T-Venture

T-Online Venture Fund backs the online reputation platform myON-ID

Bonn, December 2, 2008

T-Online Venture Fund, the corporate venture fund of Deutsche Telekom’s broadband/fixed network segment, is investing in myON-ID Media GmbH, a platform for online reputation management. As a result, the Munich-based start-up has secured an investment in the seven-figure range through second round financing. As well as T-Online Venture Fund, Nexum AG, subsidiary of Pironet NDH AG, and the co-founders are continuing their involvement in the business.

myON-ID is currently working on expanding its online range and is focusing on “personal branding”. This will provide myON-ID users with new possibilities in the future to strengthen their existing Google presence, and to manage and monitor their online identity. As well as free subscription, there will also be a version for premium users at extra cost who wish to actively cultivate their online identity for the long term.

Oliver Fietz, Fund Manager at T-Venture, commented: “Reputation needs to be considered as an important business enabler. Without a transparent online reputation, it will become more and more difficult to take part in business in the future. We consider myON-ID, with its innovative concept, to be a trailblazer for making this service widely marketable through user-friendliness. Furthermore, we are pleased to support this pioneering team on their promising path to growth.”

T-Online Venture Fund’s involvement enables myON-ID Media GmbH to expand steadily and acquire new target groups for their online reputation platform, which was founded in August 2007 by Mario Grobholz and Roman Pritzkow. The online service quickly reached the cutting edge of online reputation management for private and business clients. Within a year myON-ID’s Internet platform developed a good name for itself and is frequently mentioned in the media on the topic of “digital reputation”.

Mario Grobholz, myON-ID’s founder, commented: “We have found a professional partner in T-Online Venture Fund, who shares our vision and is helping us to continue to develop online reputation management for our clients.”

Following T-Online Venture Fund’s entry, the company is relocating to Munich and will expand the team in the coming months with the direction of Mario Grobholz.