Mr. Yahalomi was a Senior Vice President for Global
Business Development at GE Capital where he led a global team
responsible for mergers and acquisitions, new ventures, and global
expansion. He also has several years of experience as a strategy
consultant at Monitor Company in Cambridge, MA, where he developed
and implemented strategies for high technology and consumer-related
businesses. Mr. Yahalomi will be based in @Ventures' Menlo Park,
California office.
``I am extremely pleased to join @Ventures to initiate, incubate and
implement new technologies to serve the evolving Internet
marketplace,'' said Mr. Yahalomi. ``The extended CMGI and @Ventures
network - with its vast assets and unmatched technological and human
resources - will provide companies with unparalleled opportunities to
test and integrate their products and services with proven Internet
leaders. It is an opportunity to create tremendous value for talented
entrepreneurs building great technology companies, for the community
of Web users, and for the Internet industry as a whole.''
William J. Hawkins will join the @Ventures Technology Fund as a
General Partner serving the East Coast. Mr. Hawkins, a 20-year
veteran of the software industry, came to the CMGI/@Ventures family
last year after a 4-year tenure with America Online (AOL), serving
most recently as Vice President of Advanced Technology. While at AOL,
Mr. Hawkins was instrumental in the design and development of
integrated browser and messaging technology, as well as other key
aspects of AOL's Internet platform strategy. Prior to joining AOL,
Mr. Hawkins was the Chief Technical Officer of early CMGI company
BookLink Technologies, where he pioneered the design and development
of componentized Internet browser technology. CMGI sold BookLink
Technologies to AOL in 1994.
``The creation of the @Ventures Technology Fund is a natural
evolution for us, given the rapid expansion and development of the
Internet as a mission-critical business and consumer medium,'' said
Peter Mills, Managing Partner with @Ventures. ``As demonstrated by
the creation of our $1 billion B2B fund, we are strengthening the
diversity of our original investment strategy and focusing top
investing professionals on the sectors of the industry which present
the greatest potential. Lior's and Bill's deep expertise will help us
to identify and develop best-of-breed technologies, and to position
them for success in the dynamic Internet infrastructure marketplace.
In addition, we will continue to build a professional services
support team that will provide superior service to our entrepreneurs
and companies.''
The @Ventures Technology Fund has already made its first investment,
joining a round of venture financing for DiamondBack Vision, Inc.
(http://www.diamondbackvision.com/). DiamondBack is creating a new
generation of multimedia products and services for commercial
Internet markets. The company's technology applies computer vision
principles to modern video compression practices. DiamondBack has
demonstrated performance improvements over current state-of-the-art
video compression products and services.
Mssrs. Yahalomi and Hawkins are actively reviewing business plans
related to Internet infrastructure opportunities, with several
funding announcements to follow. For information on how to submit a
business plan, please see the @Ventures Web site at
http://www.ventures.com/contact/index.html .
Formed in 1995 by David Wetherell and Peter Mills, CMGI's @Ventures
has made more than 60 Internet venture capital investments. Its track
record includes successful Internet IPOs such as Lycos, GeoCities,
Silknet, Chemdex and Critical Path, as well as multiple strategic
company sales. Two @Ventures investments are currently in the IPO
process (Furniture.com and Vicinity).
About CMGI and @Ventures With 60 companies, CMGI, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMGI
- news) represents the largest, most diverse network of Internet
companies in the world. This network includes both CMGI operating
companies and a growing number of synergistic investments through its
venture capital affiliate, @Ventures. CMGI leverages the
technologies, content and market reach of its extended family of
companies to foster rapid growth and industry leadership across its
network, and the larger Internet Economy. Compaq, Intel, Microsoft,
Pacific Century CyberWorks and Sumitomo hold minority positions in
CMGI.
CMGI's majority-owned operating companies include Engage Technologies
(Nasdaq: ENGA - news), NaviSite (Nasdaq: NAVI - news), 1ClickBrands,
1stUp.com, Activate.net, Activerse, AdForce, Adsmart, AltaVista, CMGI
Solutions, Equilibrium, Flycast, iCAST, Magnitude Network, MyWay.com,
NaviNet, SalesLink, Tribal Voice and ZineZone. The company's
@Ventures affiliates have ownership interests in Lycos, Inc. (Nasdaq:
LCOS - news), Critical Path (Nasdaq: CPTH - news), Silknet (Nasdaq:
SILK - news), Chemdex (Nasdaq: CMDX - news), MotherNature.com
(Nasdaq: MTHR - news), Asimba.com, AuctionWatch.com, Aureate Media,
blaxxun, BizBuyer.com, Boatscape.com, buyersedge.com, CarParts.com,
CraftShop.com, eCircles.com, eGroups.com, EXP.com, FindLaw,
FoodBuy.com, Furniture.com, Half.com, HotLinks,
INPHO/HomePriceCheck.com, Intelligent/Digital, KOZ.com, Mondera.com,
MyFamily.com, NextMonet.com, NextPlanetOver.com, Oncology.com,
OneCore.com, PlanetOutdoors.com, Productopia, Raging Bull,
SnapFish.com, Speech Machines, ThingWorld.com, Vicinity, Virtual Ink,
Visto, Vstore and WebCT.
CMGI's corporate headquarters is located at 100 Brickstone Square,
Andover, MA 01810, Telephone: 978-684-3600. Fax: 978-684-3814.
@Ventures has offices there as well as at 3000 Alpine Road, Menlo
Park, CA 94028, 650-233-0333. Additional information is available on
the company's Web sites at http://www.cmgi.com and
http://www.ventures.com.
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