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Investors will work with TradeCard to commercialize service in Japan
NEW YORK, NY, March 23, 2000 - TradeCard, Inc., an emerging online international trade transaction settlement network, announced today that SOFTBANK FINANCE Group, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, and MITSUI & CO. have each made strategic investments in the company. This is the first direct investment by Japanese interests in TradeCard.
"This strategic investment by SOFTBANK FINANCE Group, MITSUBISHI and MITSUI underscores the confidence these respected global trade leaders and e-commerce leaders have in TradeCard's business model," said Kurt Cavano, Chairman and CEO of TradeCard. "These companies are ideal partners for us. We welcome their backing, and look forward to further working with them and their network of businesses as TradeCard expands into the Japanese market," he concluded.
The TradeCard network enables global buyers and sellers to complete their international transactions online through TradeCard's patented data compliance and transaction settlement system. The TradeCard network thus complements the emerging business-to-business web communities. These market enablers provide communities for buyers and sellers to discover each other and negotiate transactions, and need online settlement mechanisms to close transactions. The TradeCard network provides this mechanism. In addition, TradeCard adds value to existing trade relationships where data accuracy is desired.
Yoshitaka Kitao, President & CEO of SOFTBANK FINANCE CORPORATION, said, "The current investment in TradeCard is critical to the SOFTBANK FINANCE Group's strategy of developing a comprehensive online one-stop financial services marketplace. The synergy between the services provided by the SOFTBANK FINANCE Group and TradeCard's initiatives to internationalize its innovative online trading services is forecast to be enormous, especially in the area of business-to-business sector. The SOFTBANK FINANCE Group expects that by leveraging TradeCard's service, it will be able to provide a wider customer base with an even more comprehensive selection of quality financial services," he concluded.
"While the Internet has unleashed an unparalleled boom in business to business e-commerce, traders can only go so far because they still must go offline to conduct required, yet paper-intensive and time-consuming procedures in order to complete their trades. TradeCard's transaction technology, which houses such functions online, allows the Internet to live up to its potential, and empowers businesses to trade with greater speed, accuracy, and promise of profit," said Mr. Shun Maeda, President and CEO of MC Capital Inc, a merchant banking arm in the Americas for Mitsubishi Corporation.
Tetsuo Tsuchiya, of Corporate Planning Division, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., commented that: "TradeCard clearly understands the needs of the trading community, as its transaction model shows. It allows traders to focus on profits, not paper, and lets them do so in a fast, secure environment. TradeCard brings a whole new aspect to the inefficient traditional document based international transactions, and at the same time, we believe that Mitsui could add value to TradeCard from its years of experience in the field
The SOFTBANK FINANCE Group, MITSUBISHI and MITSUI investment is another example of ties that TradeCard is forging in Asia. These ties include:
In November, 1999, TradeCard and Tradelink, the joint venture between the Hong Kong SAR and eleven private sector shareholders which serves as the local "electronic gateway" for Hong Kong's trading community, signed an agreement to enable the Hong Kong trading community to complete their transactions entirely on the Internet.
In November, 1999, TradeCard also entered into partnership with Taiwan's Information Technology Pioneer International Inc. (ITPII), enabling Taiwan's trading community to access TradeCard's secure online network.
TradeCard is working to enter into similar agreements in other Asian countries in an effort to increase trade transactions in those export-intense markets.
When a buyer and seller agree to transact, the buyer creates an electronic purchase order. This document specifies the contract terms and conditions, which the seller can approve or negotiate. Once the transaction is established in electronic form with both parties in agreement, the seller formally approves the terms of the purchasing contract.
The purchase order is stored electronically in TradeCard's secure and proprietary database. The patented TradeCard compliance engine will use the data from the purchase order to ensure that the information on all the transaction documents is valid and secure.
Using the purchase order data, the system automatically populates both an invoice and a packing list. At this point, if the buyer is in good standing, an assurance of payment is attached to the invoice ensuring that the seller will be paid upon compliance
TradeCard then electronically obtains proof of delivery from a third-party logistics provider. Once compliance is met, TradeCard electronically debits the buyer's account at their financial institution and electronically credits the seller's account. TradeCard's global payment provider provides the money movement. In addition to these core features, TradeCard users can also contract online for inspection services, cargo insurance, and other value-added trade services.
