Garber Fund Portfolio Company Ranked Highly By Inc. Magazine

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (September 17, 2007) – Schoolwires Inc., a privately owned company in State College, Pa., that has been partially funded by the Garber Venture Capital Fund at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, was recently ranked No. 174 in the latest Inc. 5000 list of the best, fast-growing privately held companies. The company ranked third overall within the education industry.

The Garber Fund, a $5 million student-managed fund at Smeal, has participated in two rounds of equity financing for Schoolwires after full due diligence, term sheet negotiation, and legal management undertaken by teams of students in the Venture Capital Practicum Program.

Schoolwires, which was founded by Smeal alumnus Ed Marflak, offers a complete suite of online products and related services designed to meet the needs of K-12 schools, and the students, parents, and teachers that they serve. Schoolwires now serves more than 2,000 schools and an estimated 2 million students, parents, teachers, and administrators in 40 U.S. states and Mexico. The company has more than doubled sales annually for each of the last three years running.

"We firmly believe the Internet is one of the next great equalizers of education," said Marflak. "We are using it today to help students and schools across North America achieve more. In the process, we are blessed and gratified to be recognized as building one of America's fastest-growing and most-respected educational technology companies.

"The continued support of students from the Venture Capital Program and Penn State has meant a lot to us, not only for the funding that they have approved, but the insight and help that we have received from students and faculty."

According to Anthony Warren, director of Smeal's Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship: "Making real investments in early stage ventures after going through a rigorous venture capital process is the best way for students to learn the subtleties of early stage investing. Continual involvement in the company also provides first-hand knowledge of the extreme ups and downs of start-ups before they reach stable sustainable growth. And when the founder is 'one of our own' it is even more rewarding."

About The Garber Venture Capital Fund
The Garber Fund was established in 1999 with a $5 million commitment from Penn State alumnus John Garber and his wife Bette to bring reality to the teaching of entrepreneurship and venture capital. The fund is part of the Nittany Lion Venture Capital Association (NLVC), an MBA student-run management group that works with small companies and other investment groups in early stage business planning, execution, and due-diligence assignments. NLVC forms part of Smeal's highly acclaimed entrepreneurship program, in which students are immersed in real-life situations throughout their studies.

Smeal is also home to the Nittany Lion Fund LLC, a $5 million student-managed investment portfolio with more than 60 private investors, making the college one of only a handful of business schools that have large student-managed funds for investment in both private and public equities embedded in their academic programs.

For more information on Nittany Lion Venture Capital or the Penn State Entrepreneurs Network, contact Anthony Warren at 814-865-4593. 

Further details about Schoolwires can be found on its Web site, www.schoolwires.com.