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PRESS RELEASE
TAGGED INC. SECURES $7 MILLION IN VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING
Company Pursues Market Opportunity for Capturing Share of Mind in Burgeoning Online Teen Marketplace
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., February 8, 2006 - Tagged Inc. announced today the company has raised $7 million in its first venture capital funding effort. Led by Mayfield Fund, a respected, early-stage investor with deep domain experience in consumer internet technology, the new funding will enable the company to expand the services and features of its rapidly growing social-networking portal for teens - Tagged.com. With more than two million registered teens today, Tagged is poised for leadership in the competitive online teen marketplace.
Unique to Tagged is the management team's expertise in building highly successful online businesses. The executive team includes co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng, co-founder and CTO Johann Schleier-Smith, COO Karen Cassel, Vice President of Sales, Business Development and Legal Affairs Duncan Haberly, Vice President of Information Technology Jim Rodriguez, Vice President of Engineering Gordon Kass and General Counsel Louis Willacy. The company's Board of Directors includes internet pioneer and industry leader Reid Hoffman, known for his PayPal and LinkedIn success, as well as Scott Banister, co-founder and Vice President of Corporate Strategy for IronPort. Raj Kapoor and Allen Morgan, both managing directors at Mayfield, have also joined the Tagged Board of Directors in connection with the Mayfield investment. Detailed biographies for the executive team are available at http://corp.tagged.com/management.html.
"Mayfield is excited to support Tagged in their efforts to develop a media portal specifically targeting teens, because we recognize that teens are the most advanced market in terms of new media consumption and are actively searching for online 'hangouts'," stated Kapoor. "Tagged has already proven it can exponentially grow its online teen community by amassing over 2 million members in a short period of time with a minimum outlay of marketing dollars. We're confident that the Tagged management team has both the passion and experience needed to continue to propel Tagged into a leadership role in the teen online market."
Tagged - The right place at the right time
Today's teens are unlike any other generation in American history. The millennial generation has been exposed to, and grown up with, a multitude of ever-advancing communications technologies; from cell phones to instant messaging, these technologies have become a fundamental and essential part of teen life. However, unlike any other medium or technology, the internet has changed not only the way this generation shops or obtains information, but the means by which they interact and socialize.
More teens are online now than every before. A July 2005 report issued by the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled Teens and Technology found that nearly 9 out of 10 teens, or nearly 25 million teens, are online today. This represents an increase of 24% in the past four years. In addition, the report stated that more than 50% of teenage internet users go online daily, up from 42% in 2000.
This significant increase in teen internet-usage, combined with the fact that teens will spend and influence over $400 billion in purchasing this year including their own cash and their parents money (according to The TRU Study, the nation's premier teen marketing and lifestyle survey published by Teenage Research Unlimited), confirms Tagged is clearly targeting the right market segment, at the right time.
"The additional funds will enable Tagged to continue building a fun, safe, and exciting environment for teens to showcase their personalities and talents, while offering advertisers a laser-focused vehicle aimed at the unique teen marketplace," said Greg Tseng, co-founder and CEO at Tagged. "This new financing will enable us to strengthen and expand our infrastructure to support the innovations and features demanded by our rapidly growing membership and sponsors."
Rapid, Exponential Growth in Teen Registration
Membership on Tagged.com continues to grow rapidly and exponentially, reaching 1 million in the first 12 months of operations, but requiring only 3 months to attain the second million members. More impressive are the statistics relating to unique visitors, pageviews, and the time spent on Tagged.com. According to comScore's Media Metrix Internet audience ratings measurements, Tagged.com achieved 2.4 million unique visitors and 391 million pageviews in December 2005, with members spending 2.5 million hours on the site.
About Tagged
Tagged.com was launched in 2004, and is an explosively growing social-networking portal developed specifically for teens aged 13 through 19. Emerging as the premier brand in the lucrative teen demographic, Tagged.com is rapidly becoming the number one teen site on the web. For more information visit Tagged at www.tagged.com or contact the organization at press@tagged.com.
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