(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 25, 2001 ) London, UK

Mailround, (www.mailround.com) the email marketing and technology specialist announced today that it has received £800,000 of further funding from London based venture capital organisation, Episode 1, on achieving its first year targets.

Mailround launched in December 1999 with seed funding to support its development of a ‘pipeline’ to email and subsequent launch of its email advertising service. It has since gained in excess of 75,000 registered users plus a significant revenue stream resulting from advertising and marketing campaigns by the likes of Marks & Spencers, Carphone Warehouse, BT Genie and Thomas Cook. It has recently launched the service in the US and is preparing to launch a corporate product, AudienceMailTM which redefines the opportunities for corporate e-branding.

Simon Murdoch, co-founder of Episode 1, commented on Mailround’s progress, “Mailround has managed to avoid the many pitfalls that countless high-tech start-ups have fallen into. It has kept its cash ‘burn rate’ as low as possible whilst achieving a significant number of users of the service without the temptation to stage a costly marketing blitz. It is also exhibiting an exponential growth in revenues. We are naturally pleased that one of our investments is proving successful in what are incredibly difficult market conditions.”

Mailround MD Eldar Tuvey states “To date, Mailround has invested significantly in its technology and people and we are beginning to reap the rewards on this investment. We have secured a number of partnerships with leading corporates, our revenues are growing substantially, and our new product pipeline looks strong. Overall we are very optimistic over our prospects in the UK and the US over the next 24 months.”.
~Ends~

Notes to Editors:

Episode-1
Episode 1 is a UK-based $100m Internet fund investing in start up and early stage Internet businesses with European or global reach. The fund is a joint venture between JP Morgan Partners, one of the world’s largest private equity firms with over $16bn under management, and Episode 1 Partners, an experienced team of Internet entrepreneurs, including Simon Murdoch and Richard Tahta, previously of Amazon.com Europe. Episode 1’s investments include flutter.com, Speed Ventures and mailround.com.


About Mailround
During its first year, Mailround developed a ‘pipeline to email’ – a unique system that allows the central insertion of dynamic marketing content into its members’ sent and received email communication. While the banner advertising market is facing increasing strain, the Mailround precision email marketing service has been repeatedly bought into by established brands such as Marks & Spencers, Scottish Widows, Thomas Cook, BT Genie, Alliance & Leicester, IF, Carphone Warehouse and Line-One, to communicate targeted promotions and adverts to its registered users. The click through rate achieved has typically been between 3 and 5 %. Mailround recently completed a deal with the global Internet café chain, Internet Exchange, which licensed Mailround’s CaféMail technology to deliver stamps in the webmails sent and received by its visitors. It has also launched the service in the US.

Mailround is now progressing the next phase of its business strategy. The applications it developed for the B2C Mailround service proved to be robust. The technology is now being used in applications that will meet a significant marketing and communications need within the corporate sector. AudienceMailTM is currently undergoing trial and is set to launch within the next month.

Press Information:

Amanda Simmons/Martin Petts
PVC PR
Tel: 020 8735 5290, Fax: 020 8735 5291
amanda@pvcpr.com; martin@pvcpr.com

Contact Information:
Mailround
Eldar Tuvey
Tel:
Email us


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