Minority Stake Taken in Purple Voice Ltd

NewMedia SPARK PLC
7 January 2000


                        NewMedia SPARK
  invests £713,000  for a minority stake in Purple Voice Ltd

NewMedia  SPARK ('SPARK'), the AIM-listed investment  company,
announces an investment in Purple Voice Ltd. (Purple Voice).
Purple  Voice was founded in 1998 by Richard Seekins and  Neil
Gray and has developed software to provide Voice-over-Internet-
Protocol  (VoIP)  communications to  the  Business-to-Business
market.   Leveraging  the founders  background,  Purple  Voice
provides  value  added voice over LAN/ WAN services  to  major
international  financial institutions,  several  of  whom  are
currently Purple Voice customers.

Andrew   Carruthers,  Chief  Operating   Officer   of   SPARK,
commented: 'We are delighted to be working with Purple  Voice.
We   have   led   a  syndicate  of  new  investors   including
ThinkVentures.com  Ltd, Craig Rushton and Springboard  Venture
Managers,  investing a total of £1.8m in Purple Voice.   Craig
Rushton,  formerly  of DEI Group (a value added  international
data  services business) will be joining the company as  Chief
Executive.  John Morris of ThinkVentures will also be  joining
the Board as a non-executive Director.'

Purple  Voice  is  the  11th investment  by  SPARK  since  its
flotation  on  28th  October, 1999.  The previous  investments
have    been:   Digital   Animations   Group   plc,   easier!,
Bridge4u.com,    LinkGuard,    Skillvest.com,    Hotbox.co.uk,
crocus.co.uk,  WatchMyPrice.com,  Synaptic  Systems  Ltd   and
mergermarket.com.

                               
For further information please contact:

NewMedia SPARK                                   0171 887 4510
Michael Whitaker                                   0468-555944

Buchanan Communications
Lisa Baderoon                                    0171 466 5000

Peel Hunt & Company
David Davies                                     0171 418 8900