PHILADELPHIA, March 30, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Innovation Philadelphia announced today that an Economic Stimulus Fund Investment has been made in Conshohocken, PA-based TurnTide(tm), the inventor of the world's first Anti-Spam Router (ASR).
Innovation Philadelphia is a public-private partnership that grows the wealth and workforce of the Greater Philadelphia Region through pre-seed and early-stage investments in technology companies. Innovation Philadelphia uses Economic Stimulus Fund investments to grow, attract and retain technology-based companies with experienced management teams, who need financing in order to expand their business.
TurnTide, which was founded in January 2004, boasts a management team steeped in technology entrepreneurship. Lucinda Duncalfe Holt, former chief executive officer of Internet consulting firm, Destiny WebSolutions, and David Brussin, CISSP, chief technology officer and inventor of the system, co-founded the company. Josh Kopelman, founder of Half.com, is TurnTide's chairman, and Vince Schiavone, founder of 4Anything.com and ePrivacy Group, serves as the company's chief strategic officer. Recently TurnTide unveiled the ASR at DEMO 2004, the number-one launch pad for emerging technology.
"TurnTide has a revolutionary product that is different than other anti-spam solutions and which can significantly reduce a business' costs," said Christopher Starr, Managing Director and Vice President of Investments at Innovation Philadelphia. "We're excited about this product and the team's strong track record in technology, innovation, and management success."
TurnTide ASR is the first solution that deals head-on with the volume of spam. Working alone or in conjunction with a spam filter, TurnTide offers enterprises and service providers a unique anti-spam service through the ASR, which sits at the perimeter of clients' networks and, through TCP traffic shaping, controls the traffic flow that is allowed into the protected network.
"Innovation Philadelphia's investment and confidence in our product, management team and employees helps us move forward in building a great company," said Duncalfe Holt. "We believe that TurnTide offers a great product that solves a significant challenge that businesses are facing. Our intention is to continue to build and grow a strong company that has the potential to be a model for other technology successes in our region and throughout the world."
The company's pipeline is growing with thirteen clients already on board, including Athenet, Aristotle, BCN, CellularOne AZ, and St. Olaf College. In addition, TurnTide recently announced that for Aristotle, an independent national Internet Service Provider (ISP), the ASR reduced e-mail spam volume by 90 percent within four weeks.
"When you invest in a company led by serial entrepreneurs like Josh Kopelman and Lucinda Duncalfe Holt, you expect the best," said Rich Bendis, President and CEO of Innovation Philadelphia. "The work they've already done for Aristotle proves TurnTide will exceed our expectations."
TurnTide joins other recipients of Innovation Philadelphia's Economic Stimulus Fund investments, including IPR International, Ricochet Manufacturing, Gentis, Inc., Immune Control, Inc., and DFT MicroSystems, Inc.
About TurnTide, Inc.
TurnTide(tm) offers a unique, patent-pending, anti-spam system that revolutionizes the arsenal in the war against spam. TurnTide Anti-Spam Router (ASR) is the first in a new class of anti-spam solutions that provides perimeter-based email security. Sitting at the edge of the network, TurnTide ASR limits the bandwidth and resources that spammers can use - the system actually prevents spam from leaving the spammers' server. This makes it expensive for spammers to send messages and over time, spammers abandon their attacks into TurnTide-protected networks. TurnTide offers its clients an E-Series of the product, designed for large enterprises and educational institutions, and an SP-Series, designed for Internet Service Providers. The company is headquartered in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA and its website is at www.TurnTide.com.
About Innovation Philadelphia
Innovation Philadelphia is a public/private partnership created to grow the wealth and the workforce of the Greater Philadelphia Region's Innovation Economy by growing, attracting, and retaining technology-based businesses to the Region.
Innovation Philadelphia accomplishes this mission by providing technology-based and early-stage businesses with traditional seed capital, access to alternative funding sources, commercialization assistance, entrepreneurial resources, and intellectual capital. Visit Innovation Philadelphia at www.IPphila.com.