Livestation developer Skinkers raises USD16m

Funding from lead investor Acacia Capital Partners, existing investor SPARK Ventures and Skinkers Management team.

29 October 2007

Skinkers, the leaders in Information Broadcast technology, today announced they have raised USD16m in their second round of funding. The funding comes from lead investor Acacia Capital Partners, existing investor SPARK Ventures and Skinkers Management team. Skinkers will use the funding to further develop their enterprise-wide communication platform business, enhance their Live Notification Platform™ technology and bring to market Livestation™, the world’s first interactive global broadcast network for live television and radio.

Hitesh Mehta, General Partner at Acacia Capital Partners commented on the deal: “We are delighted to be part of the Skinkers story; we believe their innovative approach to the delivery of priority information gives them a unique position in the market. This financing will enable the experienced management team at Skinkers to exploit the market potential for the technology and build a world-class business.”

Jay Patel, Executive Director at SPARK Ventures commented “Acacia will add significant experience to the Skinkers team and we hope the funds will accelerate the process of establishing the products as a critical component of enterprise communications as well as enabling Livestation to maintain its momentum.”

Skinkers Information Broadcast technology ensures ShouldKnow™ information is delivered to customers, partners and employees with visibility and impact. ShouldKnow information is priority information people need to know, e.g. breaking news, corporate communications and service outages. Recipients can select what type of ShouldKnow information they would like to receive on their chosen devices (computers, handhelds and mobile phones). Some of the world’s leading brands rely on Skinkers technology to connect more effectively with their audiences; these include American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, UPS, London Stock Exchange, JC Penney, BBC, CNN and the Guardian.

“Communication overload is now a recognised business problem. Our technology combats this by enabling people to choose how the ShouldKnow information they are interested in is ‘pushed’ to them in a highly flexible and visible way. Acacia, like SPARK Ventures two years ago, have recognised our unique market opportunity.” stated Matteo Berlucchi, CEO, Skinkers.

In April 2007, Skinkers announced Livestation, the first interactive global broadcast platform over IP, providing the most scalable and cost effective solution to broadcast live and linear TV channels over the Internet directly to millions of computer screens. Built on unique technology acquired from Microsoft in a pioneering “technology for equity” deal in 2006, Livestation is due to launch a large scale technical trial involving some of the leading global broadcasters shortly.

About Acacia Capital Partners

Acacia Capital Partners is an independent management company made up of experienced venture capitalists with in-depth operational and investment management experience. They invest in later stage innovative technology companies both directly and indirectly.

www.acaciacp.com

About SPARK Ventures

SPARK Ventures ('SPARK') is a venture capital investor based in London and listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Formed in 1999, SPARK Ventures has built up a portfolio of investments in the technology, media and telecom sectors (TMT) ranging from enterprise software to digital media and semiconductors.

www.newmediaSPARK.com

About Livestation

Livestation is a software platform designed to distribute high quality live television and radio to mass audiences at dramatically reduced costs. It is based on peer-to-peer technology co-developed by Skinkers and Microsoft Research, who have entered into a pioneering technology for equity collaboration. Microsoft acquired a minority equity stake in Skinkers in exchange for full use of the Microsoft peer-to-peer intellectual property.

www.skinkers.com