Stamps.com, Leading Online Postage Service Provider, Completes $30 Million Private Financing

Vulcan Ventures, Inc., Chase Capital Partners, Former Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, and GeoCities Founder and Chairman David Bohnett, Top List of Investors

SANTA MONICA, Calif., – February 18, 1999 – Stamps.com™, the innovator of Postage Server™ technology for printing postage from the Internet, today announced the completion of a $30 million private equity placement co–led by Vulcan Ventures, Inc., and Chase Capital Partners. In an associated announcement, Stamps.com named Marvin Runyon, the recently retired Postmaster General, Loren E. Smith, former Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the U.S. Postal Service, and David C. Bohnett, Founder and Chairman of GeoCities, to the Company’s Board of Directors. These moves set the stage for the Company’s planned mid–year national rollout of Stamps.com Internet Postage Service, an e–commerce system that enables users to print postage directly onto envelopes, labels and business documents using an ordinary laser or inkjet printer.

“Stamps.com’s secure server–based architecture is the first system ever to allow for the printing of postage without a specialized security or printing device,” said John M. Payne, Stamps.com president and CEO. “The tremendous demand for this financing from the investment community indicates the focus the financial markets place on this enormous emerging category and validates Stamps.com’s position as the technology leader in the category.”

Lead investors Vulcan Ventures, Inc. (the investment organization of Paul G. Allen) and Chase Capital Partners (the private equity arm of Chase Manhattan Bank) were joined by the former Postmaster General Marvin Runyon, GeoCities Founder and Chairman David C. Bohnett, previous investors Brentwood Venture Capital, Enterprise Partners and Forest, Binkley and Brown and company advisors BancBoston Roberston Stephens.

“Stamps.com is strongly positioned to be a driving force behind the launch of the Internet Postage category,” said William Savoy, president of Vulcan Ventures. “We are pleased to be a leading investor in a company which matches Paul Allen’s vision of utilizing technology to enhance the everyday needs of consumers. Stamps.com delivers by far the most cost–effective and convenient solution,” said Bob Greene of Chase Capital Partners. “The Company’s freely distributable Internet service offering is very compelling compared with alternate business models that require metering devices installed on every PC.”

More convenient and cost–effective than stamps or traditional postage meters, the Stamps.com Internet Postage service gives small business, home, and corporate users, a market that has historically gone unserved by expensive, special purpose postage meters, the ability to generate professional–looking First Class, Priority and Express Mail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

To become an active Stamps.com customer only requires three easy steps:

• Download the free Internet Postage software from the Stamps.com or partner Web sites
• Complete a simple registration process that triggers the issuance of USPS postage meter license
• Connect to Stamps.com secure Postage Servers through the Internet and print postage on any laser or inkjet printer.

Stamps.com is currently approved by the U.S. Postal Service for Beta and market testing, and expects approval from the USPS for a mid–year national rollout.

“Stamps.com has quickly emerged as the leading contender in the market for Internet delivery of U.S. postage,” said Keith Benjamin, Managing Director of BancBoston Robertson Stephens. “The combination of the Company’s technology leadership in gaining USPS approval for market testing of its Postage Server™ architecture and the war chest provided by this financing give Stamps.com the chance to emerge as the franchise player in the category.”

About the USPS Information Based Indicia Program

The Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) is a regulated, multi–vendor program operated by the U.S. Postal Service. All IBIP product offerings and distribution channels require submission and approval under the IBIP, which operates within the USPS Office of Metering Technology Management to ensure the highest levels of security and operation integrity for all IBIP systems. Computer users interested in participating in the Stamps.com Beta test in San Francisco and in areas surrounding Washington, DC should visit the Company’s Web site at http://www.stamps.com. For more information on the IBI program, please visit the USPS Web site at http://www.usps.gov/ibip.

About Stamps.com

Stamps.com is a leading provider of highly secure transaction–oriented Internet services for the consumer, small business and corporate users. Stamps.com partners include America Online, Inc. (AOL), Avery Dennison, Peachtree Software, and other leading office supply and technology companies. The company was founded in 1996 with the mission of using the power of the digital age to streamline the way consumers and businesses purchase and apply postage. Stamps.com is located at 3420 Ocean Park Blvd., Suite 1040, Santa Monica, CA 90405, and http://www.stamps.com. The company is privately held and funded through investments from Brentwood Venture Capital; Chase Capital Partners; Enterprise Partners; Forest; Binkley and Brown; and Vulcan Ventures.

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Stamps.com and Postage Server are trademarks of Stamps.com, Inc.

Press Contact
Beth Johnson
Fitzgerald Communications
650.264.1457
bjohnson@fitzgerald.com