Press Release

Editorial Contacts:

Rebecca Wan
Webvisions Pte Ltd
(65) 773-9388
rwan@webvisions.com

Phyllis Heng
Asia-Pacific Connections Pte Ltd
(65) 334-9045
phyllis@apconnections.com

Catcha.com - the inside story

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Singapore, Catcha.com is South East Asia's largest Internet search engine and web portal. The company was started by four enterprising and talented technopreneurs from Australia, Malaysia and Japan. After a series of acquisitions and mergers, the Catcha.com Group now has 50 employees, the majority of which are located in Singapore and Malaysia. Under the Catcha.com umbrella, there are three primary web sites, each functioning independently and representing the largest localised search engine/portal in its respective country: catcha.com.sg (Singapore), catcha.com.my (Malaysia) and catcha.co.id (Indonesia). In addition, the group has music and entertainment web sites including 1mp3.com and ibeau.com, a cyber mall called shopshop.net, and a search engine, searchandsubmit.com. In 2000, Catcha.com plans to acquire the leading portals in the Philippines and Thailand to round out its regional coverage.

With the largest number of web site databases in the region, Catcha.com's web sites offer visitors localised content such as up-to-the-minute stock market information, an events calendar, local weather, travel information, as well as business and entertainment news. Featuring a comprehensive range of commodity products and a wide variety of commerce sites, Catcha.com provides Internet users free online navigation and directory services, and links to over 15,000 South East Asian web sites.

On the financial side, Catcha.com has the support of investors and venture capitalists including Imperial Technologies (Australia), Axiom Funds Management and Associates (Hong Kong), and private investors from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. The company plans to dual list in 2000, first in Asia and later on NASDAQ in the United States.

Building the foundation for success

Set to become South East Asia's leading Internet brand, and one of the top ten web sites in the region, Catcha.com saw the need to work with a dedicated web hosting provider. In August 1999, Webvisions was selected to provide co-location services for Catcha.com across the region. With its unmatched mission-critical support, high-bandwidth infrastructure and the ability to respond quickly in customising server specifications, Webvisions is uniquely able to meet Catcha.com's growing server requirements.

"In our search for a web hosting provider, Webvisions did not have much competition since the other providers were not as established, and Webvisions' infrastructure was the most reliable," said Patrick Grove, CEO of Catcha.com. "In addition to high-bandwidth hosting, Webvisions has a reputation for customising Internet solutions quickly, and this was a key factor in our decision making."

"Catcha.com needed a dependable and scalable solution, and they were working on Internet time," said Webvisions' CEO, Roger Lim. "Because our focus and expertise is purely in Internet infrastructure, we were able to provide the solutions that they were looking for to help them transition from a shared-hosting solution to a full-scale portal cluster."

Apart from the mission-critical support provided by Webvisions, the two companies have found they share a common culture. Both are young Internet start-ups, prepared to work around the clock to meet customers' changing requirements. The synergy between the two businesses is fostering mutual growth in a non-competitive environment. Catcha.com and Webvisions are now both the dominant players in their respective areas of expertise.

"We are looking forward to building our business with Webvisions to become the region's leading advertising medium. We need partnerships with other hot-growth Internet companies to fulfill our vision. As Singapore's leading web hosting company, Webvisions is well-positioned to have a long-term stake in our success." added Grove.

About Webvisions Pte Ltd

Webvisions Pte Ltd, founded in 1996, is Singapore's leading web hosting provider. Webvisions hosts over 3,000 businesses internationally and provides a comprehensive range of dedicated web hosting services, such as E-commerce, server co-location, application and database hosting, to its regional and international clientele. For more information on Webvisions, visit the company's Web site at http://www.webvisions.com.