Investment

NewMedia SPARK PLC 16 June 2000 Further valuation uplift at SPARK NewMedia SPARK plc ('SPARK') is pleased to announce that another of its investee companies, LinkGuard, has successfully completed a £5m second round funding. SPARK has invested a further £400,000 in this latest funding round for LinkGuard, which was lead by Quester and which also brought in GE Equity and Initiative et Finance as investors. This latest funding round was at a valuation uplift of approximatelyover 2.53 times the valuation on which SPARK invested an initial £600400,000 seed funding in LinkGuard late last year for a 15% stake. LinkGuard has developed unique software and systems a systems architecture that identifiesy and repairs broken links in web sites. The problem of broken links is estimated to affect 25% of all web pages worldwide. SPARK believes that there is a very substantial market in addressing this infrastructure problem, and that LinkGuard is in a leading position in this area. Commenting on this latest funding Michael Whitaker, CEO of SPARK, said: 'We are pleased to be joined by Quester, GE Equity and Initiative et Finance in this latest funding round for LinkGuard. The funds will enable LinkGuard rapidly to scale up its operations and re-inforceestablish its a leadership position in the very large potential market for dealing with the growing broken links problem in on the worldwide web. LinkGuard is an exciting business and this latest funding illustrates that, as we commented in our recent results statement, there is no shortage of venture capital funding for strong technology businesses.' _________________________________________ For further information, please contact: Michael Whitaker - NewMedia SPARK 020 7851 7777 Tim Anderson / Isabel Petre - Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Notes to Editors NewMedia SPARK plc, listed on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market, is one of Europe's leading listed technology and Internet investment companies. Since November 1999, SPARK has invested a total of £130m in 39 investments. SPARK is building a portfolio of investments in early-stage companies in the UK, Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe and the United States. Based principally in London and Stockholm, SPARK has one of the largest and most experienced teams in Europe, with skills ranging from investment banking to active involvement in the formation and running of new media companies. SPARK's portfolio spans the following sectors: Internet transaction platforms, Interactive entertainment, Wireless infrastructure and applications, Web infrastructure tools, Internet content and commerce. About Quester Quester is an independent venture capital firm which invests funds raised from institutions and individuals in private companies. Both its institutional funds and its venture capital trusts have strong track records. They focus particularly on growth companies in sectors such as information technology, software, telecoms, new media, leisure, healthcare and life sciences. Quester was founded in 1984 and has funds under management of over £200 million. These include three venture capital trusts - Quester VCT plc, Quester VCT 2 plc and Quester VCT 3 plc - the University Challenge Funds for Oxford and Bath and Bristol Universities, the Isis College Fund, focused on technology companies emerging from Oxford University, and the CGU e-commerce fund aimed at investing in financial services companies. Quester website: www.quester.co.uk
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