SkyFlow, Winner of the 2000 UC Berkeley Haas School Business Plan Competition and the Hewlett-Packard Garage E-Scholarship Competition, Secures $3.5 Million Round of Seed Funding

Business Wire, Sept 11, 2000

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2000

SkyFlow Inc. announced the closing of a $3.5 million round of seed financing.

SkyFlow, a telecommunications infrastructure platform developer, recently won first prize of $50,000 in the 2000 UC Berkeley Haas School Business Plan Competition. SkyFlow also secured one of ten worldwide $150,000 Hewlett-Packard Garage e-scholarships in August 2000.

SkyFlow's funding was led by Information Technology University Ventures (ITU), a university-focused venture capital firm. ITU is sponsored by the venture arm of Pacific Capital Group, the merchant bank that established Global Crossing. Other major investors include Hong Kong-based Silicon Venture Ltd., an investor group of managing directors from Goldman Sachs, and two general partners from I-Group, an affiliate of Japan-based Softbank.

ITU and Nisa Leung, a strategic investor, have each joined SkyFlow's board of directors. ITU will also provide SkyFlow with operational support services.

SkyFlow develops enabling technology and voice portal infrastructure services. Dr. Anthony Joseph, co-founder and CTO of SkyFlow, commented: "SkyFlow's platform will allow businesses to provide their customers with hands- and eyes-free location-sensitive information.

"SkyFlow's robust, scalable and extensible technology enables callers to access information and conduct e-commerce transactions using any cell phone. This is made possible by using off-the-shelf speech recognition and synthesis technologies."

Added Nibha Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of SkyFlow, "With this round of funding, we are positioned to grow our business at a time when the telecommunications market is exploding."

"SkyFlow is one of the most exciting companies we have seen in this space. Their groundbreaking technology will set the standard for wireless information accessibility. SkyFlow's open architecture infrastructure will enable access to the wireless Internet, stimulating the rapid deployment of voice portals," said Leung.

About SkyFlow

SkyFlow develops enabling technology and voice portal infrastructure services. SkyFlow is one of the latest businesses to emerge from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business incubator, and won first prize in the 2000 Haas School Business Plan Competition. It also secured one of ten worldwide $150,000 Hewlett-Packard Garage e-scholarships in August 2000. For more information, visit SkyFlow at www.skyflow.com.

About ITU

Information Technology University Ventures (ITU) is the leading seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in and develops technology businesses emerging from the nation's leading graduate schools.

ITU has created a unique Peer-to-Peer Venture Finance strategy in which it employs a network of graduate students (Campus Partners) with exceptional professional experience to identify attractive investment opportunities on campus. ITU also provides operational support services for its portfolio companies. For more information visit ITU at www.itu.com.

About Silicon Venture Limited

Silicon Venture Limited (S Venture) is a private investment holding company providing long-term capital and management support to early-stage companies. S Venture invests in enabling technology companies located in Silicon Valley and the Greater China region. For more information visit S Venture at www.sventure.com.