PALO ALTO, Calif. (February 5, 2002) - - Recapping its investments for 2001 and evaluating investments for 2002, Earlybird, an international venture capital fund with focus on information technology, telecommunications, life sciences and converging technologies, noted the strength of its life sciences portfolio.

Palo Alto-based Earlybird Managing Partner, Steve Ciesinski, said, "We are at a time in the evolution of healthcare that reminds us of the earlier stages of the electronics industry. The potential effects of genomic and proteomic technologies on pharmaceutical research and development have raised significant optimism in this sector."

Rolf Mathies, co-founder of Earlybird added, "At Earlybird, we have a clear long term strategy in pursuing life sciences investments by balancing the huge inherent risks and rewards for the benefit of the entrepreneur and the investor by focusing on hybrid business models that, beside having 'cutting edge' and proprietary platform technology, have a strong therapeutic product focus. In 2001, we demonstrated this commitment with investments in Entelos, the leader in predictive in-silico biosimulation for drug development and discovery and Europroteome, a oncology company dedicated to the identification of biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis and patient-specific therapy."

Europroteome's integrated technologies build on tissue samples and related patient histories derived from its international scientific network. Both companies have substantiated their commercial potential. Europroteome has an ongoing collaboration with bioMérieux and, and, most recently, Entelos added a collaboration agreement with Pfizer on Asthma to its list of partners.

Other Earlybird life sciences portfolio clients include Amaxa, Bernina Biosystems, Calypso Medical Technology, Hemoteq, Novasonics, Redeon (merged with Biovalve), and Wilex.

According to the editor of Venture Wire, money raised for funds dealing with biotechnology, medical devices and health-care technology rose 320 percent to 4.2 billion dollars in 2001 from 1 billion dollars in 2000. Ciesinski shared, "Many life sciences companies are in the nascent stage, making them ideal Earlybird portfolio clients. Our strong operational experience and extensive network of experts means these companies augment their executive team through Earlybird to accelerate their build-out and time-to-market. This is particularly important in the post hype phase of elucidating the human genome where guidance in establishing a sound viable business is as important for biotech companies as in any technology business."

During 2001, Earlybird expanded its staff to include associate Dr. Robert Y. Kim in its Palo Alto offices. Prior to joining Earlybird, Dr. Kim was with Carl Zeiss Ophthalmic Systems, most recently as director of business development, and prior to that as a senior scientist. While at Zeiss Ophthalmic he negotiated integration of its medical imaging technology into Genentech, Novartis, Allergan and Alcon's drug development programs. Since 1994, Kim also has been an assistant professor at the University of California at San Francisco's Department of Ophthalmology. Kim, who received his medical degree from Brown University and his M.B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, has also been a senior staff fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where he investigated the evolution and regulation of gene expression and protein biochemistry.

"The addition of Dr. Kim to our life sciences staff reflects our continuing commitment to assist entrepreneurs with both business and domain expertise," stated Ciesinski.

Additionally, Dr. Marion Dörner in Earlybird's Munich office was promoted to principal. After six years of wet laboratory research Marion joined Earlybird 3 years ago from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich where she received her postdoctoral training. With her strong background in molecular biology, she supported the launch of Earlybird's German life sciences portfolio.

About Earlybird
Earlybird is an international venture capital fund with about $300 million under management and investment focus on information technology, telecommunications and healthcare. With offices in Europe (Hamburg, Munich) and the U.S. (Palo Alto), Earlybird is well positioned to take advantage of international opportunities and to assist its portfolio companies to gain access to the international market place and financial resources. Earlybird's investment professionals have extensive finance and start-up operating experience and actively support portfolio companies. In addition, a network of experienced industry specialists serves on the Earlybird advisory board and assists Earlybird and its portfolio companies in providing strategic advice and operational support. Additional information about Earlybird can be found at www.earlybird.com