Ripple Secures $10 Million Series B Round Led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Ripple Secures $10 Million Series B Round Led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Investment To Accelerate Nationwide Expansion of Ripple's Out-of-Home Media Network; DFJ Managing Director John Fisher Joins Ripple's Board of Directors

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Ripple Networks, Inc., the first nationwide digital lifestyle media company, announced today it has secured $10 million in Series B funding to accelerate the deployment of its nationwide out-of-home media network. This round of investment will support Ripple's continuing momentum and success in bringing thousands of screens to retail locations across the country.

The round was led by leading international venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) with participation from Series A investor Trinity Ventures. In addition, John Fisher, Co-founder and Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, has joined Ripple's Board of Directors.

"Ripple has established the first digital lifestyle media network that gives local businesses and retailers a significant new opportunity to deliver their messages at a local neighborhood level," Fisher said. "The company has carefully leveraged its strategic partnerships to ensure that its network is in the right locations with the right content, and is now empowered to scale and expand that network for maximum impact."

Ripple also announced today a strategic partnership with Jack in the Box. As part of the agreement, Ripple will deploy its network of Ripple TVs in a majority of Jack in the Box's 2000+ locations across the country in the next few months.

"Ripple is able to reach consumers in a really powerful way, when they are away from their TVs and PCs but still want access to information that is important to their lives," said Tim McAdam, General Partner at Trinity Ventures, which played a leading role in funding coffee retail giant Starbucks.

Alex Nocifera, Ripple's Founder and President of Distribution and Sales, added, "Ripple has the right recipe for retailers looking to add a powerful point of sale advertising capability, as well as to offer their customers valuable information and entertainment that adds to the overall in-store experience."

Ripple already reaches about 10 million consumers each month in hundreds of retail locations across the country. Each location receives geographically and demographically tailored news, entertainment, weather and community information in real-time on large panel, high-definition displays. This selection of streamed in content comes from Ripple's top-rated content partners including ESPN, E! Entertainment, Yahoo!, and CBS and MSNBC, among others. The company expects to place its Ripple TVs in several thousand locations across the country by the end of 2008.

"The enthusiasm that consumers, retailers and advertisers are expressing in reaction to Ripple's offering has been phenomenal," said Ali Diab, Ripple's co-founder and President of Products and Technology. "This latest round of investment by such an esteemed organization as DFJ, and the addition of an experienced venture investor of John's caliber to our board serve to both reinforce and validate the business model that we have developed at Ripple."

Each retail location with a Ripple TV receives its own customized stream of blended content from top rated TV and Web programming. As a result, local and national advertisers find great value in airing targeted ads on the Ripple Network, and self-created ads through Ripple's Ad Center tool (http://www.rippletv.com/), launched this past March. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2007-2011, out-of-home advertising will be the second fastest growing advertising sector, with a projected 6.5% compound annual growth rate over the next five years.

About Ripple

Ripple, founded in 2004, is an out of home digital lifestyle media network delivering hyper-local news and entertainment directly into the places and spaces of everyday life. Already reaching nearly 10 million individuals across several states each month via in-store high-definition screens tailored to an on-the-go audience, Ripple is fast expanding its nationwide network of content and retail partners to better serve each neighborhood and the businesses that wish to engage, entertain and connect with the people within them. For more information, please visit http://www.rippletv.com/.

About Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the only venture capital firm with global presence through a network of affiliated funds, with offices in more than 30 cities around the world and approximately $4 billion in capital commitments. DFJ's mission is to identify, provide capital for, and serve extraordinary entrepreneurs anywhere who want to change the world. Over the past twenty years, DFJ has been proud to back approximately 300 companies across a myriad of sectors including such industry changing catalysts as Hotmail (acquired by MFST), Baidu (BIDU), Skype (acquired by EBAY), United Online (UNTD), Overture (acquired by YHOO), Interwoven (IWOV), 411 (acquired by YHOO), Parametric (PMTC), and Digidesign (acquired by AVID).

About Trinity Ventures

Founded in 1986, Trinity Ventures is a value-added investor that provides capital, networks and resources to early-stage software, Internet services, communications and networked systems companies. With more than $1 billion under management, Trinity Ventures has invested in and worked closely with leading companies such as Aruba Networks, Photobucket, Blue Nile, Crescendo Communications, Extreme Networks, Forte Software, LoopNet, SpeedEra Networks, Starbucks and Sygate. Trinity Ventures has offices in Menlo Park. For more information visit http://www.trinityventures.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Ripple Networks, Inc.

CONTACT: Tien Teng of SutherlandGold Group, +1-415-848-7173,
tien@sutherlandgold.com, for Ripple

Web site:

http://www.trinityventures.com/
http://www.rippletv.com/

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