SUNNYVALE, Calif. - December 7, 2000 - Elance, Inc. (www.elance.com), the leading professional services marketplace and end-to-end platform for Web-based project outsourcing, today announced that more than 7,000 IT-related projects have been posted in the Elance marketplace to date. Enabling timely and cost-effective development of virtually any kind of Web or software project, Elance has transacted over $33 million in IT projects and now has a base of over 50,000 IT firms and professionals, creating the tech industry's most extensive online talent pool.

"Using Elance to fulfil IT projects can help solve the industry's skills woes," said James Fulton, UK manager at Elance. "The US and India are leading the way, however, and the UK government has been slow to identify and promote the potential for UK firms to access the deep pool of global IT talent based out on the Web."

Outsourcing from the United States to India alone is estimated at U.S. $4 billion in 2000, and is expected to reach U.S. $50 billion by 2008*. Moreover, demand for IT workers in the United States greatly exceeds supply, and IT worker shortfall is expected to reach 850,000 over the next year, according to an April 2000 Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) report.

Many top technology vendors have chosen Elance to create a service marketplace for their community, including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Red Hat, Macromedia, Openwave/Phone.com, NetObjects and Novell. Many Elance service providers specialise in high demand areas such as Web site development, e-commerce implementations, conversions & migrations, Java, Oracle, Linux, and XML.

"Companies seeking to get around the IT shortage are increasingly turning to Elance to receive immediate assistance with Web and software-related projects. To date, over 80 percent of IT-related buyers on Elance have expressed extremely high levels of satisfaction with getting their project done online through Elance," Fulton continued.

Indian Elance Provider Completes over 130 Projects
Prism Software Ltd. has been an active Elance user since December 1999. The software consulting company, based in Nagpur, India, is a 40-person solution provider for Web site development, application development, database design and custom programming. Prism has completed over 130 projects on Elance in the past year, with projects ranging from new Web site creation and shopping cart development, to Java programming and beta-testing. "Elance has really given service providers like us a 'window' to the technical world and provided us with a complete platform on which to build our growth. We especially like the integrated and simple approach of the site, making it a pleasure to work through Elance." says Pradeep Kothari, director of Prism Software.

Les McKeown, president and chief executive officer of Yellowbrick, an employee development solutions provider based in San Francisco, turned to Elance for the range of potential providers and is enthusiastic about having discovered Prism. "The Elance system really helped cut down time in finding and checking references. Prism was responsive, reliable and highly skilled. The time zone differences became a huge advantage because it allowed for projects to be completed literally overnight. It really worked out well," comments McKeown.

Strong Tech Partnership Network
Elance is further expanding the scope of its IT expertise through a strong network of technology vendor partnerships. Elance has been chosen to power service-specific marketplaces for leading companies including Sun Microsystems (Java/Solaris), Red Hat (open source technologies), Macromedia (Web design & development), Openwave/Phone.com (wireless) and IBM (mid-range). Through the network, Elance provides access to an extremely broad range of IT expertise. The network partners benefit as they can better serve their customers and third-party developers by providing a central marketplace for outsourcing and accessing IT project work.

"Over the past year, we've been extremely focused on dominating the IT services marketplace and have clearly demonstrated the value that Elance brings to businesses by providing access to global IT expertise and by reducing development time and costs," said Fulton. "Our extensive network with leading partners such as Sun, IBM, Macromedia and Red Hat is core to our ability to deliver a broad IT platform solution."

Elance Capitalises on Growing Global Market Opportunity
"Elance is a global marketplace, so our users can reach qualified IT firms and professionals around the world, including experts in India, Russia, and Eastern Europe. In certain instances, the ability of businesses to access talent outside the United States accounts for significant cost savings - sometimes as much as 10 times lower than equivalent service rates in the United States," Roach notes.

* According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM)-McKinsey Study Report 1999

About Elance
Elance, Inc. (www.elance.com) is the leading professional services marketplace and end-to-end platform for Web-based outsourcing solutions used by businesses worldwide. Businesses can tap into a highly qualified pool of professional talent to get a wide range of projects completed online, including software development, Web design and development, creative services, graphic design, translation services, copywriting and more. Elance provides a highly liquid marketplace with a broad selection of professional service providers, online collaboration tools, global billing and payment capabilities, and a quality assurance system designed to maintain the high standards for which the company is known.

As a global company with 40 percent of transactions occurring cross-borders, over 200,000 businesses and individuals from more than 140 countries are registered to conduct work via the Elance network.. Elance has built alliances with industry leaders across a range of business sectors including: Intuit, Peachtree, Red Hat, McAfee, Zing, Macromedia, IBM, Novell Inc., Phone.com, , Lycos Asia, Virgin, Clearlybusiness.com, First Tuesday and more.

A privately held company, Elance has attracted over $65 million to date from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Pequot Capital Management, Citigroup, Integral Capital Partners, and Charter Venture Group. Outside directors include John Doerr and Joe Lacob from KPCB; Ram Shiram, former VP of business development at amazon.com; and Lawrence D. Lenihan, Jr. from Pequot Capital Management.

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