RuleSpace Closes $12 Million in Series C Funding; Investors, Including Madrona Venture Group and America Online, to Further the Company's Mission of Answering the World Wide What

Business Wire, August 21, 2000

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2000

RuleSpace Inc., the leader in instant Web content recognition, today announced the closing of $12 million in Series C funding.

Madrona Venture Group led the round. Additional investment was provided by America Online, Inc. (NYSE:AOL), FBR CoMotion Venture Capital, Millenium Technology Ventures, and existing investors from Portland and the Bay Area. In conjunction with the funding from Madrona Venture Group, Will Glasgow, Madrona Managing Director, will join the RuleSpace Board.

This latest round of funding will further fuel RuleSpace's staffing, development activities and capital investment as the company delivers and advances its Contexion Services and technology offerings. Over the last three months RuleSpace has nearly doubled in size, to nearly 100 people, and moved into larger office space.

"RuleSpace's automated Web content recognition technology addresses two critical web management issues -- filtering and categorization -- with state-of-the-art technology," stated Will Glasgow, Madrona Managing Director. "We are pleased to support a great team building a technology with significant global and commercial application potential."

RuleSpace's Contexion(TM) Services provide automated categorization of Web content for Internet applications and services, enabling network access vendors, online marketers, portals and dot-coms to deliver more relevant content and keep pace with the explosion of the Web.

"The attention and interest of such leading and successful investors is a great endorsement of the importance of Contexion Services and how it will benefit the entire Web community," stated Charlie Kawasaki, president and CEO, RuleSpace. "This investment accelerates our efforts to categorize the entire Web and provide the Internet much needed automated categorization services."

"RuleSpace's innovative technologies enable us to offer consumers a novel approach to delivering more relevant search results and the opportunity to improve our members' online experience," said Ron Peele, Vice President, AOL Investments.

"We are very excited about the progress the company has made in the last four months," said William Neuhauser, managing partner of FBR CoMotion, which was the lead investor in RuleSpace's Series B round. "RuleSpace has assembled all the pieces to bring automatic content recognition to the web and establish dominance in this critical emerging area."

About RuleSpace, Inc.

RuleSpace, Inc. is a privately held corporation located in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1996, RuleSpace provides automated Web content recognition technology and services that instantly recognize Web content and facilitate the delivery of relevant Web information. Solutions powered by RuleSpace technology enable Network Access Vendors, Online Marketers and Portals to deliver more meaningful and appropriate information to users as they surf the Web. Unlike human review using keyword technologies, RuleSpace technology keeps pace with the explosion of Web content. More information on RuleSpace is available at www.rulespace.com.

About Madrona Venture Group

Madrona Venture Group (www.madrona.com) is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the Internet economy in the Northwest. The firm targets investments in Internet and wireless technologies, with an emphasis on infrastructure, platform technology and services, consumer services, and business software and services. Based in Seattle and Portland, Madrona has a $250 million fund that includes early-stage investments such as Amazon.com, Etrieve, Nimble Technology and Terabeam.

About FBR CoMotion Venture Capital

With offices in Portland and Seattle, FBR CoMotion Venture Capital provides early stage investments and accelerator services for Northwest technology companies. FBR CoMotion is led by managing partners David Billstrom and Will Neuhauser. The firm focuses on Internet infrastructure companies and Internet-based start-ups in the business-to-business sector, wireless and e-commerce marketplace. Recent portfolio companies include Chrome Data, ImproveMyBusiness.com, MeasureCast.com, RuleSpace and MyHealthBank. Additional company information is available at www.CoMotionVC.com.