HighWired.com Receives $30 Million in Venture Capital Financing

Charles River Ventures and North Bridge Venture Partners Lead Second Round  of Funding

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2000--HighWired.com, the world's  largest community of online high schools, today announced that it has raised $30  million in venture capital financing. Charles River Ventures and North Bridge  Venture Partners, who led investors in the first round of financing for  HighWired.com, once again co-lead in this second round, in which HighWired.com  receives investments from Broadband Ventures Group LLC, Arcadia Partners,  Comdisco Ventures, Longworth Venture Partners and Haebler Ventures.

``We view this second round of financing from such established investors as  validation of HighWired.com's business model and approach to enhancing all  aspects of high school life with Internet technologies,'' said Don Young,  president and CEO of HighWired.com. ``HighWired.com is well positioned to stay  at the forefront of the industry. With this funding, we are equipped to continue  our momentum on the tails of one acquisition, to continue building our internal  resources, acquire new technologies and launch our e-commerce initiative.''

``HighWired.com is emerging as the clear category leader in the rapidly  developing market for Internet technologies in the classroom,'' said Ted  Dintersmith, general partner, Charles River Ventures. ``Charles River Ventures  is impressed with HighWired.com's ability to execute on an aggressive plan to  provide our nation's high schools with powerful Web-based and telephony-based  content, community and e-commerce capabilities. The company is positioned to  become one of the Internet's most influential and important companies of the  future.''

``We are pleased to be working with HighWired.com for a second round of  financing,'' said Ed Anderson, managing general partner, North Bridge Venture  Partners. ``With over 9,000 schools in its network, and a strategic business  plan to develop and acquire technology and content, HighWired is the clear  leader in the online education market for grades 7 through 12.''

About Charles River Ventures

With market-leading trademark investments, such as Be Free (Nasdaq:BFRE - news), Flycast (Nasdaq:FCST, then acquired by CMGI),  Vignette (Nasdaq:VIGN - news), CIENA (Nasdaq:CIEN - news) and iBasis (Nasdaq:IBAS - news), net.Genesis (Nasdaq:NTGX - news), Versata (Nasdaq:VATA - news), and Excite (Nasdaq: ATHM - news). Charles River Ventures (www.crv.com) is one of the industry's preeminent  early-stage venture capital firms. The firm focuses on funding and guiding young  companies that are building the Internet infrastructure and the businesses that  run on it. Beyond pure financial investments, Charles River Ventures helps build  companies that are first in - and first to - their markets by providing the  corporate development guidance, expertise and experience necessary to help young  companies accelerate time to market to become tomorrow's market leaders. Since  its establishment, Charles River has provided capital and guidance to more than  250 companies.

About North Bridge Venture Partners

North Bridge Venture Partners (NBVP), is a leading venture capital firm  focusing on active, early-stage software, communications, Internet and e-health  companies. Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, NBVP provides strategic guidance,  industry-specific knowledge, team-building skills, and an in-depth understanding  of both private and public financings. North Bridge's investments include:  Silver Stream Software; SQA; Instinctive Technology; FirstSense Software; New  Oak Communications; Argon Networks and Redstone Communications, both acquired by  Siemens; Sycamore Networks; SupplyWorks; eBenX; and Centra Software.

About Broadband Ventures Group LLC

Broadband Ventures Group (BVG) is a venture capital firm focusing on  early-stage companies developing infrastructure and services for the Internet  and broadband industry. Based in Boston, BVG's investment professionals include  former executives of Continental Cablevision, Inc. with significant operating,  technology and finance experience. BVG focuses on providing portfolio companies  with strategic guidance and industry-specific knowledge and contacts.

About Arcadia Partners

DHM Arcadia Partners (Arcadia), is the leading venture capital firm focused  exclusively on the for-profit education and training industry. Arcadia's  investments include: Lightspan Partnership (Nasdaq:LSPN - news), DigitalThink (Nasdaq:DTHK - news), Achieva College Prep Services, Docent, edu.com,  Health Dialog, ParentWatch, Pensare, Project Achieve and Vista Associates.  Arcadia's (www.arcadiapartners.com)  investment strategy is to leverage its industry knowledge to develop themes from  which to make investments, regardless of the stage of development from seed to  acquisition. Arcadia adds value to its portfolio companies by leveraging its in  depth knowledge and relationships within the for-profit education and training  industry providing both strategic and corporate development guidance. Arcadia is  based in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Comdisco Ventures

Comdisco Ventures, a division of Comdisco, Inc., has committed more than $1.5  billion in capital to more than 700 venture backed early stage companies since  its inception. Comdisco Ventures provides creative capital structures through a  wide variety of financing vehicles, including equipment leases, secured  financing, subordinated debt, convertible debt and equity, to companies in the  information technology and life sciences sectors. Comdisco Ventures has invested  in such leading edge companies as Ariba, Vignette, E.piphany, Siara Systems and  Human Genome Sciences.

About Longworth Venture Partners

Longworth Venture Partners (www.longworth.com) is an active, early-stage  technology venture firm which focuses on investments in four sectors--Internet  Media, e-Commerce, Enterprise Software and IT Services. Based in the Boston  area, Longworth Venture Partners is unique because of the depth of successful  operating experience among its investment professionals. Longworth works closely  with entrepreneurs to leverage that operating experience and to help guide and  accelerate the growth of successful companies. Recent investments include  SoftwareWOW.com, eMaven, Inc. and Digital Paper Corporation.

About Haebler Ventures

Haebler Ventures is a private equity firm with investments in a wide variety  of industries, including early-and late-stage Internet and software companies.  Representative venture investments by Haebler Ventures and its affiliates  include NetGen Inc., PPI Network, Inc., Tumbleweed Communications Corp. and  DoubleClick Inc.

About HighWired.com

Launched in April 1998, venture-backed HighWired.com provides free  Web-publishing tools for the five major areas of high school life: classrooms,  activities, newspapers, guidance and sports. HighWired.com provides high schools  within its network with easy-to-use interactive products that allow students,  teachers, advisers, guidance counselors and coaches to participate in a  collaborative online learning experience. HighWired.com partners with leading  educational organizations to provide the highest quality products and services  enabling the company to house the largest online international network of high  schools. To date, the network includes over 9,000 schools in all 50 U.S. states  and 64 foreign countries. HighWired.com is headquartered in Watertown, Mass.

For more information about HighWired.com's products and services, please  e-mail info@highwired.com or visit the  Web site at www.highwired.com.