Strategic Investment Fuels Advancement in Local Search and Advertising

SAN MATEO, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/30/08 -- Zvents, the local search engine and paid listings ad network, today announced that it has secured $24 million in funding. New strategic investors include Nokia Growth Partners, the growth capital arm of Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world's leading mobile phone supplier; NAVTEQ, the world leader in premium-quality digital map data; and AT&T (NYSE: T), the largest U.S. wireless company which, through its YELLOWPAGES.COM subsidiary, is also the leading U.S. internet yellow pages search directory. The company's existing investors, Vantage Point Venture Partners and Red Rock Ventures, also participated in the financing.

Zvents will use the proceeds to expand the reach of its local listings advertising network, which enables both local businesses and national chains to promote their locations with search-targeted events such as sales and weekly specials. Zvents will also further invest in expanding the deployment of its successful local search platform, which currently powers a network of more than 250 media partners.

"We are delighted to have led this round of funding for Zvents, enabling them to bring their world-class local search service to the converged worlds of internet and mobility," said John Gardner, managing partner of Nokia Growth Partners. "We believe that the combination of next-generation mobile devices and powerful server-side search services will be a powerful channel to deliver local information to consumers. Zvents has found an innovative way to connect local search to the marketing needs of local merchants, offering a compelling means of driving exciting, context-based mobile experiences."

Since its founding in 2005, Zvents has built a broad network of more than 250 media, advertising, and mobile partners including: Viacom's (NYSE: VIA.B) mtvU, Microsoft's (NYSE: MSFT) MSN CityGuides, AT&T's YELLOWPAGES.COM, and hundreds of local media and newspaper sites owned by major local media firms including MediaNews Group, Freedom Communications, The McClatchy Company, and The New York Times Company. Zvents is continually growing its network of distribution partners both within the United States and internationally.

Zvents powers a unified international search index for the partner network, on which local consumers everywhere can perform "what, when, and where" searches for millions of events, businesses, performers, and other activities in their areas.