>> 2000/05/22

■RealRead Inc. receives $500,000 Funding from Itochu and Others

NEW YORK-(BUSINESS WIRE)-May 22, 2000--RealRead Inc., a software application serving online book retailers, announced today that it is completing its first round of seed financing with a $500,000 investment from Itochu group and others. The final agreement is expected to be signed by Itochu by the end of this month.

Yoshi Kitamura, founder and CEO of RealRead, said: "We are fortunate to have a partner like Itochu, which is the third largest company in the world, participate in our start-up. In addition to financial support, an Itochu subsidiary, Itochu Technology, Inc. of Santa Clara, CA, will provide RealRead with 24-hour access to its Internet server, which will be a key component in assuring reliable service to our online bookstore customers." Kitamura added that "in addition to helping online book sales, we believe the RealRead technology can play an important role in the emerging e-book market."

RealRead's application is designed to increase Internet booksales by allowing customers to view the table of contents, chapter-by-chapter-text, pictures, photos, index and other specific contents of a volume before making their purchase. Kitamura added, "we believe the enhanced browsing features enabled by RealRead will have special appeal to potential buyers of expensive professional and technical books, cook books, children's books where a detailed inspection is needed. From the publishers' point of view, RealRead could greatly reduce the cost of providing review copies to schools, universities, and libraries".

RealRead is not a bookseller in its own right. Instead, the firm's software is designed to work on a separate server in coordination with sites operated by major online retailers.

The RealRead application can be seen at booth # 3594 at BookExpo June 2-4 in Chicago.

For more information contact: Sal Miwa at RealRead Inc., 50 Rockefeller Plaza, Suite 803, New York, NY 10020; (212) 245-1705; salmiwa@realread.com, or visit our website at www.realread.com