About TradeCard, Inc.
TradeCard enables online international trade transactions. Our mission is to make cross-border trade trusted, efficient, accurate and inexpensive. Through the use of patented web-based transaction-processing technology, and by aggregating the disparate services necessary for international trade, TradeCard helps put the business of trade back into the hands of buyers and sellers. TradeCard, Inc. is headquartered in New York City. TradeCard can be found on the worldwide web at http://www.tradecard.com
About SOFTBANK CORPORATION
SOFTBANK CORP. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984) has emerged as one of the world's leading Internet market forces. Through its ownership positions in over 300 Internet companies and its unique management concept, it is able to create market synergies for its family of companies on a global scale. In Japan its activities encompass distribution, publishing, Internet media platforms, a broad range of e-commerce businesses, and joint ventures with companies including Microsoft, Cisco, Yahoo!, the Nasdaq, and many other market leaders. In the U.S., SOFTBANK is the largest shareholder in leading Internet companies including Yahoo!, E*TRADE and ZDNet, and in Europe has established Internet joint ventures with News Corp. and Vivendi . For more information about SOFTBANK, please visit their website at www.softbank.co.jp
About MITSUBISHI CORPORATION and MC CAPITAL INC.
MITSUBISHI CORPORATION is one of the world's largest general trading enterprises. Based in Tokyo, the company's more than 11,000 professionals serve clients through a global network of more than 43 offices in Japan and 114 offices and subsidiaries in 74 locations overseas. MITSUBISHI CORPORATION has a wealth of experience in bringing buyers and sellers together. Additional information on MITSUBISHI CORPORATION is available at www.mitsubishi.co.jp. MC CAPITAL INC., based in New York, is a wholly-owned subsidiary and merchant banking arm of MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, engaging in private equity investments in the Americas, in the area of early and later stage ventures as well as LBO and Buyout stage companies. Representative venture capital investments by MC CAPITAL INC., include Wit Capital, e-STEEL, ChemConnect, PlasticsNet, ereorg, InterTrust, Sonus, Capstone, CBS Sportsline, etc. For more information, please contact Shun Maeda at 212-644-1842.
About MITSUI & CO., LTD.
Since its inception, MITSUI & CO., LTD. has grown to become one of Japan's largest and most diversified Sogo Shosha (the international trading companies), with total trade transactions of US$ 118.5 billion in fiscal 1999. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, it has a global network of 218 MITSUI offices in 93 countries, with 11,000 employees worldwide. The company has two principal roles: to facilitate its clients' international trade-related activities and-making use of its substantial information, human, financial, and other resources- to create new trade flows, new enterprises, and new industries around the world. Additional information on MITSUI & CO., LTD. is available at www.mitsui.co.jp.
About MITSUI & CO. (U.S.A.), INC.
MITSUI & CO. (U.S.A.), INC., New York, is the largest wholly owned subsidiary of MITSUI & CO., LTD. and a leading world trading house operating in the U.S. With 14 offices and nearly 100 consolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures across the country, the company is attuned to cultivate strategic business and project development, now and tomorrow. For more information visit the company's website at www.mitsui.com.
About MITSUI USA'S PRIVATE EQUITY GROUP
MITSUI USA'S PRIVATE EQUITY GROUP, a venture capital arm of MITSUI USA, draws upon MITSUI's long and distinguished investment history and is part of MITSUI 's global private equity investment activities. The Group, located in New York, invests in U.S.-based, early stage companies within the information technology and healthcare industries. Representative IT investments include e-STEEL, ChemConnect, PlasticsNet, ECredit.com, Promatory Communications and Mayan Networks. For more information visit the Group's website at www.mitsuipe.com.
About MVC CORPORATION
MVC CORPORATION, an affiliate of MITSUI & CO., LTD., is one of the most prominent private equity companies based in Tokyo. MVC's focuses on the fields of information technology, healthcare, retail, and its portfolio includes promising companies in the United States, Canada, Europe, Singapore, and Japan. For more information visit the company's website at www.mvc.co.jp
