Press Release: September 11, 2000

WR Hambrecht + Co Earns “Best of the Web” by Forbes for Venture Investing

San Francisco, CA, September 11, 2000—WR Hambrecht + Co today announced it was named “Best of the Web” by Forbes for its venture investing site (http://www.wrhambrecht.com/offerings/private_invest/index.html). Earlier this year, Business Week also recognized WR Hambrecht + Co for offering one of the top venture investing sites in its guide to online investing.

In its review of WR Hambrecht + Co online venture investing site, Forbes lauded the firm’s experience in underwriting while highlighting recent private deals including VA Linux, Salesforce.com, and Guru.com.

“We’re pleased that Forbes recognized WR Hambrecht + Co as one of the innovators in venture investing online. It’s our goal to offer investment opportunities previously unavailable to many investors Ð including private equity, IPOs and corporate bond offerings,” said Michael Szeto, Senior Managing Director and Head of the Private Equity Group at WR Hambrecht + Co.

WR Hambrecht + Co has offered online venture investing since October 1999. To date the firm has offered accredited investors access to over 50 private companies, primarily focusing on network infrastructure, open source/embedded devices and enabling technologies. Because the firm acts as a principal in each investment, it conducts due diligence on each investment and makes this information available to customers. Since WR Hambrecht + Co began private investments, six of its portfolio companies have gone public (with another in registration) while one other was acquired.