CertifiedEmail service fuels growth with investment from SoftBank Capital and addition of industry veteran Eric Hippeau
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 12/04/2006 -- Goodmail Systems, Inc., creator of the CertifiedEmail service for trusted, assured email delivery, announced that it has secured $12 million in venture funding in a round led by new investor SoftBank Capital. SoftBank managing partner Eric Hippeau will join Goodmail's existing board of directors. SoftBank was joined in the round by previous investors DCM and Emergence Capital Partners.
Goodmail's CertifiedEmail provides a unique means of signaling email legitimacy and safety to recipients while providing accredited volume senders a secure, trusted channel of communications with their existing customers. Known for unique blue-ribbon envelope icon indicating a CertifiedEmail message, the service was launched with the support of major ISPs including AOL and Yahoo!
"SoftBank's investment in Goodmail Systems is based on the increasing dependence on email as a vital communications medium and the critical need for a technology that renews trust, restores email message integrity, and assures delivery of important messages from legitimate senders," said Hippeau. "Over the years, as spam and phishing have proliferated, the reliability and integrity of email communications has suffered. By offering a unique, trusted-class of email, we believe CertifiedEmail provides a compelling and comprehensive solution to the benefits of all of us who rely on email everyday."
Hippeau recognized the growing trend of online media early. Under his leadership of Ziff-Davis, ZDNet became a successful example of how strong online business models could evolve from traditional content businesses. As chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, he was instrumental in Softbank, Inc.'s first investment in Yahoo! in 1995 and also involved in most every other investment made by Softbank, Inc. in the U.S.
"We are extremely pleased to add the experience of Eric and SoftBank to the Goodmail team as we fulfill our mission to restore trust in email communications," said Richard Gingras, chairman and CEO of Goodmail Systems. "This investment enables us to expand our market presence, grow our customer base and educate email recipients about the security and safety benefits of CertifiedEmail."
Goodmail supports the delivery of trusted email between businesses and organizations with the best email practices and recipients who today require a greater level of assurance in the legitimacy and safety of email. Each CertifiedEmail message is sent with a unique, cryptographically-secure token that authenticates the email and is presented in the email interface with a special blue-ribbon trust icon. Senders that use the CertifiedEmail service obtain assured delivery to the server-level inbox with all email links and images presented intact as default.
Hippeau joins Goodmail's existing board, which includes Dixon Doll, co-founder and general partner of DCM; Jason Green, a founder and general partner of Emergence Capital Partners; former @Home executive Don Hutchinson; Scott Kurnit, founder and former chairman and CEO of About, Inc.; and Gingras.
About SoftBank Capital
SoftBank Capital is an independent venture capital firm focused on high-growth, technology-based businesses benefiting from the rapid deployment and adoption of broadband and mobile technologies. Through its current fund, SoftBank Capital Technology Fund III L.P., the firm has invested to date in Anystream, Associated Content, Aequus Technologies, Beliefnet, The Huffington Post, Insider Pages, LiteScape Technologies, Nellymoser, The NewsMarket, Perpetual Entertainment, Pivot Solutions, PureVideo, Thumbplay, V-Enable and Voxant. For more about SoftBank Capital see www.softbank.com.
About DCM
DCM is a top-performing venture capital firm supporting entrepreneurs building early-stage technology companies. DCM partners manage more than US$1.5 billion and have funded leading technology companies including 2Wire, 51job (Nasdaq: JOBS), @Motion (Openwave), About.com (The New York Times Co.), All About (JASDAQ: 2454), Dang Dang, Foundry Networks (Nasdaq: FDRY), HireRight, Internap (AMEX: IIP), IPivot (Intel), JCI (Nasdaq Japan - Hercules: 9424), Kabu.com (TSE:8703), nQuire (Siebel), PGP Corporation, Recourse Technologies (Symantec), Sigmatel (Nasdaq: SGTL), SMIC (NYSE: SMI), UUNet (MCI), Vimicro (Nasdaq: VIMC), and Worksoft. DCM offers hands-on operational guidance and access to an extensive network of resources, including close relationships with many of the Pacific Rim's leading companies and investors. For more information, please visit DCM's website at www.dcm.com.
About Emergence Capital Partners
Emergence Capital Partners is a leading venture capital firm serving early and growth-stage companies. Emergence Capital's mission is to build future market leaders who create innovative, high growth technology-enabled service businesses. The Emergence team has a proven track record of founding, investing and actively helping portfolio companies, with over 50 years of combined venture and operating experience at leading venture capital and technology firms such as Venrock Associates, U.S. Venture Partners, St. Paul Venture Capital, IBM and Salesforce.com For more information see www.emcap.com.
About Goodmail Systems
Goodmail Systems' CertifiedEmail service is the only system of its kind that assures delivery of opt-in email with all links and images automatically rendered intact. Developed to restore trust between volume senders and individuals, CertifiedEmail imprints messages with cryptographically secure tokens that vouchsafe email authenticity and legitimacy. Available only to senders meeting strict standards for best email practices and low complaint rates, CertifiedEmail messages are presented to users with a unique blue-ribbon icon, providing a measure of security against phishing. Recent case study data from the largest email marketers and financial senders show click-through rates as much as 32 percent higher and email business results (logins, sales) improved by up to 30 percent. CertifiedEmail is supported by leading mailbox providers such as AOL and Yahoo! as well as a wide network of industry leading email platforms, security solutions, and email service providers. For more information, please visit www.goodmailsystems.com.
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