3GUpload Announces $20M Investment from VantagePoint

US : 3GUpload.com announced a $20 million investment from VantagePoint Venture Partners, one of the largest and most active venture capital firms in the nation and the investors behind the highly popular social networking site, MySpace. The company also acquired Mophone(TM), a pioneer in the mobile community space, and the combined company will relaunch under a new brand, with four million registered users, later this year.

"We saw community and social networking take off first hand from our experience with MySpace," said Eric Ver Ploeg, managing director at VantagePoint Venture Partners. "The next phase is to extend this concept to the mobile platform. 3GUpload has managed to create a thriving mobile entertainment business with no outside investment. By augmenting their impressive entrepreneurial team with proven management and the financial resources to grow the business, this company can maintain its leadership in the mobile entertainment and community space."

William (Bill) Bryant will serve as chief executive officer (CEO) of the newly expanded 3GUpload. Bryant has had early and instrumental involvement in several leading software and Internet companies, serving variously as a founder, senior executive, investor and board member. He was previously CEO of Mophone, and a co-founder of Qpass, where he served as CEO and later chairman. He was also president of Netbot, Inc., and a partner with Atlas Venture, a large international venture capital firm with $2.5B under management.

"3GUpload has done a tremendous job of creating a passionate following in the mobile music arena," said Bryant. "With this unique combination of companies and the backing of VantagePoint, we'll build on that success to create the definitive web-to-mobile community."

3GUpload allows millions of members to discover new content, store personal files, meet new friends and connect to all things mobile. Members are able to select from more than 30,000 fully licensed music tones, polyphonic ringtones, voice tones and sound effects; screensavers and wallpaper; mobile games including adventure, arcade, board, card, exercise, fun, puzzle, racing, shooter and sports; and utilities and applications to enhance the web-to-mobile experience. Members can preview ringtones before uploading to "MyLocker" and downloading onto their phones. "Personal Files" in "My 3G" also allow members to upload their own pictures and ringtones onto mobile phones with 100 MB of free storage. 3GUpload encourages music fans to rate tracks so the company can then make recommendations on additional music tones to meet their tastes. The site also publishes a Top 100 downloads list to track the hottest ringtones.

"This substantial investment from VantagePoint is a huge validation that we're on the right track," said David Hosei, co-founder of 3GUpload. "We're incredibly excited about this opportunity to grow our business and provide more value to our users."

About 3GUpload

3GUpload (www.3gupload.com) is a leading web-to-mobile destination site for mobile entertainment. The direct-to-consumer service provides more than 30,000 ringtones, screensavers, games and other 3G applications to mobile customers nationwide, regardless of carrier. The site's robust community is a forum for millions of members to meet with friends to discuss music, entertainment, mobile technology, and more. 3GUpload offers a variety of subscription models ranging from $5.99-$13.99 that comes with a personalized cell phone locker for storage of favorite ringers and screensavers. The site supports 19 carriers nationwide, including all major operators.

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