Cargill Ventures

Amol Deshpande and Arphesh Mehta join Cargill Ventures

Wayzata, MN – August 15, 2005

Andcor Companies, Inc., the venture catalyst for Minnesota's most promising emerging companies, and Cargill Ventures are pleased to announce the recent additions of Amol Deshpande and Arphesh Mehta to the firm's Wayzata office.

"Amol and Arpesh bring a combination of intelligence, energy and unique experience to complement the existing team of investment professionals," said Jim Sayre, President of Cargill Ventures.

Prior to joining Cargill Ventures, Amol was a co-founder of three businesses across the agriculture, food, educational services and water management industries. Amol also previously worked as a consultant for Deloitte & Touche. While at Cornell University, Amol served as a director for the Cornell University Business Incubator, and was co-president of the Entrepreneurship/Venture Capital Club. Further, he was a recipient of the Park Fellowship two-year, full tuition merit scholarship plus stipend, awarded based on leadership potential in the business world and the community. Amol holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and an MBA from Cornell University.

Arpesh has a strong background in the life sciences. Prior to business school, Arpesh was a senior research associate at Ceregene, formerly a subsidiary of Cell Genesys. At Ceregene, Arpesh worked on the preclinical development of a gene therapy product currently in clinical trials. Prior to Ceregene, Arpesh worked as a staff researcher at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition, Arpesh was as a summer intern at Genentech. Arpesh holds a B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from UCLA, and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.

About Cargill Ventures

Cargill Ventures invests in early stage technology-driven companies that enhance business processes, growth and innovation in global industries relevant to Cargill. Cargill Ventures maintains offices in San Mateo, Calif., and Minneapolis. It is a business unit of Cargill, www.cargill.com, an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 105,000 employees in 59 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed. Additional information about Cargill Ventures is available at www.cargillventures.com.

About Andcor Companies

Andcor Companies, Inc. is a retained executive search firm and "venture catalyst" for Minnesota's emerging growth companies. As the leading resource for the assembly of management teams, Andcor provides sound advice entrepreneurs need to transform vision into reality. Founded in 1969, Andcor has become recognized as the expert in understanding the challenges emerging companies face as they navigate growth. Andcor has vast experience with early stage clients in a variety of industries and has established itself as a pioneer in the recruiting industry through its services-for-equity fee structures and investment activities. Additional information about Andcor is available at: www.andcor.com.