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SAFEHARBOR.COM AND PROTÉGÉ PARTNER TO FACILITATE EXPANSION INTO EUROPEAN MARKET

Investor in Recently Closed Series C Funding Round to Provide Resources and Expertise, Extend Customer Support Services Overseas


     For Immediate Release
October 11, 2000 (London and Seattle, Wash.) --    SafeHarbor.com, the leader in Web-focused customer support services, and Protégé, the leading European Econet for accelerating the international expansion of North American Internet businesses, today announced an agreement to work in partnership to launch and manage SafeHarbor.com's expansion into Europe.

Under a separate agreement, Protégé has also invested in SafeHarbor.com’s recently closed Series C round of financing.  The $25.1 million round included significant investments from Olympic Venture Partners, Barnard & Co., Wheatley Partners, Washington Mutual, Inc, and Protégé Virtual Management.

“In its first two years in the US, SafeHarbor.com has built up an impressive array of both customers and technology partners,” said Larry Levy, chairman and CEO of Protégé Group.  “It has a business model that we believe can be readily applied to the European market, and by leveraging our knowledge of the European scene and our management skills and resources, we can work in partnership to accelerate the expansion process.”

Through its Virtual Management model, Protégé will provide SafeHarbor.com with the resources and market expertise to accelerate its entry into the European market.  Working closely with the US parent company Protégé provides an experienced European VP to help establish the European subsidiary, which is 100 percent owned by SafeHarbor.com.  The unit works to an agreed business plan and revenue targets, and all recruited staff will be direct employees of SafeHarbor.com.  At the end of the contract term Protégé, SafeHarbor.com will have an established, fully staffed, commercially viable European subsidiary.

“This relationship with Protégé allows us to leverage their expertise in the European market to expand our operations internationally, to provide top-notch CRM support services to our growing base of customers,” said Bo Wandell, president and co-founder, SafeHarbor.com.  “Our growth from two to 200 employees in less than two years has demonstrated a proven track record with our large-scale US clients. The addition of a European contact center extends our mission of delivering Web-focused customer support, enabling businesses to provide people with the answers they want in the way that the want them."

SafeHarbor.com is a privately owned company based in Satsop, Washington.  Founded in 1998, SafeHarbor.com provides emerging technology companies with next generation support services and Customer Relationship Management solutions.  It offers customer service and technical support solutions that deliver immediate, interactive, graphical support solutions via the Web.

SafeHarbor.com’s technology partners include Kana – a former Protégé VM business, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. It is a Microsoft- certified solutions provider.  Its clients include Amdahl Corporation, Elite.com, ImageX.com, CarrierPoint, Loudeye Technologies, Triscend and TheSauce.com.  Additionally, SafeHarbor.com was just awarded a contract with the State of Washington to provide its agencies with 24-hour online and traditional customer support capabilities to better serve Washington State residents.

About SafeHarbor.com
SafeHarbor.com is the pioneer and leader in delivering Web-based self-help customer support services to companies with e-business initiatives, from start-ups to Fortune 500 enterprises.  Because the Web has changed the way people seek information and rendered traditional customer service inadequate, SafeHarbor.com’s graphical Web self-help KnowledgeBASES – supported by live support via e-mail, Advanced Chat, Web Case and the phone – increase customer satisfaction while reducing cost and time to market.  These solutions are backed by expert Knowledge Engineers and a state-of-the-art technical infrastructure, enabling progressive companies to scale instantly and fuel company growth.  SafeHarbor.com's corporate headquarters are located at the Satsop Development Park 20 miles southwest of Olympia, Washington in Grays Harbor County, and has sales offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and London.  For more information, please visit online at http://www.safeharbor.com , or call 800-480-5777.

About Protégé

Protégé is the leading European Econet for building internet businesses.  

Protégé’s unique capabilities stem from its access to leading edge internet technologies, its in-house e-business systems integration capabilities and its proven track record in building internet businesses in Europe.

Protégé has an exceptional track record, having successfully incubated over 30 internet businesses in Europe since 1996. Protégé always takes an equity stake in each of its businesses.  Of these, five have gone public (Vignette, Virage, AvantGo, NetGravity and Delano) five have been acquired (Digital Island, Opensite, ForeFront, iCAT, NetGravity) and five more IPOs are pending.

The Protégé Econet is the interaction and leverage between its three core businesses:

VIRTUAL MANAGEMENT
Virtual Management was established to support North American technology firms looking to expand into Europe. Working closely with the US parent company Protege provides an experienced European VP to help establish the European subsidiary, which is 100 per cent owned by the parent company.


The unit works to an agreed business plan and revenue targets, with all staff recruited being direct employees of the US parent company. At the end of the contract signed with Protégé, the vendor will have an established, fully staffed, commercially viable European subsidiary. Protégé’s remuneration is based on fees and a percentage of the revenues generated during the course of the contract, convertible into pre-IPO equity.

CITRIA - which develops and implements e-business solutions for corporates and internet start-ups on a pan European basis;

iCocoon -  which incubates European internet businesses focused on the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) markets.

For further information, please visit http://www.protege.co.uk


 
Editorial Contact:
Anita Lavine
Porter Novelli Convergence Group
206-770-7032
anita.lavine@pnicg.com
 
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