London, June 5, 2006 – Benchmark Capital Europe, a leading early-stage technology venture capital firm, today announced that Klaus Hommels has joined the firm as its first European venture partner. Mr. Hommels will leverage his extensive experience to work with the firm on both new opportunities as well as Benchmark’s current portfolio.

Mr. Hommels is a seasoned entrepreneur and a well-respected angel investor. He has a successful investment track record in European technology and media companies including Skype, Midas Player, StarDoll and OpenBC. He was also involved in the setup of Freenet.de and spent several years on its supervisory board.

'I am delighted to be joining a leading global VC firm,' said Mr. Hommels. 'Venture capital is all about helping outstanding entrepreneurs to build fantastic companies. Every partner in the Benchmark team has a strong track record of creating successful businesses. Combined with the benefit of being a global firm with strong roots in the US, Benchmark is establishing itself as a leading VC in Europe, so joining them is a logical step for me.'

'We are absolutely thrilled to have Klaus join our team at Benchmark. He brings a wealth of experience and an extensive network to help find and build the internet business successes of the future,' said Johan Brenner, general partner at Benchmark Capital.  'He understands what it takes to create extraordinary companies.  His energy, judgment and investment experience, as well as his extensive personal network, will enhance the quality service and teamwork that we pride ourselves on as a firm.' 

'Klaus' investment style has always been hands on and provided a lot of early help to me as a founder and CEO,” said Niklas Zennstrom, founder and chief executive officer of Skype.

Klaus holds a master’s and PhD in Finance from Fribourg University (Switzerland) and began his career at Deutsche Bank. In 1995, he joined AOL where he spent several years on the Management Board, responsible for business development, content and advertising sales. He was also involved in the establishment of Freenet.de and served on its Supervisory Board for a number of years. After AOL, Klaus joined Apax Partners in Munich and Zurich.

EDITORIAL CONTACT:
Victoria Palmer-Moore (Powerscourt) 44 207 236 5680 victoria.palmermoore@powerscourtmedia.com

About Benchmark Capital
Benchmark Capital was founded in 1995 to help talented entrepreneurs build great technology companies focused on long-term growth. With separate funds in Europe, US (Silicon Valley) and Israel, Benchmark’s partners take an intensive, hands-on, team-oriented, approach to venture investing to deliver a superior level of service to the firm’s portfolio companies.  Benchmark’s investments includes successes such as Alphyra (the leading pan European electronic payments provider), Betfair (the world’s largest online betting company), eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Setanta (the international sports broadcaster), Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR), MySQL (the leading open source database business) and Bebo (the online community website).

Managing more than $3 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark focuses on investing in entrepreneurs with original ideas. Benchmark Capital Europe was established in May 2000 since when it has made over 50 investments across a variety of market sectors and geographies.  The $375m currently being invested by Benchmark in Europe follows Benchmark’s first European fund of $500m.

For more information on Benchmark, visit its website at www.benchmark.com