Naseeb Networks secures Series B growth capital from ePlanet Ventures and DFJ to accelerate leadership

Funding demonstrates strong investor confidence in Naseeb’s vision, technology and market traction

Lahore, Pakistan. Monday, January 21, 2008: Naseeb Networks, a leading provider of online recruitment, social networking, classifieds and related services in Pakistan, today announced that it has secured Series B financing from two pre-eminent Silicon Valley venture capital firms, ePlanet Ventures (ePlanet) and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ). Naseeb will use the funding to accelerate its growth and leadership position in target markets by investing in sales force and marketing expansion and enhancing its product portfolio. “We have seen strong growth in user metrics and financial receipts across our portfolio of online services,” said Monis Rahman, Founder and CEO of Naseeb Networks. “This funding round provides growth capital and domain expertise from two clear leaders in global venture capital, which will enable us to further dominate our target markets and seize emerging market opportunities.” The round was led by ePlanet with DFJ participating, pursuant to which Ayaz ul Haque, Managing Director at ePlanet and Mohanjit Jolly, Director at DFJ have joined Naseeb’s board of directors.

"We're excited about the progress and momentum that Monis and his team have achieved in the market,” said Haque. “Naseeb Networks, through its portfolio of Internet properties and revenue generating brands including Naseeb.com, ROZEE.PK and RingPakistan.com, is a leader in a market that is poised for considerable growth. Our investment in Naseeb will help the Company build upon its commanding position.” He added that, “The Company’s business model is consistent with ePlanet’s global replication emphasis and represents a unique investment to capture the inflection point in Internet growth in Pakistan.” Commenting on DFJ’s participation, Jolly said, “Naseeb Networks has done a phenomenal job of bootstrapping its way to a leadership position. DFJ is proud to be associated with the Naseeb team. This infusion will not only cement the leadership position for Naseeb in social media but also help further catalyze the market in Pakistan and across the global Muslim diaspora.” He added that, “By providing the best platform for interaction, collaboration and transaction, Naseeb Networks has the potential of being a truly significant player with a global footprint, both factors being hallmarks of DFJ investments.” Naseeb Networks operates a portfolio of websites including ROZEE.PK and Naseeb.com. ROZEE.PK is Pakistan’s largest and fastest growing job portal. The site has delivered over 1.4 Million applications to jobs posted by 8,800 employers. ROZEE.PK is used by some of Pakistan’s most sought after employers to recruit human capital, including Mobilink, Nestle, Oracle, McDonalds, United Bank Limited, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKlein, Engro Foods, Mentor Graphics, Teradata, Proctor & Gamble and others. ROZEE.PK offers employers recruiting solutions including placement of online job ads, access to powerful CV search engine technology, online recruitment workflow management tools and white-labeled corporate job portals. The company’s flagship Internet property, Naseeb.com, offers matchmaking and social networking services for the Pakistani and Arab diaspora communities. With over 1.3 Billion Muslims worldwide, Naseeb.com has achieved a leadership position in a huge market. The site’s features include blogging, instant messaging, photo and music sharing, and an innovative algorithm that matches members based on common cultural norms.

Commenting on the market opportunity, Rahman said, “Pakistan’s current Internet penetration is around 7.5% compared to India’s 4.5%. With over USD $500 Million recently invested here in broadband and WiMAX infrastructure, we are projecting Internet penetration to increase to around 16% over the next three years. We will leverage our leadership position to generate cross traffic for other key online services for the benefit of Pakistan’s vibrant Internet community.” Naseeb Networks, which has been cash flow positive since 2004, has 42 employees across its offices in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and San Jose and a management team transplanted from Silicon Valley.

ABOUT EPLANET VENTURES

ePlanet Ventures is a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in Silicon Valley, with international offices in London, New Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore, Shanghai, and Beijing, as well as a presence in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. ePlanet Ventures has funded over 80 innovative high-growth companies world-wide, including landmark deals Baidu (NASDAQ listing in August 2005, circa. US$12B market cap), Skype (sold to eBay for approx.US$2.5B in 2005), and Focus Media (NASDAQ listing 2005, circa. US$6B market cap). ePlanet is one of the leaders in promoting the cross-border migration of technological innovation, business models and entrepreneurship. The Firm has made investments in sectors such as the Internet (consumer Internet, Internet services and applications), wireless communications and applications, VoIP and other broadband services, entertainment, semiconductor design, life sciences and other emerging services sectors. ePlanet also seeks to make investments in traditional, established industries where business-model improvements have the power to create category-dominant companies in the world's fastest growing markets. The firm has won the China Venture Capital Association Exit of the Year 2005 for Baidu, and the European Venture Capital Association Deal of the Year 2005 Award for Skype, and has been profiled in FORBES Feb 2007 as a ‘Pioneer in Global Venture Capital”.

ABOUT DFJ

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the preeminent venture capital firm with global presence through a network of partner funds, with offices in more than 33 cities around the world and over $5.5 billion in capital commitments. DFJ's mission is to identify, serve, and provide capital for extraordinary entrepreneurs anywhere who are determined to change the world. Over the past twenty years, DFJ has been proud to back more than 300 companies across many sectors including such industry-changing catalysts as Hotmail (acquired by MSFT), Baidu (BIDU), Skype (acquired by EBAY), United Online (UNTD), Overture (acquired by YHOO), Athenahealth (ATHN), EnerNOC (ENOC), Interwoven (IWOV), Four11 (acquired by YHOO), Parametric (PMTC), and Digidesign (acquired by AVID).

ABOUT NASEEB NETWORKS

Naseeb Networks provides leading community, communications and e-commerce services to underserved Internet markets. The company currently enjoys a leadership position in its target markets including online recruitment (www.rozee.pk), social networking (www.naseeb.com) and classifieds related services for Pakistan and its associated diaspora community.

The company commenced operations in 2003 with a seed round from angel investors including founders and executives from Paypal, LinkedIn, Excite and Cisco. Naseeb Networks has been profitable since 2004 and currently has 42 employees at offices in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and San Jose.

Naseeb Networks was founded by Internet entrepreneur Monis Rahman in 2003, when he returned to Pakistan to start the company after a 10 year stint Silicon Valley. Rahman began his career at Intel Corporation where was awarded several patents for his innovative work on the Itanium microprocessor. He went on to co-found eDaycare which was acquired by ParentWatch in 2000. Rahman has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and did graduate coursework at Stanford University.