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Non-Tech : Ashton Technology (ASTN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (3343)	2/16/2000 9:14:00 AM
From: Nanchate	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4443

Gomez Advisors Raises $30 Million in Venture Funding LINCOLN, Mass., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Gomez Advisors, a leading portal provider for business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce, announced today that it has raised approximately $30 million in third-round financing. Robertson Stephens acted as placement agent in the offering. Investors in the offering include BancBoston Ventures, Inc. as lead investor, Softbank, HarbourVest Partners, Dolphin Communications Partners, John Hancock Global Technology Fund, West End Venture Partners, and a private investor group led by Boston financier Paul Palandjian. Capital raised will be allocated toward Internet technology investments, increased staffing, and the launch of a national strategic marketing and advertising campaign. "We are very pleased that this infusion of funding validates our rapidly growing business model to become the Internet's foremost and most profitable portal provider for B2C and B2B e-commerce," said Julio Gomez, CEO. "This is a leap forward for us as well as the consumers and businesses who rely on Gomez Advisors, Gomez Pro and Gomez.com." About Gomez Advisors Gomez Advisors is a leading portal provider for B2C and B2B e-commerce, and is recognized as an authority in online finance and commerce. Gomez.com, viewable at www.gomez.com, is a leading B2C e-commerce portal. Its nationally recognized ratings, news, and tools promote informed online purchasing decisions. Gomez.com currently provides content, tools, and other forms of decision support to consumers in over 25 different industries. GomezPro, viewable at www.gomezpro.com, is a leading B2B e-commerce portal. GomezPro currently offers real-time data, tools, and analysis to Internet professionals on over 800 e-commerce companies in over 25 different industries. GomezPro has been adopted by over 60 leading e-commerce companies as their B2B e-commerce portal. Gomez.com, Gomez Advisors, Scorecard, GomezWire and GomezPro are trademarks of Gomez Advisors, Inc. All other products and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. SOURCE Gomez Advisors CO: Gomez Advisors; Gomez.com ST: Massachusetts IN: REA MLM FIN SU: OFR 02/16/2000 07:01 EST prnewswire.com

To: Dale Baker who wrote (3343)	2/16/2000 11:21:00 AM
From: Nanchate	Respond to of 4443

Same news from Bloomberg w/emphasis on Japan's Softbank Gomez Advisors Raises $30 Mln From BancBoston, Softbank, Others Lincoln, Massachusetts, Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Gomez Advisors Inc., which offers e-commerce Web site ratings and information to consumers and businesses, has raised $30 million from five investors including Japan's Softbank Corp. The funds will be used to increase staff by 75 percent to 175 by mid-year and expand into Japan and the U.K., said Julio Gomez, company president and founder. The company may sell stock to the public later this year, he said. ``Wherever consumers are doing a substantial number of transactions and there's a confusing number of providers, we come and help define the industry,' said Gomez, a former stockbroker and Forrester Research Inc. Web brokerage analyst. ``It's a tool for due diligence about which sites to use.' The Lincoln, Massachusetts company's fund-raising was led by Fleet Boston Corp.'s BancBoston Capital, joined by Softbank, Harbourvest Partners LLC, Dolphin Communications, the John Hancock Global Technology Fund, West End Venture Partners and an investor group led by Boston private investor Paul Palandjian, Gomez said. Gomez founded Gomez Advisors in 1997, and the company has now issued 25 ``industry scorecards' for consumers on e-commerce sectors ranging from online grocers to airline Web sites and online car-buying companies. The site claims 1 million unique visitors a month. Softbank Softbank owns stakes in Internet companies including Yahoo Inc., ETrade Group Inc. and Ziff-Davis Inc. and has helped finance Japan-based commerce ventures for those businesses. The company isn't profitable, though ``we could be at any time,' said Julio Gomez. ``I should be fired if I tried to be profitable now, with such a huge market opportunity and so much available capital.' Last week, Gomez awarded an $8 million advertising contract to DiMassimo of New York for a national radio, transit, outdoor, Internet and television campaign. Along with consumer scorecards, Gomez Advisors also offers more detailed industry reports to e-commerce professionals through its GomezPro service. The company has grown from three employees at the end of 1997 and 20 at the end of 1998. Ashton Technology Group Inc. backed the company's formation with $1.5 million in 1997, and a group of individuals provided a further $5.5 million in capital in April 1998. ``This will be our first and last institutional round,'* Julio Gomez said. E-commerce research companies that have sold shares to the public include Forrester and Jupiter Communications Inc. Feb/16/2000 6:52