iKobo Closes First Institutional Round of Funding

iKobo Closes First Institutional Round of Funding

ATLANTA, Dec. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- iKobo, Inc. ( http://www.ikobo.com/ ), a global financial services company which provides online electronic payment and remittance services, today announced closing its first institutional round of funding. The company raised an undisclosed amount in a Series A financing to be used for product development and management recruitment. The round was led by Atlanta-based Total Technology Ventures, with participation from Council Ventures of Nashville and from existing investors Global Bank of Commerce, based in Antigua; iKobo chairman John Chamberlin; and iKobo co-founder Emeka Ohuche. The company was advised by Palo Alto based law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati with respect to the financing. WS Investments LLC, their investment arm, also participated in the round.

An August 2002 Celent Communications report cites the global person-to-person money transfer market at $150 billion, with 70% of customers engaging in repeat transactions. The global remittance industry has a 10% growth rate with card-based money transfer service models, the fastest-growing segment, projected to grab an 11% market share by 2006.

"iKobo is a high-growth company with a compound annual growth rate of over 400% between 2001 and 2004," said Emeka Ohuche, co-founder, iKobo, Inc. "Our investors recognize the huge potential and gains to be reaped by building out our technology infrastructure so we can rapidly scale to meet continued strong customer demand," he added.

"The experience, skills and relationships of iKobo's new board of directors will also help us accelerate product development and diversification as we enter new markets. Each of these firms brings a unique set of capabilities to our board, especially our lead investor Total Technology Ventures, which has a solid track record of providing leadership in technology and financial services industries," he continued.

About iKobo, Inc.

iKobo, Inc. is a global financial services company which provides online electronic payment and remittance services. iKobo's proprietary, web-based Global Integrated Funds Transfer System (GIFTS) is optimized for easy, fast and secure personal money transfer and e-commerce services for anyone, anytime, anywhere. iKobo is a pioneer of the card based remittance model. The company's VISA co-branded i-Kard is a reloadable debit card which allows recipients to receive funds in real time, at a lower cost and at over 20+ million ATM access points and retail POS terminals in over 170 countries. Additionally, iKobo works with international bank partners to better serve customers locally. Founded in 2001 iKobo, Inc. is a privately owned company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. iKobo is funded by private and strategic investors including Council Ventures, Global Bank of Commerce, Total Technology Ventures and WS Investments LLC. For more information visit http://www.ikobo.com/ .


Source: iKobo, Inc.

CONTACT: Media, Helga Ojinmah of Helios Communications, +1-770-444-0871,
or helga@helioscomm.com ; or Business Development and Investor Relations,
Sanjay Saggere of iKobo, Inc., +1-678-483-4562, or ssaggere@ikobo.net

Web site: http://www.ikobo.com/


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