Press Release: November 15, 1999

WR Hambrecht + Co Expands Online Financial Leadership with Introduction of Internet-based Private Equity Offerings

Online offering process provides investors the most direct access to private equity investments on the Internet

SAN FRANCISCO CA, November 15, 1999—WR Hambrecht + Co, the online investment bank, today announced the introduction of its innovative online Private Investments area, which allows accredited investors the opportunity to invest in venture capital and late-stage private equity investments directly via the Internet. The Private Investments Area can be accessed on the company’s home page at www.wrhambrecht.com.

“Offering private investments to accredited WR Hambrecht + Co account holders is a natural extension of our philosophy of leveraging technology to allow individual investors to participate in the capital raising process,” said Bill Hambrecht, Chairman and CEO of WR Hambrecht + Co.

WR Hambrecht + Co becomes the first investment bank to make its proprietary private investments available over the Internet. Unlike other Internet capital firms, WR Hambrecht +Co acts as a principal in each deal, which means that the firm only posts offerings on its site in which the firm is also making an investment. Capital from individual investors is invested alongside that of WRH+Co. To date, the firm’s investment has been approximately one-third of each offering. Building on Bill Hambrecht’s thirty-plus years of successful investing, including venture investments in Adobe, Apple, Genentech and Netscape, the firm has built a first-class private equity effort.

To date, the company and its affiliates have invested nearly $27 million in 16 private deals. Representative investments include early-stage investments in GetThere.com, Giganet, Luna Information Systems and VA Linux and a leveraged buyout of Quinton Instruments Company, the largest U.S. provider of cardiac stress testing systems and cardiac rehabilitation equipment.

“We have been aggressively pursuing private investment opportunities since the company began, and now investors can use the Internet to take advantage of that experience and our venture expertise,” said J.D. Delafield, COO and Director of Private Equity for WR Hambrecht + Co. “WR Hambrecht + Co is taking the lead in providing investors direct access to significant private equity opportunities. The notable difference between what we are doing and what other firms are trying to do in this space, is WR Hambrecht + Co acts as a principal rather than an agent.”