Second Round of Financing Will Allow Online
Pets Category Leader to Best Serve Customers
SEATTLE, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Pets.com (http://www.pets.com), the leading
online provider of pet products, information and services, today announced it
raised $50 million from leading online retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN),
Bowman Capital, and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
Pets.com will use the second round of financing to continue to build its
infrastructure and to best serve the customer growth that the company has
experienced since its first round of funding less than 10 weeks ago.
"We are running hard and fast to make Pets.com the best possible customer
experience, from product selection to customer service," said Julie
Wainwright, CEO of Pets.com. "This significant investment allows us to
support our plans to build an enduring customer-focused company."
"Whether you're shopping for your dog, or cat, or chinchilla or just
looking for a ferret hammock, Pets.com makes it easy to do something nice for
your pet," said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.
Upon completion of its investment, Amazon.com will own approximately
54% of outstanding shares. The financing is expected to be completed later
this month and is subject to execution of definitive documents and customary
closing conditions.
In less than two and one-half months, Pets.com has taken significant
strides to provide the ultimate online shopping experience for pet owners. To
ensure the best consumer experience, Pets.com has brought the entire shopping
process in house, from order fulfillment to customer service. The company
recently opened its first distribution center in San Francisco, Calif., to
accommodate a growing selection of products and to provide the fastest
possible shipping. In addition, Pets.com has developed a full customer
service staff and added a toll-free customer service phone number. Consumers
can now call Pets.com directly at 1-888-321-PETS to place orders or gain
additional information about the Web site.
About Pets.com
Pets.com is the online category leader for pet products, information and
services. Offering the broadest product selection and expert advice from a
staff of pet-industry experts and veterinarians, Pets.com gives pet owners the
information they need to provide their pets with the best possible care.
Pets.com is a privately held company funded by Bowman Capital, leading online
retailer Amazon.com and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, a premier venture
capital firm focused exclusively on software and Internet investing.
Pets.com's management team has extensive experience in technology, e-commerce,
consumer-driven companies and the pet industry. Pets.com was founded in
October 1998 and is based in San Francisco, CA.
About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), the Internet's No. 1 music, No. 1 video
and No. 1 book retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in
July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection(TM) with free electronic
greeting cards, online auctions and more than 4.7 million book, music-CD,
video, DVD and computer-game titles. Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most
customer-centric company, where people can find and discover anything they may
want to buy online. As part of its efforts to provide the best shopping
experience for customers, Amazon.com provides secure credit-card payment,
personalized recommendations, streamlined ordering through 1-Click(SM)
technology, and hassle-free auction bidding with Bid-Click(SM).
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: http://www.amazon.co.uk in the
United Kingdom and http://www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates
PlanetAll (http://www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar and reminder
service. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com), the
Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than
150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members
dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present. Amazon.com also
operates LiveBid.com (http://www.livebid.com), the sole provider of live-event
auctions on the Internet.
In addition, Amazon.com has invested in leading Internet retailers that
are improving the lives of customers by making shopping easier and more
convenient: drugstore.com, an online retail and information source for health,
beauty, wellness, personal care and pharmacy, at http://www.drugstore.com; Pets.com,
the online leader for pet products, expert information and services, at
http://www.pets.com; HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integrated Internet
grocery-shopping and home-delivery service, with operations in Seattle and
Portland, Oregon, at http://www.homegrocer.com.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating
history, anticipated losses, unpredictability of future revenues, potential
fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, consumer trends,
competition, risks of system interruption, management of potential growth,
risks related to auction services, and risks of new business areas,
international expansion, business combinations, and strategic alliances. More
information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial
results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1998 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended
March 31, 1999.
Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Internet Movie
Database, PlanetAll, Earth's Biggest Selection, Bid-Click and 1-Click are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its
affiliates. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
About Bowman Capital
Bowman Capital Management, LLC is a premier institutional investor
specializing in both public and private technology growth companies with over
$2 billion under management. On the private equity side, Bowman Capital
focuses on expansion stage companies related to the new Internet economy.
Bowman Capital's private equity portfolio includes companies such as
Arrowpoint, Chemdex, Mpath, Netcentives, PlanetRx, RemarQ, Six Degrees,
Sycamore Networks and The Street.com. For more information on Bowman Capital
Management, visit their Web site at http://www.bowmancapital.com.
About Hummer Winblad
Hummer Winblad Venture Partners is a premiere venture capital fund
exclusively focused on software and Internet investing with over $200 million
under management. Previous investments include PowerSoft Corporation and
Arbor Software, as well as Internet companies Net Perceptions, AdForce,
HomeGrocer and Employease. For further information, please visit
http://www.humwin.com.
SOURCE Amazon.com, Inc.
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