BlueSnap Entrepreneur Development Scholarship Winners Represent Broad Spectrum Of B2B And B2C Online Commerce Revenue Potential

Co-Sponsors One Million by One Million and Elance Help Select Twelve Scholarship Winners From Twenty Finalists

Fremont, CA, June 11, 2012 — BlueSnap, a global provider of Open Commerce technology and services that maximize revenues through recurring payment solutions, today announced the twelve winners of the Entrepreneur Development Scholarship Program. Winners were chosen from a field of 20 finalists after business pitches made at Online Round Tables held on June 4 and June 7.  Each winning entrepreneur will receive:

• A yearlong scholarship to the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) program
• Access to BlueSnap open commerce platform experts who will help establish the winners’ online payment presence
• Elance service credits to help them hire and manage online professionals in the cloud

1M/1M is a case-study-based, online educational program that provides budding entrepreneurs methodologies, video lectures and strategy consulting through public and private online roundtables. The program also provides introductions to customers, channel partners and investors, which include pre-seed, seed, angel, VC, bank and alternative financing. 1M/1M was formed by founder Sramana Mitra to address the issue that 99% of entrepreneurs who seek financing get rejected. The mission is to develop that 99% to grow on their own if possible or strengthen their positioning for possible funding.  BlueSnap and Elance partnered together to provide scholarships for twelve selected applicants to attend the program. The winners were chosen by BlueSnap CEO Hagai Tal, Elance VP Ved Sinha, and Sramana Mitra, founder of the One Million by One Million Initiative (1M/1M).

The twelve scholarship winners represent a diverse set of personal productivity, health, business and personal leisure applications. Winners are listed below with links to websites as available.  Further information can be found on the BlueSnap website under the Entrepreneur Development Program Link where BlueSnap will post monthly updates on the progress these entrepreneurs make growing their businesses.

• TravelGenie – Swarna Kuruganti – Deal site for business travelers
• SimaFore – Bala Deshpande – Analytics for SME
• Karisma Kidz – Erika Brodnock – Virtual games to teach children emotional intelligence
• Life Gadget – Ken Snyder – Personal health and wellness analytics solution
• Momares – Marcos Menendez – SMS digital marketing platform
• Sprit Works – Garth Catterall-Heart – Software suite of 12 products ranging from rental property management to expense tracking
• Family RX Tracker – Stephanie Mountain – Online/Mobile application for reminding care givers about administration of medications for the elderly
• Downloads NOW! – Cookie Marenco – High quality audio download site
• Remotia – Kowaken Ghirmai – SaaS small business front office/back office offerings
• The Vegan Health Club – Nwenna Kai – Subscription based management tool for raw and vegan lifestyle
• 39shops – Hrishikesh Jobanputra – eCommerce platform to enable small businesses to get online stores up and running
• Mangobird – Amit Aggarwal – Mobile phone applications for gaming and personal productivity

Said Hagai Tal, CEO of BlueSnap, “For more than a decade, BlueSnap’s Plimus eCommerce platform has been helping companies of all sizes overcome the hurdles inherent in implementing eCommerce platforms. With our commitment and shared business success model, as our vendors grew so did we. Now, as we build upon this success by providing new Open Commerce solutions to enterprise companies, it’s rewarding to see passionate entrepreneurs such as these that we can support. On behalf of BlueSnap and Elance, we wish them much success and look forward to tracking their progress!”

ABOUT  BLUESNAP
BlueSnap, Inc. maximizes revenues through recurring payment solutions that meet the rapidly changing needs of today’s global, digital brands. Helping companies of all sizes optimize customer engagement to capitalize on revenue, BlueSnap enhances initial purchase sizes, global conversion rates and recurring purchases with a proven technology that leverages more than a decade of digital commerce expertise. BlueSnap provides a compliant and secure business environment that scales the consumer experience, turning online browsers into buyers.   For more information visit  www.bluesnap.com.

ABOUT ELANCE
Elance, the world’s leading platform for online employment, helps businesses hire and manage in the cloud. For businesses looking to staff-up a team on an hourly or project basis, Elance offers instant access to talent and the ability to build and manage entire teams online. For independent professionals who want to work online, Elance offers access to qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great work. The company is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, California and Oslo, Norway. For more information, visit Elance at www.elance.com.

ABOUT ONE MILLION BY ONE MILLION
One Million by One Million (1M/1M) is a global initiative to nurture a million entrepreneurs to each reach a million dollars in annual revenue and beyond, through education, incubation, strategy consulting, coaching, mentoring, business development, media outreach, and access to capital.  Find more information here: https://1m1m.sramanamitra.com

For More Information

BlueSnap Contact:
Charles Born
Charles.Born@bluesnap.com

Elance Contact:
Carrie Stuart
cstuart@elance.com

One Million By One Million Contact:
Maureen Kelly
maureen@sramanamitra.com