Cutting Edge Startups Given Opportunity to Present to Investors at Silicon Valley Bank's Showcase III May 23

Santa Clara -- May 14, 2001 -- Eighteen of Silicon Valley's cutting edge startups will have the opportunity to present four-minute pitches to a panel of leading angel and seed stage investors at Silicon Valley Bank's Showcase III. The event will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23 in Santa Clara, California.

Each company's presentation will be followed by a two-minute Q&A period from the panel. Panel participants include Deepak Moorjani of Upstart Capital, Randy Haykin of Interactive Minds, William Chang of the Westlake Group, Jim Opfer of LaunchPower, and Bobby Chao of DragonVenture. Over 200 members of the early-stage investment community are expected to attend.

"Over 130 individual investors attended Showcase II in January 2001, giving the presenting startup companies an excellent opportunity to pitch their companies to a knowledgeable audience," said Mark Horn, division manager of Silicon Valley Bank's Emerging Technologies Division. "We're expecting Showcase III to surpass January's success and give even more of our clients the unique opportunity to start a conversation with investors."

Silicon Valley Bank's first Showcase event debuted in September 2000, and is hosted by the Emerging Technologies Division three times a year. It is an event that brings together some of the area's most ambitious entrepreneurs with many of the Valley's most active seed stage investors. Select Silicon Valley Bank clients are given a night of both presentations, networking and the opportunity to gain exposure to the strong relationships the Bank has fostered in Angel investment circles.

The emcee for the event will be Blake Baldwin of Silicon Valley Bank, who has served with the Bank for 13 years, most recently as group manager of Organizational and Cultural Development. Baldwin has semi-retired from the Bank and currently is working on a part-time basis in an advisory role. Prior to the event, Kim Marinucci, principal of Winning Pitch, served as Pitch Coach and assisted each company with developing a compelling story and presenting it with confidence.

Silicon Valley Bank serves emerging growth and middle market companies in targeted niches, focusing on technology and life sciences, while also addressing other specific industries in which it can provide a higher level of service and better manage credit through specialization and focus.

The Bank operates throughout the Silicon Valley: Santa Clara, Palo Alto and Sand Hill, the center of the venture capital community in California. Other regional offices within California include: Irvine, Los Angeles, Napa Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Sonoma. Office locations outside of California include: Phoenix, Arizona; Boulder, Colorado; West Palm Beach, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Boston, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Durham, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Northern Virginia; and Seattle, Washington. More information on the Bank can be found at www.svb.com.

SVB Contact: Andrea McGhee, (408) 654-3078, amcghee@svbank.com.