Gridstone Closes $ 10 Million Series B Funding

Business Wire, April 10, 2008

Helion Venture Partners Leads 2(nd) Round of Investment

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Gridstone Research, a Financial Information and Search company, today announced the closing of a Series B funding of $10 million. The investment was led by Helion Venture Partners with existing investors Charles River Ventures and Maverick Capital also participating.

Gridstone sells a research platform for financial analysts that combines deep financial data and powerful search technology. The funds raised will be used in further product development and to expand the sales force.

"This gives us the fuel to continue on our mission of making company research easier and a lot more productive", said Basab Pradhan, CEO, Gridstone Research. "We think that analysts who research public companies today are having to attack the information overload problem with toothpicks instead of powertools. There is a better way, using search and semantic technologies. Our research platform is just such a powertool."

The company sells its research platform to buy-side investment managers. It already has several leading funds like Alliance Bernstein, Oppenheimer Funds and Nomura Asset Management as its clients.

"Gridstone Research is one of the most promising vertical search companies out there" said Ashish Gupta, Managing Director, Helion Ventures Pvt. Ltd. "By applying search and related technologies to the area of finance and company research, Gridstone has created a powerful value proposition for investment managers. We are delighted to be leading this round and to be part of their mission."

About Gridstone:

Gridstone Research is a powerful and flexible research platform that helps Investment Analysts make better investment decisions, faster. Gridstone is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices in Mumbai, India.

For more information, please visit www.gridstoneresearch.com.

About Helion Venture Partners:

Helion Ventures Partners is a $350 Million India-focused, stage independent venture fund, investing in technology-powered and consumer service businesses in sectors like Outsourcing, Internet, Mobile, Technology Products, Retail Services, Education and Financial Services. The fund's investors are well-respected Global institutions including Ivy League endowment funds and highly-successful Internet pioneering entrepreneurs. The fund and its portfolio companies are advised by an experienced and industry renowned team of professionals based in India which include Sanjeev Aggarwal, Ashish Gupta, Kanwaljit Singh and Rahul Chandra.

For more information, please visit www.helionvc.com.