NEWS RELEASE

 

Jeff Allen

Chief Executive Officer     

650-766-6552

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Susanne Estrada

VP Marketing                  

650-863-0902

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Rallypoint Raises $1.3 Million in Series A Financing

 

Latest Round to Expand Product Development, Partnership Opportunities, and bolster Marketing Efforts

 

San Francisco, Calif. –– January 7, 2009 –– Rallypoint Systems, Inc., the leading provider of software and services for Internet-enabled HDTV’s, today announced it has secured a first closing of $1.3 million in Series A financing to further product development, launch consumer marketing efforts for its services on two new HDTV platforms, and further define its partnerships with other yet-to-be announced TV and HDTV chipset OEMs.

 

“This commitment from dedicated investors in the current economic environment speaks volumes about the continued belief in consumer entertainment services, and the rapid growth of the Internet-enabled HDTV market,” said Jeff Allen, CEO of Rallypoint.

 

Rallypoint also announced today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it secured distribution partnerships with TV makers Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Sharp Electronics Corporation. In both cases, Rallypoint is the premier content provider for fantasy sports for HDTVs, and will provide a broad range of sports and social networking capabilities to new and existing Internet-enabled HDTV product lines.

 

Consumers will be able to “get Rallypoint” beginning with the 2009 fantasy baseball season. Rallypoint plans to add broader social networking and messaging features throughout 2009.

 

These relationships support the growth of Internet enabled TV’s. According to The Diffusion Group, television makers are expected to ship over 100M Internet-enabled televisions in the next four years, a platform that is expected to far outpace the rollout of other types of interactive television platforms, such as those deployed on set-top boxes. 

 

According to a May 2008 report by the Nielsen Company, Americans are watching more TV than ever before (over 127 hours per month) compared with a small but growing number of online video watchers (just over 2 hours per month).  “This trend highlights the continued importance and scale of the opportunity to deliver Internet services to the new generation of Internet-enabled TV’s,” said Jeff Allen.

 

Sports applications continue to be the biggest driver for big screen television purchases. "Sports fans purchase over 50% of new televisions so they can get a better sports viewing experience, said Jeff Allen. “We expect fantasy sports applications to significantly drive demand for Internet-enabled TV's in 2009."

 

"Ninety percent of fantasy players use the Internet to look up fantasy sports stats while watching sports on TV," said David Adams, Rallypoint VP Business Development. "Dubbed the Ultimate Sports Fan experience, Rallypoint is the killer app that will allow over 20 million active fantasy sports users to view real-time score updates, review player stats, and make player substitutions from their television simply and easily."

 

About Rallypoint:

 

Rallypoint provides software and consumer services for Internet-enabled HDTVs and set-top boxes. Rallypoint licenses Internet content and develops social networking, voting, communication, shopping and sports applications, and is the exclusive provider of these services on a number of industry-sponsored platforms. Rallypoint also offers its own patent-pending “TV widget engine” system that will be shipped with leading HDTV chipset vendors starting in late 2009.  Rallypoint is a member of the LCD-TV Association.  Please visit www.rallypoint.tv for more information.