Media1st.com Secures $9 Million in First Round Financing

Media1st.com (http://www.media1st.com), announced that the company secured $9 million in its initial round of venture capital investment.

Media 1st says they've developed proprietary broadcast and e-mail technologies that permit global distribution of high-quality streaming video content. Media 1st offers a branded video portal, aggregating original broadcast channels and affiliated partner channels.

The $9 million investment was primarily provided by three firms: Richland Ventures of Nashville, TN; TriVergent Communications of Greenville, SC; and Cordova Ventures of Alpharetta, GA. As part of the transaction, Jack Tyrrell, Managing Partner of Richland Ventures, and Jerry F. Schmidt, Managing Partner of Cordova Ventures, have been appointed members of Media 1st's Board of Directors.

Thomas Doty, President of Media 1st, said, "It's very exciting to have our system for high quality video production and delivery on the Internet confirmed by this level of capital investment from three such widely-respected firms as Richland, TriVergent and Cordova. Now we can follow up our successful launch of the business with a focused and intense expansion of our global distribution of video content online through branded broadcast channels and video e-mail. The demand for media-enriched content on the Internet is explosive, and Media 1st has the positioning and the proprietary technology to grow with that demand."

Jack Tyrrell, Managing Partner, Richland Ventures, said, "Media 1st's technology provides very natural video reception at dial-up speeds that is clearly superior to any existing streaming video now in existence, and this same capability results in full-screen, VHS-quality viewing over broadband and DSL connections. The Company is implementing plans for branded, private label video channels, pay-per-view events and e-mail with an embedded video screen, which we believe has the potential for an enormous Internet market in the future. In turn, these products will generate multiple revenue streams from advertising, e-commerce, database sales and production services. We are convinced that Media 1st will be the leading source of extremely high quality video for the booming Internet audience worldwide."