The Generations Network Receives $150 Million Syndicate Financing

The following announcement was written by Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. It is a follow-up announcement concerning the recent acquisition of The Generations Network by Spectrum Equity Investors. The earlier announcement is available at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/10/follow-up-ances.html.

NOTE: The Generations Network is the parent company of Ancestry.com, MyFamily.com, RootsWeb.com, and a number of other web sites.

Hercules Participates in $150 Million Syndicate Financing by Providing $17.5 Million in Debt and $500,000 Equity Capital to The Generations Network, Inc.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec 13, 2007 -- Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTGC), the premier specialty finance company providing venture debt and equity to venture capital and private equity backed technology and life science companies at all stages of development, today announced that it provided a combination of $17.5 million in debt financing and $500,000 of equity capital as part of a larger leveraged recapitalization on December 5, 2007, to The Generations Network, Inc. - an online network of family history Web sites.

The buyout of The Generations Network was led by Spectrum Equity Investors, a top-tier private equity firm.

"Financing The Generations Network represents another deal in Hercules' growing franchise of middle market lending for the late-stage group," said Kevin Grossman, managing director at Hercules. "The company owns three of the top four genealogy Web sites in the U.S. in terms of traffic. This fact, along with the company's strong recent growth trends and expanding international footprint, prompted Hercules to select The Generations Network as a financing candidate."

The Generations Network operates eight ancestry Web sites, including www.ancestry.com and the family social networking site, www.myfamily.com.

"The Generations Network has established a leading position in the genealogy Web site market, providing people with the content, community and technology to empower them to find the individuals most important to them," said Tim Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of The Generations Network, Inc. "We will use the debt and equity capital from this transaction to support the next phase of the company's growth."

About Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.:

Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. is a NASDAQ traded specialty finance company providing debt and equity growth capital to technology and life science companies at all stages of development. Founded in December 2003, the company primarily finances privately held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms. Hercules invests in a broad range of ventures active in technology and life science industries and offers a full suite of growth capital products up and down the capital structure. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and has additional offices in the Boston, Boulder, Los Angeles and Chicago areas. Providing capital to publicly-traded or privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses of capital. For more information, please visit www.HTGC.com.

Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@HTGC.com, or call 650.289.3060.

About The Generations Network, Inc.:

The Generations Network, Inc., founded in 1983, is the leading online network connecting families across distance and time. The Generations Network, Inc. provides people the content, community, and technology to empower them to find the people most important to them -- and discover and share their unique family stories. The Generations Network operates eight Ancestry websites, including www.ancestry.com (United States), www.ancestry.co.uk (United Kingdom), www.ancestry.ca (Canada), www.ancestry.com.au (Australia), www.ancestry.de (Germany), www.ancestry.it (Italy), www.ancestry.fr (France) and www.ancestry.se (Sweden) as well as www.myfamily.com, www.genealogy.com and www.rootsweb.com. The company also publishes Family Tree Maker(R), the No. 1-selling family history software, Ancestry Magazine and more than 50 book titles. For more information, please visit www.thegenerationsnetwork.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

The statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties and other factors we identify from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Hercules assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements for subsequent events.

Comments

[Sharon]

Seeking opinions from financially minded people. Is it safe to give Ancestry money for a year subscription? Or are they falling fast?

[Sue]

After reading this I'm wondering if I should renew my Ancestry.com subscription this coming Febuary.

[E.W.Wallace]

I wonder if my pension fund may be *investing* in this deal? Whew! I am not sure about some the shenanigans going on in the financial markets.

[John]

One of the disclaimers by Hercules says, "Providing capital to publicly-traded or privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses of capital."

Obviously Hercules perceive some "high" level of risk that they may never see this money again, though that's a general disclaimer. At the same, however, even if Ancestry was struggling, it'd be unlikely to see TGN go under any time soon so your subscriptions are likely fine. But that's just my opinion.

[Robert]

This is a very standard practice (called a "leveraged buyout") for any private equity company. If the company makes enough cash each year to pay the interest + required principal on the debt, then the company making the acquisition (Spectrum) can do so with much less capital tied up in the deal and can make a much better return relative to their investment. For example, if I buy a $250K house and make a 50K downpayment, then the house appreciates by 10%, I just made a 50% return ($25K appreciation on a $50K investment). This is the power of leverage.

TGN is fine--your subscriptions are safe.

[Austin]

Hi, i was wonder with this article if my pension fund may be *investing* in this deal? Whew! I am not sure about some the shenanigans going on in the financial markets. will be helpful in the future,and we need more information with this article.
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Austin

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