Ventures West Portfolio Company Marqui Announces US $7.5 Million in B-Round Financing

Sizeable Investments from Venture Capitalists Herald Bright Future for Marqui and its Software-as-a-Service for Simplifying and Automating Marketing Activities

Vancouver, BC - February 13, 2006 - Marqui, Inc., the company revolutionizing how organizations handle marketing communications, today announced it has secured US $7.5 Million in B-round funding. The investment round was led by top Canadian venture capital firm and existing investor Ventures West, and includes the Working Opportunity Fund, which is managed by GrowthWorks Capital. The funds will be used to expedite the company's product development schedules, strategic partner initiatives and expansion into markets outside of North America. Dr. Paul Kedrosky, a venture fellow with Ventures West, and Jim Charlton, Senior Vice President of Investment at GrowthWorks, will take seats on Marqui's Board of Directors.

"Almost every organization in the world engages in some form of marketing communications activity, yet to date there has been a surprising lack of viable solutions aimed at this audience. Not only is Marqui filling a significant void in the market, we are doing it in a manner that makes complete sense - namely, our software delivers the functionality marketers need, at a price they can afford," said Stephen J. King, President and CEO at Marqui. "Considering the amount of interest we've had from investors during recent months, it's clear the investment community strongly agrees with our value proposition."

Capitalizing on the power of the software-as-a-service approach, Marqui has developed the first solution that simplifies and automates a broad range of marketing activities, including blogging, e-mail campaigns, Web content management, program measurement and more. By combining all of these capabilities into one Web-based suite, Marqui empowers customers to streamline marketing initiatives and take advantage of new trends such as blogging and RSS, without the issues and costs of multiple product purchases, integrations and training.

"The marketing industry is in a transitional stage, with companies doing a 'zero-based' evaluation of how they interact with their current and prospective customers," commented Dr. Paul Kedrosky. "New technologies such as blogging and RSS are creating different and more democratic channels, and they must be managed and tracked effectively. Marqui's Web-based suite is particularly well suited to help marketers deal with this evolving and increasingly complex marketing and communications landscape, so I'm delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to the company's ongoing success."

Dr. Kedrosky is a venture fellow with Ventures West, as well as the Executive Director of the William J. von Liebig Center in San Diego, California, a seed-financing group for early-stage technologies. He is a thought leader in syndication technologies and "Marketing 2.0," having been quoted in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and having written on the subject for Harvard Business Review and The Economist. He also maintains a widely-read blog at http://paul.kedrosky.com.

Jim Charlton has more than 19 years of venture capital experience. He sits on the Boards of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, the Vancouver Enterprise Forum, and the Monte Jade Science and Technology Association.

With the close of this B-Round, Marqui has now raised a total of US $11 Million in venture capital funding.

About Marqui
In a world filled with e-mails, blogs, RSS and more, it is increasingly difficult for organizations to communicate effectively with key audiences while ensuring consistency in messaging and protecting brand integrity. Recognizing this complexity, Marqui developed the first Web-based suite that simplifies and automates a broad range of marketing communications activities, including e-mail campaigns, Web content management and blogging. The result: better marketing communications programs, lower costs, a more productive team and decreased risk of inaccurate or embarrassing information getting distributed. Marqui maintains offices in the United States and Canada, and has an established customer base of more than 200 organizations.

For more information, visit www.marqui.com.