New Auto Site Gains Funding, Names Two Board Directors

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SAN FRANCISCO — DriverSide, an online marketplace and autosite launched in June, announced its first round of funding and twoappointments to its board of directors.

According to officials, the funding is led by Catamount Ventures,whose portfolio includes Cafe Press, Second Life (Linden Labs),Flock, Grid Net, Seventh Generation and Verdiem.

Meanwhile, the new board members are auto industry veteran JeffBell and Catamount managing director Mark Silverman.

Bell, who joined Microsoft in 2006, spent 17 years in the autoindustry, including time at Chrysler and Ford Motor Co.

DriverSide was founded last fall by Trevor Traina (the currentchairman of the board), Adam Jackson and Jad Dunning, currently thecompany's chief executive officer.

It is a site designed to help vehicle owners save money on serviceand maintenance costs in addition to acting as online marketplace.DriverSide's in-house editorial staff provides pointers aboutowning and operating a vehicle, as well as reviews on new and usedvehicles.

The site also features social networking, where visitors can accessinteractive forums as well as post and read reviews on variousmechanics and dealers.

Moving on to further discuss the board appointments, officialsindicated that Bell directed the launch of Dodge's "Grab Lifeby the Horns" and Hemi campaigns, as well as the introductionof the Chrysler 300 and Jeep four-door Wrangler during his time atChrysler.

Under his guidance, Jeep.com was named the No. 1 Web site by J.D.Power and Associates. Additionally, his team was honored with the2005 Interactive Marketer of the Year by Advertising Age for workin video games and "Webisodes."

"DriverSide fulfills a key need in the automotive industry byproviding objective information to consumers about products andservices," Bell stated. "This Web 2.0 initiativesignificantly benefits new- and used-car dealers, OEMs and allindependent automotive product and service companies by creatingbetter informed and more confident consumers."

Silverman, meanwhile, joined Catamount in 2006 and has 15 years ofexperience in advising, founding, developing and financing earlystage companies.

Prior to his time with Catamount, Silverman was president and chiefexecutive officer of Bocada. He also served in senior executiveroles with various enterprise software and consumer Internetcompanies. Also, Silverman was previously a partner with VentureLaw Group out of Menlo Park, Calif.

Additionally, he serves on the boards with Bocada, Echohaus, Keibi,Gridnet, Nest Naturals and Verdiem.

"It was an easy decision to support a team of successfulconsumer Internet entrepreneurs that are reaching an underservedmarket of car and truck owners," commented Silverman."Not since drugstore.com, have we seen such a significantopportunity to leverage the Web to simultaneously benefit both theconsumer and the companies serving them."

Added Trevor Traina, DriverSide founder and chairman of the board:"We are delighted to welcome both Jeff and Mark to the board.

"Mark's strong background in consumer Internet and Jeff'sskills in online automotive will be of immeasurable help to us inour mission to save money and simplify vehicle ownership for the196 million drivers in the U.S. today," he added.

With the additions, the DriverSide board now includes Bell,Silverman, Traina and company CEO Jad Dunning.

For more information, visit www.driverside.com . Latest News
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