Google Drawings pioneer Anthony Glenning joins DesignCrowd board

DesignCrowd (www.designcrowd.com.au) – an online 'crowdsourcing' marketplace that launched in Australia today – is pleased to announce the appointment of Anthony Glenning (who sold his business, Tonic Systems, to Google in 2007) from Starfish Ventures to the DesignCrowd board, and Christopher McNamara (a recent graduate of Stanford Business School) to the position of Chief Operating Officer. The appointment of Glenning and McNamara coincides with the launch of DesignCrowd's Australian crowdsourcing service and follows shortly after its acquisition ofUS business rival(Brandstack)in December.

Both Glenning and McNamara attained post-graduate degrees at Stanford University. Glenning graduated from the Electrical Engineering Faculty in 1992 and McNamara completed his MBA from the Graduate School of Business in 2009. Prior to joining Starfish Ventures, Glenning lived and worked in Silicon Valley for 14 years. In 1999 Glenning founded Tonic Systems, a company that was ultimately acquired by Google in 2007. He spent the next two years in the Google Docs team before returning home in 2007 and joining Starfish Ventures in 2010.

“I'm really excited to be joining the board of DesignCrowd and about the opportunities ahead for the company. Crowdsourcing is a tremendous space and growing rapidly. DesignCrowd is applying this new paradigm to a huge market, connecting designers to companies from all over the world. Despite DesignCrowd's fast growth, the potential opportunity has barely been tapped,” said Glenning.

McNamara who studied Bachelor of Commerce at the University of New South Wales and recently completed his MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business joins DesignCrowd as its new Chief Operating Officer. McNamara said, “Its a great time to be joining the business. Were really well placed to take advantage of the tremendous growth in demand for crowd-sourced services. Right now, I'm focused on building an international team which will help us reach more people than ever before.”

DesignCrowd founder Alec Lynch said, “As an Australian business trying to grow in the US, it's fantastic to have Aussies with experience in Silicon Valley, returning home and joining our business. Australians talk a lot about a 'brain-drain' but this is a good example of a 'brain boomerang'.”

The appointments of Anthony Glenning and Chris McNamara reflect DesignCrowd's appetite for fast- growth coupled with an international outlook. Lynch said, “We've just opened a new office in Surry Hills that's big enough for over 30 staff and we expect to hire our first US employees in the coming months.”

ContactChris McNamara,+61-402-945-323chris.mcnamara@designcrowd.com

About DesignCrowd

Launched in January 2008, DesignCrowd Pty Ltd is a leading crowdsourcing companythat operates a number of online crowdsourcing marketplaces including BrandCrowd.com, DesignCrowd.com, DesignCrowd.com.au and DesignCrowd.co.nz. The platforms enables buyers to post a design contest or alogo, website, print or graphic design project on the DesignCrowd network and select their favourite design of hundreds received from designers around the world. DesignCrowd's business includes users in 159 countries including over 50,000 designers. In 2011, DesignCrowd received a $3M of investment from Starfish Ventures.

About BrandCrowd

BrandCrowd (formerly Brandstack) was launched in April 2008 and is the world's largest marketplace for ready-made brands and logo designs. BrandCrowd helps logo designers monetize their unused logo designs, brands and domains. BrandCrowd is owned by DesignCrowd.

About Starfish Ventures

Established in 2001, Starfish Ventures is an Australian owned venture capital fund manager seeking superior returns through active investment in innovative technology companies. Starfish Ventures has over $385 million in funds under management and has made investments in over 40 companies to date.

Starfish Ventures seeks investments in emerging Australian businesses across all technologies sectors including information and communications technology, biotechnology and life sciences, industrial technology, and cleantech. For more information go to www.starfishvc.com

DesignCrowd // BrandCrowd Contact

Chris McNamara,chris.mcnamara@designcrowd.com
Ph: +61-402-945-323

Starfish Ventures Contact

Katya Baxter, Katya@starfishvc.com
Communications Manager,Starfish Ventures
Ph: +61-3-9654-2121 or +61 438-123-356