The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a commitment totaling EUR 17.5 million to become a cornerstone investor in EuroQube, a pan-European venture capital fund managed by myQube and focused on seed and early stage IT and technology investments.

Through its network of offices in a number of countries including Italy, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the USA, the Fund Manager is targeting primarily investment opportunities in the European Union, and preferably active in the sectors of broadband technologies, wireless infrastructure and services, internet and telecommunication basic technologies and hardware builders, as well as developers of internet user interfaces. In some cases, the Fund is also acting as an incubator, hosting start-up companies.

The EIF investment ranks second in importance, behind that of Gruppo Pirelli, sponsor of the Fund. Other investors include Gruppo Benetton, IntesaBci, Caltagirone, Mediobanca, Merrill Lynch and Camfin.

The signature of the operation took place in Milan in presence of Mr Nino Tronchetti Provera (Member of the Board of Camfin), Mr Claudio De Conto (General Manager Administration and Control, Pirelli) and Mr Luciano Gobbi (General Manager Finance, Pirelli). After the signature, the Chief Executive of the EIF, Walter Cernoia, stressed the confidence the EIF places in the management team led by Mr Gian Luca Braggiotti and how pleased he is to support EuroQube, which will invest in European Frontier Technologies, this investment matching perfectly our strategic priorities as a European financial institution.

Gian Luca Braggiotti, Founding Partner of myQube, declared: We are very pleased to welcome such a prestigious investor in our Fund, in addition to the important investors we already have. The entry of EIF in our Fund confirms the value of myQube activities and its results in the last eighteen months.

The EIF is the European Union's specialised financial institution for Venture Capital and SME Guarantees. Based in Luxembourg, the EIF was established in 1994 as a joint venture between the European Investment Bank (which has become its majority shareholder), the European Commission and a number of European banks and financial institutions.

The EIF is now a major player in the European Venture Capital market. It has invested in some 150 funds all over the EU as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. Its Venture Capital portfolio exceeds EUR 2.0 billion. During 2001, it has invested in 57 new funds for an overall amount of EUR 800 million. Out of this amount, EUR 57 million were invested last year in 5 Italian venture capital funds, and more than EUR 150 million in Pan-European funds like EuroQube.

The investment strategy of the EIF focuses on the promotion of European technology through investments in venture capital funds located in the Union and the Association Countries.

EIF guarantee instruments facilitate access to debt finance for SMEs through the intermediation by a wide range of banks and financial institutions. The latter are allowed to allocate capital to those operations at a rate of 20% in accordance with EIF's status as a Multilateral Development Bank under the European Solvency Ratio Directive.

MyQube

MyQube, international early stage Venture Capital Company, manages the ¬100 Million EuroQube Fund promoted by Pirelli and shared by EIF, Benetton, Caltagirone, Merrill Lynch, IntesaBci, Mediobanca and Camfin.

MyQube's Advisory Committee is chaired by Marco Tronchetti Provera, Chairman of Pirelli and Telecom Italia; other members are: Gilberto Benetton, Carlo Buora, Francesco G. Caltagirone, Victor Massiah, Gianni Mion, Carlo Puri Negri, Enzo Torresi and three myQube founders. The seven Founding Partners of myQube are Piero Abbate, Gian Luca Braggiotti, Domenico Ciccopiedi, Antonio Gamdardella, Michele Raucci, Enzo Torresi and Fabio Zoffi.

MyQube finances and develops high-technology start-ups mainly focused on innovative software applications, high-tech hardware solutions, wireless, infrastructures and enabling technologies.

MyQube has offices in Brussels, Geneva, Helsinki, Milan, Munich and Palo Alto. From March 2000 fifteen companies have been financed in Europe and in the United States.

Further information about myQube is available from its website at www.myqube.com.