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WHISHER Receives Funding from Benchmark Capital Europe and Swisscom

WHISHER, a Spanish company launching the first social network powered by a Wi-Fi network, today announced it has received investment for an undisclosed amount, from Benchmark Capital Europe, the leading international Venture Capital firm and Swisscom. The new service enables people to quickly tap into the best wireless resources in their proximity, while offering all connected “WHISHERS” free perks within the application, such as Instant Messaging, file sharing, direct access to local services and the ability to set up their own micro community networks. The software can be installed in minutes and works with all kinds of Wi-Fi hardware. Investment capital will be used to develop additional features and to fuel global distribution of the service.

The globally launching beta service will unveiled at the DEMO conference, and will be live on January 30th at www.whisher.com, for Windows, Mac and Linux users.

“WHISHER has a huge advantage in being an Internet business – their Skype-like model gives them tremendous agility over other solutions,” states Klaus Hommels, Venture Partner at Benchmark Capital Europe. “We believe their nimble approach will lower the barrier to entry for people who can benefit from quick wireless access, with the added incentive of building new wireless communities using IM and file sharing.”

“We’re excited to be working with Ferran Moreno, having worked with him and invested in his previous startup, a successful Wireless Internet Service Provider. The team’s experience and their pioneering spirit towards building a hybrid model uniting the social aspects of the Internet with wireless technology are extremely compelling,” states Dominique Mégret, head of business development for Swisscom.

“With Benchmark’s company building expertise and successful investments in viral Internet services, plus Swisscom’s deep knowledge of wireless ISPs, we have a real dream team to help us reach our goal of creating a globally shared, free Wi-Fi solution that ties in the power of community,” said Ferran Moreno, CEO and co-founder of WHISHER.

The investment from Benchmark Capital is being lead by Klaus Hommels, who sees a potential for WHISHER’s user base to grow quickly and virally, much like Skype did. Klaus is a seasoned entrepreneur and well respected business angel. Prior to joining Benchmark, Klaus spent several years as a private investor. He has a successful investment track record in European technology and media companies including Skype, Midas Player (king.com), StarDoll and OpenBC. Klaus was recently elected Europe's "Entrepreneurial Private Investor 2006" by the three leading European education and research institutions IESE, INSEAD and the University of St.Gallen.

About WHISHER:

Based on the belief that Wi-Fi should be easy-to-access and social, WHISHER is taking a community approach to Wi-Fi by offering the world’s first wireless social network. WHISHER allows people to access the best connections, share their Wi-Fi and roam the world freely, chat, talk and share files at high speed. The company is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. More information is available at www.WHISHER.com.

About Benchmark Capital:

Benchmark Capital is a leading international venture capital firm, committed to helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies which are ultimately focused on long-term growth. Managing US$4 billion in committed venture capital, Benchmark’s partners take an active, team-oriented, approach to venture investing.

The firm was founded in the US (Silicon Valley) in 1995, the European office opened in London in 2000 and the Israeli office in 2001. Benchmark Capital Europe has three funds of approx $1.5 billion and has made over 60 investments across a variety of geographies and technology sectors. The European investments include companies such as Betfair (the world’s largest online betting exchange), Setanta (the leading pay-TV sports broadcaster), Bebo (the social networking site), and MySQL (the open-source database business). Other Benchmark investments include eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) and Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT). Visit the website at www.benchmark.com

About Swisscom:

With revenue of around $7.2 billion, the Swisscom Group is Switzerland's leading telecoms company. Swisscom is present nationwide and delivers the full range of services and products for mobile, fixed and IP-based voice and data communications. Visit the website at www.swisscom.com.