August Capital Invests in Swoopo

      

"Swoopo's mission is to bring the transparency and thrill back to online auctions," said Gunnar Piening, CEO, Swoopo. "Since our launch in the US in late 2008, we've seen great interest in our site with our monthly transactions growing rapidly. We are now aggressively executing our plan to roll out our brand of entertainment shopping across global markets."

"Swoopo is a great business, with an innovative and straightforward business model that has successfully merged entertainment and shopping categories," added Howard Hartenbaum, General Partner, August Capital. "More than ever, consumers are looking for a bargain and looking to have fun. Swoopo fulfills these needs."

Almost 2 million members have joined the site, which launched in the US in late 2008. Swoopo is the closest thing to a real-life auction, whereby brand new items under warranty including the new Nintendo DSi, Amazon Kindle, flat screen TVs, computers and watches can be obtained for an average of 65 percent below retail. Swoopo also provides consumers with full transaction histories and bidding patterns to enable consumers to devise their own strategies to win products at a fraction of the MSRP.

Just like a traditional auction, when a user places a bid in the final moments, Swoopo extends the auction to allow every participant to get in a new bid. This ensures that there is no 'sniping' at the last second. Part of the appeal of Swoopo is in developing strategies and skills to repeatedly win.

About Swoopo:

Founded in 2005, Swoopo marries e-commerce and entertainment, two established and proven business models on the Internet, into an exciting and innovative experience. Swoopo is available inGermany, the U.K.,Austria,Spain and the U.S.

Swoopo.com is operated by Entertainment Shopping, Inc, inCupertino, CA and is funded by Wellington Partners and August Capital. Swoopo has 58 employees, with offices inMunich,London andCupertino.

About August Capital

Founded in 1995, August Capital has funded an extraordinary group of entrepreneurs who have built significant, long-term value across the full range of information technologies. These companies represent an aggregate market capitalization of well over $250 billion and generate in excess of $75 billion in annual revenue around the world. This success is a testament to the entrepreneurs themselves, as well as the fundamental technologies they have created. The partners at August Capital were the earliest investors in a number of ground breaking technology companies, including Microsoft, Intuit, Seagate, Sun, Skype, Compaq, Symantec, Sybase, Atheros, Grand Junction and many more. August Capital is located inMenlo Park, California. For more information, please visit: www.augustcap.com.

    Media Contacts:

    Mark de la Vina
    Consort Partners
    swoopo@consortpartners.com
    Tel: +415 282 4795

    Kathy Johnson,
    Consort Partners
    swoopo@consortpartners.com
    Tel: +1 415 823 9566

SOURCE Swoopo