Mint Announces $4.7 Million in Series A Funding and Adds Key Executives to Senior Management Team

Mint.com Signs 50,000 Users in First Month

    SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Mint (http://www.mint.com), the
 fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage their money online,
 today announced that the company closed $4.7 million in Series A financing
 in a round led by Shasta Ventures, and including First Round Capital and a
 group of prominent individuals, including Ram Shriram, early investor and
 founding board member of Google, Inc. Since announcing its public beta on
 September 18, 2007, Mint has:
     --  Signed 50,000 users,
     --  Organized over $1 billion in user transactions,
     --  Identified nearly $40 million in savings opportunities.
     Mint also announced that it has added two senior executives to the
 company's management team. Donna Wells joined as chief marketing officer.
 Ms. Wells was previously vice president of corporate marketing and acting
 CMO at Intuit and senior vice president of marketing at Expedia. Ms. Wells
 has also held senior marketing positions at Charles Schwab & Co. and
 American Express during a twenty year career in personal financial services
 and ecommerce. Aaron Forth was named vice president of product. He was
 previously director of advertising, product and infrastructure at eBay. Mr.
 Forth brings ten years' of success in software product development and
 implementation to the Mint leadership team.
     Ms. Wells and Mr. Forth join Anton Commissaris, vice president of
 business development and David K. Michaels, vice president of engineering,
 who joined the company earlier this year. Mr. Commissaris has over fifteen
 years' experience in the software and Internet sectors and as an attorney
 at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Mr. Michaels has over ten years'
 experience building secure, distributed, fault-tolerant systems, most
 recently leading the development of server products for PGP.
     "Mint.com's mission is to provide people with an effective way to
 manage their money that's so easy, they'll actually use it. And it's free,"
 said Aaron Patzer, founder and chief executive officer, Mint. "Our strong
 consumer acceptance, TechCrunch and Finovate awards and the caliber of
 investors and management team the company has been able to attract are
 encouraging signals that the market is ready for the Mint alternative."
     Market Opportunity
     The market potential for Mint is strong. Over 65 million people in the
 U.S. use online banking to keep track of their finances today. But since
 the average American has more than four bank relationships, it's virtually
 impossible for them to get to a complete view of account balances and
 spending. Others purchase and try desktop software packages, but struggle
 with the lengthy setup process and hours of tedious data entry that they
 require. Mint's refreshing value proposition provides a clear,
 comprehensive and always-current picture of all of a user's spending,
 effortlessly. And it offers intelligent, personalized suggestions to save
 and earn more money, as well.
     "Mint provides an easier and more valuable solution to a problem
 millions of Americans struggle with today, and we're very pleased with its
 reception in the market," said Tod Francis, Managing Director of Shasta
 Ventures. "Between the market need, the strength of Mint's technology and
 the caliber of the management team, we think the company has great
 potential."
     Investors
     Shasta Ventures led Mint's Series A funding round, which closed in
 April, 2007. Its accomplished partners, drawn from NEA, Battery Ventures
 and Trinity Ventures have been early investors in numerous successful
 online consumer services businesses, including: Blue Nile, Baby Center and
 NextCard. First Round Capital, a prominent investor in early stage
 companies, also participated in the Series A financing, increasing their
 ownership percentage from their initial seed round investment in 2006. Ram
 Shriram was named #4 Top Tech Dealmaker by Forbes in 2007.
     Mint.com
     Mint.com is designed to make managing personal finances virtually
 effortless for the user -- and it's free. It takes less than five minutes
 to get started; users register anonymously using only a valid email
 address, and then securely connect to their online bank, credit union and
 credit card accounts. Mint does the rest; users never need to import or
 synch any data. Mint securely downloads transaction data from more than
 3,500 banks, credit unions and credit card providers on a daily basis. It
 applies patent-pending technology and proprietary algorithms to compile and
 categorize transactions, providing users with a unified view of all account
 activity with high degree of accuracy and detail in a single,
 easy-to-understand interface.
     An advanced alerting system proactively lets users know about unusual
 activity, low balances, bank fees and charges, and upcoming bills. Beyond
 showing users where their money goes, Mint also provides specific,
 individualized suggestions that can save them real money -- the average
 beta user was shown $1,000 in potential savings during their first session.
     Safety and Security
     Mint provides the same level of online data security as top US banks
 through a partnership with Yodlee, the leading provider of online banking
 services to major financial institutions for nearly ten years. Mint's
 privacy and security policies and systems have been certified by TRUSTe and
 VeriSign. Mint never asks for a personal identity, requiring only a valid
 email address.
     About Mint (http://www.mint.com)
     Mint.com is the fresh, easy and intelligent way for people to manage
 their money online. And it's free. Designed to be virtually effortless for
 the user, Mint.com takes less than five minutes to get started. Users
 register anonymously using only a valid email address and Mint does the
 rest, securely downloading transaction data from more than 3,500 banks,
 credit unions and credit card providers on a daily basis. Users never need
 to import or synch data. Mint applies patent-pending technology and
 proprietary algorithms to compile and categorize transactions, providing a
 unified view of all account activity; alerting users to unusual activity,
 low balances, bank fees and charges and upcoming bills; and giving users
 personalized suggestions for significant savings opportunities.
     Mint's management team includes experienced executives drawn from the
 ranks of Charles Schwab & Co., eBay, Expedia, Intuit, PGP and other leaders
 in the finance, security and software spaces. Investors include top venture
 capital firms and prominent individuals associated with companies including
 Blue Nile, Google, Intuit, PassMark Security, PayPal, Yahoo! and others.
     For more information, please visit http://www.mint.com.
     About Shasta Ventures (http://www.shastaventures.com)
     Shasta Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping build
 technology enabled companies that offer unique products and services to
 their customers. Shasta Ventures is located in Menlo Park, CA and manages
 over $200 million. Tod Francis, Managing Director, serves on Mint's Board
 of Directors. Mr. Francis has over 20 years' experience with consumer
 companies and has invested previously in many successful consumer internet
 businesses, including: Blue Nile, BabyCenter, WeddingChannel, LoopNet and
 LogoWorks.
     About First Round Capital (http://firstroundcapital.com)
     First Round Capital is a prominent investor in early stage companies,
 including: Aggregate Knowledge, Jingle Networks (1-800-FREE411), Krugle,
 Riya, StumbleUpon, and VideoEgg. First Round Capital has offices in
 Philadelphia and San Francisco. Rob Hayes, Partner, serves on Mint's Board
 of Directors and Josh Kopelman, Managing Partner, serves as Board Advisor.
     About Yodlee (http://www.yodlee.com)
     Yodlee's proven consumer banking, payments solutions, wealth management
 and risk management applications unify personal financial account
 information to deliver a simple, centralized and secure way for consumers
 to manage all of their financial tasks -- any time, anywhere. More than 100
 financial institutions and portals, including AOL, Bank of America,
 Fidelity, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and MSN, offer Yodlee- powered
 solutions to millions of customers worldwide. Yodlee operates in the United
 States and Europe and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
 
 

SOURCE Mint