PRESS RELEASE:
New funding to be used to accelerate plans to recruit employees and advance the BC tech firm’s goal of eliminating cyber-bullying from the social web
KELOWNA, British Columbia–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 28, 2016–
Two Hat Security, creator of advanced community management software Community Sift, is proud to announce the closing of its $1.6M Seed round. iNovia Capital led the financing and will be working with the company through its next phase of growth. Comerica is also providing an additional $900K of bank funding as part of this financing. The main focus of the company going forward will be on sales and product.
As of today, Community Sift services communities spanning over 225 countries worldwide, and is under contract to process 4 billion messages a day.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to work closely with iNovia. The level of expertise that they bring to our organization has proven to be a huge asset,” said Karen Olsson, COO at Two Hat. “They genuinely understand what we are trying to achieve, both from a business and global impact perspective.”
“Our team is doing something nearly impossible: creating a troll-free internet,” said Chris Priebe, CEO and Founder of Community Sift. “We chose iNovia because we believe in what they bring to the table. We’ve already been able to achieve great things with our current scale, but we need to do significantly more if we are going to seriously put a dent in cyberbullying and hate speech. With iNovia’s help, we will be the go-to solution to create healthy online communities.”
“Interacting through online communities is increasingly a key element of building and maintaining relationships,” said Shawn Abbott, Partner at iNovia Capital. “Every community we’re a part of has its own unique and nuanced culture, shaped by its membership’s shared expectations and behaviour. I was struck by Chris’ unparalleled command of these powerful ideas and Community Sift’s affirmative approach to creating positive communities. We believe Community Sift will emerge as the prefered global platform for achieving and reinforcing every community’s unique goals.”
The funding follows hot on the heels of a press explosion. Over 200 media outlets have covered Community Sift in the recent months, acknowledging their success in providing a much-anticipated solution to the online harassment problem. As the debate rages on over who is responsible for the safety of internet users, some platforms have begun to step forward as leaders in the movement toward a safer social web. Community Sift welcomes ROBLOX and WildWorks (creators of Animal Jam) as new clients.
With a feature in the Startup Showcase at this year’s South by Southwest (SxSW) and a spot on the 2016 Ready to Rocket list, Two Hat is well on its way to achieving widespread recognition as a fast-growing company with high potential for market breakthroughs in the coming year.
About Community Sift
Community Sift is changing the world, one online community at a time. Born out of a desire to end harassment on the social web, Community Sift combines artificial intelligence with human experience to classify text and images on a scale of risk, all while taking context into account. Rulesets are fully customizable so clients can address a range of issues separately and appropriately. www.communitysift.com
About iNovia Capital
iNovia is an early stage venture capital firm that partners with visionary entrepreneurs to build the next generation of digital platforms and services. We leverage our distributed team and network of experienced founders, company builders and engineers to foster the growth of category-defining businesses. Headquartered in Canada, iNovia manages $450M and invests across North America. www.inovia.vc.
About Comerica
Comerica, Inc. is an American financial services company comprised of three strategic business segments: The Business Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth Management. Currently headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Comerica focuses on relationships and helping people and businesses be successful. As of March 31, 2016, Comerica reported total assets of $69 billion. www.comerica.com.
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View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160628005484/en/
Two Hat Security
Chris Gliddon, 250-864-0221
Director of Marketing
chris.gliddon@2hatsecurity.com