FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TAKKLE
New York, New York
July 23, 2007

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Sports Illustrated Invests in TAKKLE, Leading High School Sports Social Network

New York City Investment Fund Also Joins TAKKLE's Original Investors for New Financing

TAKKLE, Inc. (www.takkle.com), the premier online social network for high school sports, today announced it has secured additional financing to help fund the company’s continued expansion and growth. Sports Illustrated and the New York City Investment Fund, a fund co-chaired by Henry R. Kravis and Russell L. Carson to invest in New York City entrepreneurs and start-up companies, joined TAKKLE’s original investors for this new financing. TAKKLE’s original investors include WMG Investments, the investment arm of Wasserman Media Group LLC, Greycroft Partners, LLC (founded by legendary venture capital investor Alan Patricof), IJ Smith Enterprises LLC, and Jack Schneider, Managing Director at Allen & Company, Inc.

TAKKLE takes high school athletics to the next level by allowing athletes across the nation participating in over 25 sports to develop personal connections rooted in their passion for sports. TAKKLE provides a platform and tools for these athletes to create player and team profiles, upload videos and photos, track and view statistics, check out opponents before games, and discover the best athletes in the country. 

SI’s partnership with TAKKLE began with TAKKLE’s nationwide launch in December 2006. TAKKLE is the exclusive online nomination engine for Sports Illustrated’s long-running Faces in the Crowd feature. TAKKLE’s new Video Face in the Crowd feature spotlights the video highlights of selected high school athletes who are also featured in the Faces in the Crowd column in Sports Illustrated. In addition, SI.com visitors can easily access and explore the depth of high school sports content available on TAKKLE.com

“Sports Illustrated is the preeminent brand in sports media. We’re thrilled that Sports Illustrated has decided to build on its current relationship with TAKKLE by investing in our future growth and expansion,” said David Birnbaum, CEO and co-founder of TAKKLE. “We’re excited that SI and the New York City Investment Fund are joining our list of marquee investors.”

Since its launch in early December, TAKKLE has partnered with many of the leading companies in the high school sports market, including Five Star Basketball, Baseball Factory, MSL Sports, Offense-Defense Football Camps, Womenslacrosse.com, and Brine. TAKKLE has also secured sponsorships from leading brands such as Procter & Gamble’s Tampax, Spalding, and Met-RX. In addition, through its relationship with SI, TAKKLE has created sponsorship programs with leading brands such as Gatorade and Finish Line.

TAKKLE has also launched a unique, next-generation high school athletic competition via online video BATTLES. The BATTLES on TAKKLE have featured online cheerleading, bench press, and 3-Point basketball competitions with high school athletes across the country competing via online video. In the weeks ahead, TAKKLE plans to launch BATTLE competitions for additional sports.

“High school athletes are passionate about their sports. TAKKLE has captured that and created an engaging online destination for high school athletes to share their passion for sports,” said Jeff Price, President of SI Digital. “Sports Illustrated is working with TAKKLE to engage the next generation of SI readers.”

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About Takkle
Takkle, the premier online social network for high school sports, connects athletes, coaches, fans, friends and recruiters for all high school athletics. On Takkle, high school athletes can track and compare their stats, post team schedules, scout rivals, and share videos and photos with their teammates and opponents.

Takkle offers advertisers and marketers the ability to strategically target a passionate, engaged audience of high school athletes and fans. Takkle’s investors include Wasserman Media Group LLC, Greycroft Partners LLC, IJ Smith Enterprises LLC, Jack Schneider, Managing Director at Allen & Company, Inc., SI, and the New York City Investment Fund.

About SI
SI is a multimedia sports brand that takes the consumer into the heart and soul of sports.  The SI franchise is anchored by Sports Illustrated, the most respected voice in sports journalism which reaches a weekly audience of nearly 21 million adults, and SI.com, the magazine’s 24/7 sports news website that delivers more than 150 original stories to its users each week.  The SI franchise also includes Sports Illustrated Kids (sikids.com), a monthly magazine targeted to kids age 8 and up; Golf Magazine and Golf.com; FanNation.com, a social networking and sports news aggregation platform; SIOncampus.com, a website dedicated to college sports and the college sports lifestyle; SI Presents the magazine’s specialty publishing division; as well as SI Books, SI Pictures, SI Productions, SI Digital and SI Events.  Founded in 1954, SI is a division of Time Inc., the world's leading magazine publishing company and a subsidiary of Time Warner.

About NYCIF
The New York City Investment Fund (www.nycif.org) is the vision of Henry R. Kravis, founding partner of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., who serves as its Co-Chairman, along with Russell L. Carson, General Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. The Investment Fund has raised over $100 million to mobilize the city's world financial and business leaders to help build a stronger and more diversified local economy. To that end, the Investment Fund has built a network of top experts from the investment and corporate communities who help identify and support New York City's most promising entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. The Investment Fund is the investment and the economic development arm of the Partnership for New York City (www.pfnyc.org), the city's largest business organization.