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Become.com Raises $17.5 Million Investment From TPG Growth

Private investment firm with technology and retail expertise invests in Become.com as more shoppers use Web to research products, make buying decisions

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA and SAN FRANCISCO, CA - March 25, 2008 - TPG Growth and Become.com (http://www.become.com/), the Web’s fastest-growing site for comparison shopping, announced today that TPG Growth has made a $17.5 million Series C investment in Become.com.

Become.com is in its second consecutive quarter of profitability. In connection with the financing, Taek Kwon, an operating partner with TPG Growth, will join Become.com’s board of directors.

"TPG’s investment validates our approach," said Michael Yang, Become.com's Founder and CEO, who also founded MySimon, a site that pioneered the comparison shopping category. "We are passionate about providing the most value to our merchants and our shoppers who use Become.com to make ideal buying decisions."

"We are thrilled to invest in Become.com, a rapidly growing company that not only operates the fastest growing comparison shopping site but has also developed a unique search engine technology platform that provides various new opportunities for growth. We look forward to working with the great team at Become.com to build the top comparison shopping company," said Taek Kwon, Operating Partner, TPG Growth.

Become.com is positioned to grow as more shoppers choose to research products and compare prices online before they buy:

A survey of shopping habits from Accenture found that 69 percent of respondents now research products online, 68 percent compare prices online before shopping in a physical store and 58 percent locate items online before going to a store to purchase.
Independent firm comScore Media Metrix ranked Become.com the fourth-fastest-growing Website of any kind in October 2007. Become.com’s site traffic grew 260% from February 2007 to February 2008.

About TPG Growth

TPG Growth is the venture, growth and smaller buyout investment platform of TPG, the global private investment firm. With more than $2.5 billion under management, TPG Growth targets investments in technology, life science, biotechnology, renewables, and consumer companies utilizing venture capital, growth equity, public equity and leveraged buyout structures. The firm is backed by the resources of TPG with more than $50 billion of assets under management. TPG Growth has offices in the US, China and India. TPG also brings specific expertise in the retail industry, with a history of successful retail investment in leading companies such as J.Crew and Debenhams. For more information, please visit www.tpg.com.

About Become.com

Become.com is a powerful search engine and comparison shopping service. Founded by industry pioneers Michael Yang and Yeogirl Yun, creators of MySimon, Become.com helps people make better buying decisions and purchases online. Become.com searches over 5.6 billion web pages and uses its patent-pending AIR™ (Affinity Index Ranking) search technology to provide the Internet's most useful product reviews and guides, and then makes it easy to find and buy products from brand name retailers at the best prices. With over 25 million products from 5000 merchants, Become.com provides the Web's most robust and easy to use combination of relevant product research and comparison shopping. Please visit us at www.become.com.

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