T-Online Venture Fund invests in ClickandBuy and supports the expansion in one of the market-leading company´s in Europe

Bonn/Zug, August 11, 2006 - T-Online Venture Fund has made a 10% investment in Zug-based (CH) FIRSTGATE Holding AG, owner of ClickandBuy, one of the market leaders in Internet payment services. With the additional capital the further international roll out of ClickandBuy services shall be accelerated.

ClickandBuy makes it possible for providers to outsource complex billing for paid content, services and goods. The system handles both billing in various currencies and the processing of credit cards, direct debits and the 40 most commonly used payment procedures in Europe.

Many well-known providers, such as T-Online Musicload, Electronic Arts and Meetic use ClickandBuy payment service throughout Europe. In Germany the best known ClickandBuy customer is Stiftung Warentest, which sells current test reports, for example of digital cameras, at www.test.de. Leading European media companies also bill with ClickandBuy, e.g., Financial Times Deutschland.

One of the keys to the success of ClickandBuy are fraud prevention systems, which protect both the customers and the providers of ClickandBuy against Internet fraud. Many customers like to use ClickandBuy because of the high security standards, which have been certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). But ClickandBuy’s popularity is also due to how quick and easy it is to use.

Besides the investment of the T-Online Venture Fund, interoperability between T-Pay, the online payment system by T-Com, and ClickandBuy, is planned to be achieved. In future, this will open up the possibility for T-Pay, one of the leading German payment systems, to offer payment of T-Com bills through ClickandBuy as well. ”For T-Pay, achieving interoperability between the two systems will expand its international reach by allowing foreign providers to offer their customers the possibility to use T-Pay as a payment system,” says Volker Nussbaumer, Executive Vice President Value-Added Solutions at T-Com. More than 40 million telephone customers will then have the opportunity to pay simply, safely and quickly with T-Pay through ClickandBuy.

Jens Becker, responsible member for finance in the T-Online segment board within the strategic business unit Broadband/Fixed Network of Deutsche Telekom AG and member of the Investment Committee of the T-Online Venture Fund, explains: ”We are convinced that Telekom’s offerings can be marketed even more attractively with the help of ClickandBuy. ClickandBuy’s leading position in Europe will be of critical importance, particularly in our international online expansion. The broadband boom and consumer enthusiasm for music downloads and games will further accelerate growth.”

Norbert Stangl, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ClickandBuy, says: ”The entry of a partner like T-Online Venture Fund underscores our importance and supports our path as the European market leader set on global expansion. We expect ClickandBuy to experience explosive sales growth. In particular, ClickandBuy will be able to further intensify its international expansion in Europe, the US and Latin America.


About ClickandBuy

ClickandBuy is one of the leading payment processing system in Germany and Europe. Many famous brands, such as Electronic Arts, T-Online Gamesload, Apple iTunes, Skype, Nero, Tiscali, Meetic, Playboy, SanDisk, Autoscout24, ADAC, RTL, Stiftung Warentest, Financial Times Deutschland, bild.de and many others, use ClickandBuy to bill their customers.

Throughout Europe there are now more than 7,000 providers using ClickandBuy for payment processing. More than 7,000,000 end customers pay for their Internet purchases using ClickandBuy. In Switzerland, ClickandBuy is operated by licensing partner SWISSCOM, and by BRITISH TELECOM in the United Kingdom, and in other European markets by ClickandBuy (Europe) Ltd. ClickandBuy will soon be available via TELMEX in Latin America, a market with more than 100 million potential customers.

ClickandBuy
Headquarters * Andreas Horst * Head of Corporate Communications
Industriestrasse 18 * CH-6300 Zug * Switzerland
Telephone: +41 (41) 72 72 -110 * Fax: +41 (41) 72 72 – 119
Email: andreas.horst@clickandbuy.com * www.clickandbuy.com


ClickandBuy LLC. * Stuart Ginsberg * Press officer
55 Broad Street * 16th Floor * New York * NY 10004 * USA
Telephone: +1 212-812-2400 * Fax: +1 212-812-7360
Email: press@us.clickandbuy.com * www.clickandbuy.com/US/en


T-Online Venture Fund

The T-Online Venture Fund was established in 2001 and equipped with an investment volume of EUR 100 million. It is managed by T-Venture, the venture capital entity of Deutsche Telekom. Its aim is to support the T-Online business unit in the strategic business segment Broadband/Fixed Network of Deutsche Telekom AG in its objectives. For additional information about T-Venture and the T-Online Venture Fund please visit www.t-venture.de

Contact and additional information:

Press contact:
T-Venture Holding GmbH
Sabine Kohl
Email: t-venture@telekom.de
Telephone: +49 228 30848-95
Fax: +49 2151 33627604