- GeoTrust
Infobox Brand
logo=
name=Geotrust
type=Public key certificates
currentowner=VeriSign
origin=flagcountry|USA
discontinued=
related=
markets=World
previousowners=
trademarkregistrations=
website=http://www.geotrust.com/GeoTrust is a large
digital certificate provider.GeoTrust was a restarted company in 2001 that acquired the security business of
Equifax . The Equifax business was the basis of its fast growth. The founders of the restarted company were CEO Neal Creighton, CTO Chris Bailey and Principal Engineer Kefeng Chen. Having no previous fund raising experience Creighton, Bailey and Chen used an existing (almostbankrupt ) company as the vehicle to acquire the business they had started at Equifax. The buyout of the Equifax certificate business was inexpensive given the final exit price in 2006. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/12/03/daily41.html Mass High Tech, ACG name top Tech Dealmakers for 2007 - Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology: ] ]VeriSign acquired GeoTrust on5 September 2006 for $125 million in cash. The main investors were Prism Venture Partners, Castile Ventures and VesBridge.The pre 2001 GeoTrust was focused on the B to B exchange market which never materialized. GeoTrust became one of the few startup dotcom companies able to restart in a new direction and to achieve a successful outcome. ACG/ Mass High tech named VeriSign's acquisition of GeoTrust as the sell side deal of the year for 2006. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech/stories/2007/12/03/daily41.html Mass High Tech, ACG name top Tech Dealmakers for 2007] ] With GeoTrust's history, several folks have had the title of co-founder - which is true. There are founders of the old GeoTrust which started in 1999 and had to restart in 2001 -and founders of the restarted company in 2001 that sold to VeriSign in 2006 for $125 million. Basically, these can be viewed as two distinct companies with the same name in completely different businesses. [ [http://www.redherring.com/Home/16904 VeriSign Buys GeoTrust: $125M ] ]
References
External links
* [http://www.geotrust.com/ Geotrust web site]
* [http://www.geotrusteurope.com/ Geotrust Europe web site]
* [http://www.geotrust.co.jp/ Geotrust Japan web site]
* [http://www.geotrustaustralia.com/ Geotrust Australia web site]
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