Combining Venture Capital With Strategic Marketing Helped Position Retail Convergence's Ruelala.com As The Online Private Sale Leader

BOSTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The sale of Retail Convergence, operator of online private sale leader Ruelala.com and e-commerce site Smartbargains.com, to GSI Commerce (Nasdaq: GSIC) in a deal valued at $350 million highlights the success of Breakaway Ventures' unique strategy to invest venture capital and strategic marketing expertise into innovative consumer oriented start-ups. As a lead investor in Retail Convergence, Breakaway participated in its $25 million Series A round of financing in December 2007 -- and was intimately involved in the creation and launch of Ruelala.com and made a significant impact on the company's brand and customer acquisition efforts.

"Breakaway Ventures has been a tremendous partner in developing the strategy for creating Retail Convergence and launching Ruelala.com," said Ben Fischman, CEO of Retail Convergence. "The value of Breakaway's active involvement far transcended its financial investment in the company."

According to Dennis Baldwin, Breakaway's Managing Partner, "We invest in companies, like Retail Convergence, that bring something unique and powerful to the consumer marketplace. Then we leverage the considerable talents of our team and apply our branding and marketing expertise to add significant value to these companies. In today's retail environment, where it is critical to break through the clutter and connect powerfully with consumers, that strategy has really paid off. The team at Retail Convergence has executed extraordinarily well in growing Ruelala.com into a powerhouse in the online private sale space. We believe the synergies with GSI Commerce are enormous and the company's growth will continue to accelerate as a result of this acquisition."

Other Breakaway Investments

Some of the other innovative consumer brands on Breakaway's roster include MISSION Skincare, IdeaPaint and MooBella.

MISSION Skincare was co-founded by a cadre of professional athletes who take a very active role in the development, testing and marketing of these high performance skincare products -- including Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year Serena Williams, PGA Professional Sergio Garcia and NBA Star Steve Nash. MISSION Skincare products are designed to help everyday consumers live active, healthy lifestyles with products that protect, nourish and repair their skin and body. The company also gives back a portion of its profits to the charities of its athlete endorsers. Mission can be found online at http://www.missionskincare.com; on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/missionskincare; and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/missionskincare.

IdeaPaint is an innovative company whose patent pending, single-coat, dry erase paint can transform any smooth surface into a high-performance whiteboard. IdeaPaint is rapidly becoming the dry-erase solution of choice for architects, interior designers and painting contractors looking to create creative and collaborative workspaces in offices, schools and homes. IdeaPaint was recently featured in BusinessWeek as one of "America's Most Promising Startups" and its three founders were named to Inc. Magazine's 30 Under 30 list of "America's Coolest Young Entrepreneurs." IdeaPaint can be found online at http://www.ideapaint.com; on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ideapaint; and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ideapaint.

MooBella marries a revolutionary, disruptive technology with the world's most popular dessert, to enable consumers to "make their own" fresh, hard-scoop ice cream in just 40 seconds from a vending-style machine. MooBella, Inc. received the INNY Award from the San Jose, California-based Tech Museum of Innovation, was honored by the Food Network as a recipient of the first annual Food Network Award and was named one of Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2006. The company recently received $18 million in a Series A financing led by Inventages Venture Capital and expects to launch 100 machines in the New England area by January 2010. MooBella can be found online at http://www.moobella.com.

"Our consumer-based approach to investing in and partnering closely with our entrepreneurs on strategy, branding, product and marketing is clearly generating results for our portfolio companies," continued Baldwin. "And in today's challenging venture investment environment where 10x returns have become the exception rather than the rule, our strategy is working for our investors as well."

About Breakaway Ventures

Breakaway Ventures was founded in late 2006 by Managing Partner, Dennis Baldwin, former Chief Marketing Officer of Reebok International. Breakaway Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in and partners closely with innovative, high growth consumer oriented businesses. Breakaway's team and network has extensive operating experience in the consumer sector in disciplines such as strategic planning, product innovation, brand marketing, sales and distribution and strategic alliances. Breakaway partners with companies that have the potential to disrupt existing consumer categories and create new markets through innovative new business models, brands, products and technologies. Follow Breakaway Ventures online at http://breakawayventures.com; on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/breakawayvc ; and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/breakawayvc.

SOURCE Breakaway Ventures

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