CHARLESTOWN NAVY YARD, BOSTON – March 5, 2007 - Eons™, the 50-plus media company for loving life on the flipside of 50, today announced $22 million in Series B financing led by Charles River Ventures, with participation from new investors Intel Capital and Humana Inc., as well as existing investors General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital. The financing will fuel Eons’ accelerating growth as it continues to inspire boomers to see, learn, and be more on the way to the reachable goal of living to 100.
“We’re very excited that Charles River Ventures is taking a lead in this round, especially given their proven track record of investing in companies poised to establish a leadership position in emerging markets,” said Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO, Eons. “Boomers are ready to play hard on the Web, and Eons is not only changing the way they connect with each other, but also how corporate America reaches this desirable demographic. Our active community, proprietary tools – such as Eons’ search engine cRANKy™ – and expert advice are shaping a new era of activity on the Web for this audience.”
Taylor added, “We are equally pleased with Intel Capital’s investment as well as the participation from our founding venture backers, General Catalyst Partners and Sequoia Capital, whose continued support is a strong endorsement of our market and our strategy.”
“Eons has experienced very strong market interest since its launch just seven months ago,” said Austin Westerling, partner, Charles River Ventures. “We are excited about the prospects for Eons as it engages this new generation of spirited 50-plus adults who possess historical levels of purchasing power. Additionally, Eons has assembled a world-class team in a space that is virtually unaddressed by other social networking sites.”
The rapid adoption of eons.com reflects the unmet demand among 50-plus online adults for a destination created by and for them. Eons continues to develop intelligence on the hearts and minds of its members through a robust social networking platform and exclusive, database-driven products. Nearly 75 percent of all members, for example, have taken The Eons Longevity Calculator – a 40-question quiz that predicts longevity and provides personalized health advice. LifeDreams™, which allows members to create and tackle a personalized list of life goals, enables Eons to aggregate a master index of intent as Eons matches users’ dreams with relevant providers.
“Eons is creatively building communities online to deliver services and benefits to an underserved and growing segment of consumers as they increasingly embrace digital living,” said Angela Biever, vice president and managing director, Intel Capital. “We are pleased to work with Eons CEO Jeff Taylor, a proven brand builder.”
Taylor added, “In addition to Intel’s support, the investment by Humana is significant because Humana joined us as an Eons Corporate Founding Partner when we launched. They have been with us since the beginning, and having Humana help fund our growth sends a strong signal to the marketing community regarding the value of the Eons platform in helping them connect with the largest and most powerful consumer segment ever. You know what’s coming . . . Boom Boom Boom!”
About Charles River Ventures
Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures (CRV) is one of the oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms, with nearly $2B under management. CRV is dedicated to helping exceptional entrepreneurs turn their ideas into the next category leaders in the data communications and software and services sectors. The firm’s investment returns are consistently among the highest of any venture capital firms. This superior investment record includes leading companies such as Cascade, Chipcom, CIENA, iBasis, Sybase, Sonus Networks, SpeechWorks International and Vignette. CRV has offices in Boston and Menlo Park, Calif. For more information, visit
www.crv.com.
About General Catalyst Partners
General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries. Founded in 2000, General Catalyst Partners leverages its principals’ extensive operational, business development and technological expertise to provide portfolio companies with a catalyst for success through business-building and partnership development assistance. General Catalyst has approximately $1 billion under management and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit:
www.generalcatalyst.com.
About Humana Inc.
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the nation's largest publicly traded health benefits companies, with more than 11 million medical members. Humana offers a diversified portfolio of health insurance products and related services - through traditional and consumer-choice plans - to employer groups, government-sponsored plans, and individuals. Over its 46-year history, Humana has consistently seized opportunities to meet changing customer needs. Today, the company is a leader in consumer engagement, providing guidance that leads to lower costs and a better health plan experience throughout its diversified customer portfolio. More information regarding Humana is available at
http://www.humana.com.
About Intel Capital
Intel Capital, Intel's venture capital organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology startups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet and semiconductor manufacturing. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than $6 billion in nearly 1,000 companies in more than 40 countries. In that time, about 180 portfolio companies have been acquired by other companies and another 155 have gone public on various exchanges around the world. In 2006, Intel Capital invested about $1.07 billion in 163 deals with approximately 60 percent of funds (excluding Clearwire) invested outside the United States. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit
www.intelcapital.com.
About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital provides startup venture capital for very smart people who want to turn ideas into companies. As the “Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs”, Sequoia Capital's Partners have worked with innovators such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Bob Swanson of Linear Technology, Sandy Lerner and Len Bozack of Cisco Systems, Dan Warmenhoven of Network Appliance, Jerry Yang and David Filo of Yahoo!, Jen-Hsun Huang of nVIDIA, Michael Marks of Flextronics, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen of YouTube and Steve Goldman and Sujal Patel of Isilon Networks. To learn more about Sequoia Capital visit
http://www.sequoiacap.com/.
About Eons™
Eons is a 50-plus media company inspiring a generation of boomers to live the biggest life possible. Founded by Jeff Taylor, creator of Monster.com, Eons has attracted a team of renowned advisors and industry-leading partners and is backed by venture capital financing from General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Charles River Ventures, and Intel Capital, as well as Humana, Inc. It is supported by corporate founding partners Harrah’s Entertainment, Hyatt Corp., Humana, Inc., Liberty Mutual Group, Fidelity and Verizon Wireless. The company is headquartered in Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, Mass. For more information about Eons media, visit
www.eons.com and
www.cranky.com.
Contact:
Bill Lane ext. 243
blane@thecastlegrp.com
Linda Walsh ext. 263
lwalsh@thecastlegrp.com
The Castle Group, Inc.
(617) 227-0012
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