EachNet Secures Largest Second Round
Venture Financing In China This Year
Shanghai, October 11, 2000
EachNet, China's leading online consumer trading community, has set the wheels of the country's Internet industry in motion again by winning US$20.5 million from investors from all around the world.
The group of investors are led by Europatweb, the Internet industrial arm of Group Arnault. The investment round also includes funding from EachNet's existing investors, Whitney & Co.; AsiaTech Ventures, Ltd.; and Orchid Asia. NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES), a leading Chinese portal and a pioneer in online auction in China, also participated in the financing as a strategic investor. Credit Suisse First Boston's Technology Group served as placement agent for the financing.
The US$20.5million venture capital investment marks one of the largest ever investments for the industry in the Asia Pacific region and comes at a time when China's Internet industry has been lying stagnant in recent months.
"The size of our financing is particularly significant in light of the current market sentiment," said Bo Y. Shao, CEO and Founder of EachNet. "It demonstrates investor confidence in our business model, track record and management team."
"We have been impressed by the quality and vision of the EachNet management team and we believe EachNet is well positioned to contribute to China's Internet development," said Chahram Becharat, Group Managing Director of Europatweb.
"EachNet's track record speaks for itself. As one of the most successful technology investors in the world, we continue to support EachNet and believe that EachNet has a bright future," said Brian Doyle, Managing Director of Whitney & Co.
EachNet presently provides auction services to the users of Sina.com (Nasdaq: SINA), a leading Chinese portal, through the co-branded website, eachnet.sina.com.cn. EachNet expects to make its services available to users of other leading portals in China in the near future.
EachNet currently dominates the online consumer trading space in China. As of October, 2000, it has over 2.3 million registered users, who have transacted over RMB300 million (US$40 million) worth of goods on EachNet. By extending its trading platform to enable businesses to sell to EachNet's vast and e-commerce savvy users, EachNet has become the leader in online mobile phone sales in China over the space of two months, and it currently holds the sole online mobile phone distribution license from China Mobile. During September, EachNet recorded over US$1.1 million in revenues.
EachNet Recent M&As and Appointments
  • Sept 2000 - EachNet acquires Tianwen Auction Co., a traditional auction house in China
  • Aug 2000 - EachNet acquires Chinbid, a leading online auction site in Southern China
  • July 2000 - EachNet acquires Whogot, the biggest online "shop-by-request" consumer site
  • June 2000 - EachNet acquires 5291, the largest online mobile phone distributor in China
O Yichen Zhang, President of CITIC Pacific Communications Ltd, joins EachNet's Board of Directors.
O Mark Fagan, former CFO of Sina.com from 1997 to 1999, joins EachNet as CFO
About Europatweb
www.europatweb.com
Europatweb is the Internet industrial arm of Paris-based Groupe Arnault. Established in mid-1999 with a capital injection of 500 million Euros, Europatweb's mission is to gather and develop Internet-related companies with strong growth potential. In the US, Europatweb has taken strategic stakes in entities such as Quios, Liquidation.com and Metamarkets.com. The European team of Europatweb contributed to the creation of Liberty Surf, the free Internet access provider, set up the financial portal Zebank and took a majority stake in Aucland, one of the leading online auction sites in Europe. Europatweb is implementing its long-term strategic vision through majority or minority stakes in companies such as Flutter.com, ProXchange, WineandCo, Adonsale, Alafolie, Moonfruit, Linbox and NetValue.
About Whitney & Co.
www.whitney.com
Whitney & Co., founded in 1946, is the oldest venture capital firm in the U.S., managing over US$5.0 billion for prestigious limited partners. The company has U.S. offices in San Francisco, New York and Stamford, CT, with international offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, London and Tokyo. As one of the most active and successful technology investors globally, Whitney & Co. is experienced in working with early stage companies, and has invested in leading technology companies such as MediaMetrix, USinternetworking, homestore.com, Niku and Kana Communications. Whitney Asia has invested in companies such as renren.com, Pacific NetMarkets, SMEloan, Asia Capacity Exchange, Linc Media, and AdvisorTech. Whitney invests money on behalf of a prestigious limited partner base, which includes Harvard, MIT, Yale, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chase, and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Issued on behalf of EachNet.com Network Information Service Co. by Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, Shanghai Office. For more information please contact:
Lee Man-yee, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, Shanghai Office
Tel: (86 21) 6361 9485 ex:47 Fax: (86 21) 6361 9486
E-mail: manyee_lee@edelman.com.hk
OR
Lisa Lai, Vice-President for Marketing, EachNet.com Network Information Service Co.
Tel: (86 21) 3217 4588 ex:868 Fax: (86 21) 5298 4034
E-mail: xli@eachnet.com