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 Megret, 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.