Yo.com Receives First Round of Funding

Yo.com today announced the receipt of Series A financing from New York-based venture capital firms including XL Ventures, Grand Central Holdings and Silicon Alley Venture Partners, as well as Macromedia, Inc. Yo.com has set out to dramatically improve e-commerce performance by offering personalization technology to Web sites on an outsourced basis. Yo.com will power its personalization network with Macromedia LikeMinds collaborative filtering engine.

As we strive to become the Web's largest personalization network, we required highly-scalable personalization technology," said Yo! CEO Charles Jones. "Using Macromedia LikeMinds, we will dramatically change the landscape of e-retailing, improving consumers' online shopping experience while increasing the profitability of e-commerce sites."

Jupiter Communications estimates that collaborative filtering based personalization can increase sales on e-retailing sites by 52%. Existing personalization technology is available in the form of enterprise software. The costs and technical complexity associated with these packages can keep personalization beyond the reach of the vast majority of online retailers and their Web site affiliates. By providing the technology on an outsourced basis, Yo.com will help eliminate these barriers, enabling Web sites of any size to increase sales by displaying personalized product offerings to each visitor.

Yo.com�s innovative networked model will make it possible for Web sites of all sizes to benefit from personalization technology," said Stephen Elop, senior vice president and general manager of Macromedia. "LikeMinds compares behavior with the behavior of previous visitors to the site, and accurately predicts the products and content that are of interest to each individual."

Yo! launched its personalization network at the Personalization Summit in Boston, MA.

CONTACT
Media inquiries can be addressed to Andrea Adler on (914) 478-7212 or at [email protected].

ABOUT YO.COM
Yo.com (www.Yo.com) helps web sites increase sales by providing them with personalization technology on an outsourced basis. As an application service provider, YO! eliminates the huge barriers to entry associated with the traditional enterprise software package, including cost and time-to-market, allowing web sites of any size to tap into the power of personalization. By making personally relevant product recommendations to individual visitors, YO! enables sites to build better relationships with their customers, while profiting from increased sales conversion. By providing personalization across a network, YO! is able to leverage data gathered across a vast network of sites, increasing the preciseness of its recommendations. Headquartered in New York City, Yo is a privately held, venture-backed company. Founded in 1999, its investors include Macromedia, XL Ventures, Grand Central Holdings and Silicon Alley Venture Partners.

ABOUT MACROMEDIA
Macromedia's mission is to add life to the Web. Their award-winning products empower developers to provide the most engaging experience on the Web and enable more effective e-business. Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 800 employees worldwide and is available on the Internet at http://www.macromedia.com

ABOUT XL VENTURES
XL Ventures, LLC is a venture capital firm focused on early to mid-stage investments in companies that provide services, applications and technology to the digital media industry, including the Internet, mobile applications, convergence media, and broadband services. XL Ventures facilitates relationships and sharing of expertise and resources among the members of its network of portfolio companies. XL Ventures has enhanced 20 companies to date. Representative investments include 24/7 Media, Inc., About.com, Inc., Promotions.com, Inc., and Naviant, Inc.

ABOUT GRAND CENTRAL HOLDINGS
Grand Central Holdings (www.grandcentralholdings.com) is a New York City based internet operating company that partners with leading early stage internet-related businesses, providing them with capital, operational support, and strategic synergies in order to accelerate their progress and increase their chances of success. Yo! is one of Grand Central's six partner companies along with Online Benefits (www.online-benefits.com), the leading provider of extranet solutions for human resource departments; iPing (www.iping.com), a wireless notification services provider; USLaw.com, the leading online provider of legal information for consumers and small businesses; peanutpress.com which was acquired by netLibrary and is the leading publisher of electronic books on Palm Pilot and other handheld computers; and Japan Internet Ventures (www.japaninternetventures.com) which transfers successful internet ventures from the US to Japan. Grand Central Holdings is available on the Internet at http://www.grandcentralholdings.com