American Business Association of Russian Professionals

For Immediate Release

AmBAR Announces Second Annual Technology Investment Conference

Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2006)

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA, August 23, 2006 – The American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR) announces its second annual technology investment conference Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2006), which will take place at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California on November 16-17, 2006. AmBAR’s conference partners include Russian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (St. Petersburg, Russia) and Center for Innovation Development of TECHINVEST VC Group (Kiev, Ukraine). Venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (Menlo Park, California) is the conference General Partner.

“The former Soviet Union countries, like Russia and Ukraine, are rich with great opportunities for venture capital discoverers,“ said Tim Draper, Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “The SVOD is a timely initiative, and we trust it will unlock tremendous investment opportunities in Eastern Europe. DFJ backed Eastern European teams that started major successes, Skype and Parametric Technologies. Google also has Eastern European founders."

The SVOD conference is the only non-profit event of its kind, bringing dozens of high-tech innovators of Russian and Ukrainian origin with the U.S. sources of capital. It brings together Russian-speaking technology entrepreneurs based in the United States and young technology companies from the former Soviet Union countries with the top-tier US venture capital firms, and technology, marketing and business development professionals from the leading Silicon Valley companies.

"SVOD is a working conference with strong focus on building networks and partnerships between technology entrepreneurs from the FSU countries and American investors and entrepreneurs," said Dr. Evgeny Zaytsev, President of AmBAR and Partner at Asset Management Company, one of the oldest venture capital firms in the Silicon Valley.

SVOD-2006 is expected to attract over 200 participants. The program includes companies’ exhibits, business plan competition, presentations by 25 pre-selected startup companies, and seminars conducted by the leading venture capitalists, Stanford GSB faculty, US lawyers and experts in the areas of entrepreneurial finance, business development and general management. Anticipated participants from the U.S. include prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Institutional Venture Partners, Alloy Ventures, Doll Capital Management and executives from leading technology companies such as Cisco, Google, Yahoo, and Symantec.

For additional information about SVOD-2006 or to register please visit the conference website at www.svod.org

AmBAR

American Business Association of Russian Professionals is a non-profit network of business professionals. It includes entrepreneurs, engineers, marketers, lawyers, finance specialists, venture capitalists and angel investors. AMBAR was founded in 2002 by a group of experienced technology entrepreneurs and business professionals from leading Silicon Valley companies and venture capital firms such as Sun Microsystems, Intel Capital, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, AmBAR has more than 1,800 members. AmBAR hosts regular educational and business workshops at Stanford University. For more information, visit: www.ambarclub.org and www.svod.org

Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the only venture capital firm with global presence through a network of affiliated funds, with offices in more than 30 cities around the world and more than $3.5 billion in capital commitments. DFJ's mission is to identify, serve and provide capital for extraordinary entrepreneurs anywhere who are determined to change the world. Over the past twenty years, DFJ has been proud to back approximately 300 companies across many sectors including such industry changing catalysts as Hotmail (acquired by MSFT), Baidu (BIDU), Skype (acquired by EBAY), United Online (UNTD), Overture (acquired by YHOO), Interwoven (IWOV), 411 (acquired by YHOO), Parametric (PMTC), and Digidesign (acquired by AVID). For more information, visit: www.dfj.com

Russian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association

RVCA was established in 1996 in St. Petersburg and currently consists of 29 venture and private equity funds as full members and 18 major Russian IT companies, service providers and international organizations as associated members. RVCA aims to create a positive political and entrepreneurial environment for investment activities in Russia, represent interests of its members at the government level and provide support to the Russian VC market participants. For more information, visit: www.rvca.ru

Center for Innovation Development

CID is the most experienced technology business incubator in Ukraine. It was established in 1998 by the oldest Ukrainian Business School - International Management Institute. Since 2005 it has been part of TECHINVEST VC Group, which is the successful pioneer of VC business in Ukraine. CID is managing the Ukrainian High-Tech Competition and organizing annual Road Shows of Ukrainian Technologies to USA. CID also provides TECHINVEST portfolio companies and other technology start-ups with a package of incubation services and helps foreign VCs to build their presence in Ukraine. For more information, visit: www.cid.kiev.ua

Contact Information:

Anna S. Dvornikova, Director
American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR)
555 Bryant Street, Suite 161
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Tel: (650) 278-0431
advornikova@ambarclub.org
www.ambarclub.org
www.svod.org