Software reports interaction between web results and market.

FirstRain, Inc. Jun 20, 2008

Press Release Summary:

Used by investors, CFOs, and CMOs to generate investing ideas, FirstRain Blog Monitor reveals relevant, original, and impactful data points from dynamically shifting ranks of highest impact blogs. Delivering analysis, commentary, and turnover trends from web for most active players in capital markets, FirstRain Capital Market Monitor provides insight for financial professionals on key investments, stakeholders driving conversation, and new opportunities.

Original Press Release:

FirstRain Introduces FirstRain Blog Monitor(TM) and FirstRain Capital Markets Monitor(TM)

New Analytics Eliminate Research Blind Spot for Institutional Investors and Corporate Executives

FOSTER CITY, Calif., June 9 /P- FirstRain(R), the leading provider of search-driven research, today announced the release of two new qualitative analytics packages-FirstRain Blog Monitor and FirstRain Capital Markets Monitor-that report on the interaction between web results and the market to enable better decisions. These products build on FirstRain's cutting-edge qualitative analytics technology which distills unstructured data from across the vast web into concise data points and trends that matter to professionals.

"The investing and management communities have largely been without a comprehensive strategy when it comes to understanding and exploiting rich information from the web, particularly the impact that blogs have on the markets," said Sean O'Dowd, capital markets senior analyst at IDC Financial Insights. "FirstRain's reports are an important step to bridging this gap in the research process, allowing the analysis of qualitative data on the web beyond just tactical means of tracking names at the peak of market focus."

FirstRain Blog Monitor

FirstRain Blog Monitor reveals relevant, original and impactful data points from the dynamically shifting ranks of the highest impact blogs. The reports are designed to be used by investors, CFOs, and CMOs to generate investing ideas and market understanding through web results for companies being discussed, industry commentary and new ideas from the most influential blogs around the globe. The initial package covers four specific sectors and includes:

-- The FirstRain Investing Blog Report(TM)

-- The FirstRain Technology Blog Report(TM)

-- The FirstRain Healthcare Blog Report(TM)

-- The FirstRain Energy Blog Report(TM)

FirstRain uses the proprietary FirstRain MarketScore(TM) algorithm, a multi-factor model that considers prominence, reach and authority, to continually analyze and identify the most impactful blogs from the hundreds of thousands across the broad web.

FirstRain Capital Markets Monitor

FirstRain Capital Market Monitor provides insight for financial professionals on their key investments, the stakeholders driving the conversation, and new opportunities. By delivering analysis, commentary and turnover trends from the web for the most active players in the capital markets, the reports enable users to keep up-to-date on developments quickly and efficiently. The initial package includes:

-- The FirstRain Top Movers Report(TM), which analyzes web results for the most actively traded stocks of the day.

-- The FirstRain Short Interest Report(TM), which monitors web results for the most heavily shorted stocks.

-- The FirstRain Hedge Fund Report(TM), which provides web results on daily hedge fund openings, liquidations, people moves and hedge fund news from around the world.

With the acceleration of new online media outlets, like blogs, the web has become the top resource for research. A recent paper from the Michael F. Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma has shown that blogs measurably move the capital markets; but, investors and corporate executives lack the tools needed to effectively monitor those blogs that drive movement. This creates a "blind spot" in the information mosaic-a risk that is unacceptable to those striving for a competitive advantage in a world of commoditized information.

"Blogs are where many of the most intriguing questions, trends and ideas first come to light. Manually finding the meaningful information from the volume of meaningless chatter is just not practical, even for the largest firms," said Penny Herscher, president and CEO of FirstRain. "It is becoming imperative for users to have a tool like FirstRain to quickly and effectively stay informed and derive insights from the web."

FirstRain Blog Monitor and FirstRain Capital Market Monitor are available immediately and are included in the annual FirstRain subscription.

About FirstRain

FirstRain changes the rules of research by applying state-of-the-art search, extraction and pattern detection technology to the web. As the leader in search-driven research, FirstRain products provide institutional investors and corporate executives with a powerful information advantage by uncovering information that they would not otherwise see. FirstRain is a privately held company with more than 150 employees, headquartered in Foster City, Calif., with additional offices in New York, NY and Gurgaon, India. Contact FirstRain at www.firstrain.com. Visit Penny Herscher's blog, Market Mine, at http://pennyherscher.blogspot.com/.

Fotak, Veljko, "The Impact of Blog Recommendations on Security Prices and Trading Volumes" (September 15, 2007). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1089868

CONTACT: Izumi Barker of FirstRain, Inc., +1-650-356-9076, ibarker@firstrain.com

Web site: www.firstrain.com/

http://pennyherscher.blogspot.com/