Tumbleweed Communications Corp has closed a $4m investment from United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc. A year ago, UPS launched its Document Exchange service based on Tumbleweed’s Integrated Messaging Exchange (IME) technology. The service aims to provide secure, reliable digital document delivery using the internet and open standards – think certified email. IME includes encryption- based security and password protection, real-time tracking and delivery confirmation. Evidently pleased with the performance of the service, UPS has decided to take a stake in the company that made it possible. The investment closes Tumbleweed’s C round of financing, which raised $20m from investors including August Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Adobe Ventures LP, Bessemer Venture Partners, Sofinnova, Hambrecht & Quist and France Telecom.
VP of corporate development, Mark Pastore, explains that the real trick to certifying email is that software has to work for all customers. You can install a private network, but that’s too expensive and cumbersome, he told ComputerWire. You can install special software, but that’s impractical. So Tumbleweed’s system is web-based. Its server can send email notification of significant events to each interested party. Recipients are given a private web address that leads them into their browser. The whole exchange is protected with a combination of SSL, server- side encryption, password authentication and a web-based implementation of S-MIME.
Tumbleweed is far from being the only provider of secure, certified email. Of its rivals, Pastore says, Certifiedemail.com and Ziplip.com are aiming for the consumer market, e-Parcel and NetDocs offer client-based software with all the installation and administration headaches that come with it, and PostX is based on wrapping Java envelope around digital content. We found that those large file attachments can get stripped through email gateways, he said. With money in the bank and an open standards- based system, he’s confident that this Tumbleweed is moving forward with a purpose.
