DRDREW.COM ANNOUNCES NEW ROUND OF FUNDING LED BY SOFTBANK VENTURE CAPITAL
DRDREW.COM ANNOUNCES NEW ROUND OF FUNDING LED BY SOFTBANK VENTURE CAPITAL, Internet Wire, 1 Nov 1999
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DRDREW.COM ANNOUNCES NEW ROUND OF FUNDING LED BY SOFTBANK VENTURE CAPITAL
Noted Venture Capital Firms, Media Company And Distinguished Individuals Invest In
PASADENA, CA -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 11/01/99 -- DrDrew.com, the newly launched web destination from favorite television and radio doctor of the Internet generation, Dr. Drew Pinsky, today announced its has received new equity investments from a group of distinguished venture capital, media and individual investors. The round, which totals $7.5 million, was led by SOFTBANK Venture Capital, which manages venture capital funds focused primarily on early-stage Internet companies. SOFTBANK was joined by media company Freedom Communications and the venture capital firms of Mentor Venture Partners and Garage.com. Freedom Communications and Garage.com participated in drDrew.com's initial round of funding and have made increased equity investments.
Among new investors are several distinguished individuals: Greg Maffei, CFO of Microsoft Corporation, and Joe Grundfest, Professor, Stanford University School of Law. They join Dale Fuller, former president of the popular web site WhoWhere.com, who participated in drDrew.com's initial round of funding.
Joining the board of directors is Heidi Roizen, a well-known industry veteran and managing director for SOFTBANK Venture Capital's current technology fund.
"This is our Dream Team to help make drDrew.com a leading destination site for young adults," stated Curtis Giesen, Chief Executive Officer of drDrew.com. "This distinguished group brings exceptional industry experience and knowledge as well as a passionate belief in our mission to ultimately help a generation of young people live healthier lives."
"Dr. Drew has the ear of a large and important Internet audience. He's earned their trust and respect," said Heidi Roizen, managing director for SOFTBANK Venture Capital's current technology fund and director for drDrew.com. "We hope to build on this great franchise with ever expanding content, community, and commerce opportunities."
About Dr. Drew and drDrew.com
Dr. Drew Pinsky, better known simply as "Dr. Drew", is the co-host of the nationally syndicated and highly-popular Loveline radio and television shows. Launched earlier this month, DrDrew.com is a health and lifestyle web site and community for young adults, ages 14-34. Its mission is simple but powerful to provide a hard-to-reach audience with a venue to explore a wide range of physical, mental and emotional health topics in a trusted, compassionate and fun destination on the Web. The site provides the highest quality health content, including information from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Daily Q & A with Dr. Drew, chat rooms and discussions on everything from relationships to depression. Uniquely, drDrew.com also features live webcasts from its Pasadena studio, where users can call or email in questions, and watch them being answered via a video-feed through the site.
About SOFTBANK Venture Capital and SOFTBANK CORP.
SOFTBANK Venture Capital (SOFTBANK VC) manages venture capital funds focused primarily on early-stage Internet companies. SOFTBANK VC's technology fund directors are all experienced technology leaders with prior operating experience as founders of early-stage companies, senior managers of major technology corporations, and leaders in investment banking. SOFTBANK VC's past and current portfolios include public Internet companies such as Critical Path, E-LOAN, GeoCities, Interliant, MessageMedia, Net2Phone, and TheStreet.com.
SOFTBANK CORP. has emerged as one of the world's leading Internet market forces. Through its ownership positions in more than 100 Internet companies and its unique Internet-zaibatsu management concept, it is able to create market synergies for its family of companies on a global scale. In Japan its activities encompass distribution, publishing, Internet media platforms, a broad range of e-commerce businesses, and joint ventures with companies such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Yahoo!, the National Association of Security Dealers, and many other market leaders. In the U.S., SOFTBANK is the largest shareholder in leading Internet companies such as Yahoo!, E*TRADE and ZDNet, and in Europe has established Internet joint ventures with News Corp. and Vivendi.
For more information, visit www.sbvc.com or www.softbank.com.
About Mentor Venture Partners
Mentor Venture Partners is a Menlo Park, California venture capital partnership focused on early-stage information businesses. Led by Ken Hausman and Firth Griffith, Mentor Venture Partners differentiates itself by acting as an aligned fund to corporate partners, angels and value-added investors. By working with promising early stage start-ups to address their critical success factors and leveraging their unique mentors and corporate relationships, they help accelerate and ensure success. Mentor Venture Partners' corporate relationships encompass the leading high technology companies in the United States and Japan with a commitment to significant investment activities and the growth of the Internet.
About Freedom Communications, Inc.
Freedom Communications, Inc. is a diversified media company consisting of broadcast television stations, newspapers and magazines. The privately owned company was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
About Garage.com
Palo Alto, California-based Garage.com offers entrepreneurs and investors an innovative, Web-based approach to high tech and medical sciences venture financing and investing. In conjunction with its broker/dealer affiliate, Garage.com helps entrepreneurs attract the high quality investors they need, and investors find the outstanding startups they want to fund. Garage.com CEO Guy Kawasaki also serves on the drDrew.com advisory board.
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