March 2015
TEDCO Invests in 3 Maryland Cybersecurity Startups
Protenus, Ridgeback and Strajillion received funding from the Cybersecurity Investment Fund
COLUMBIA, Md. (March 19, 2015) – The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced today that three Maryland companies received funding from its Cybersecurity Investment Fund (CIF). Strajillion, Protenus, and Ridgeback are the first three companies, each receiving $100,000, through CIF. The Fund supports Maryland companies develop and commercialize new cybersecurity products or services by providing investments of up to $100,000.
“CIF is the first dedicated cybersecurity fund created in the State to help establish Maryland as the innovation hub of information security,” said Rob Rosenbaum, president and executive director of TEDCO. “We are extremely pleased to have funded these companies and believe they have created very unique products and with the financial support from CIF, are confident they can accelerate their development and commercial launch.”
Strajillion, located in Johns Hopkins Fast Forward incubator, empowers and supports parents raising kids in the mobile + social world with its modern parenting tool RAKKOON. The cloud-based management tool enables parents to see where their children are, what apps they are using, who they are communicating with, and what they are saying. It is Mobile Device Management (MDM) for parents, but with family-specific features and enhancements, such as social media intelligence.
Protenus Inc., co-located with Sage Growth Partners in Baltimore, helps hospitals protect patient data in the electronic medical record using analytical tools that detect privacy breaches in real-time. The company’s solution takes a new approach to HIPAA compliance that empowers hospitals with the ability to detect, thwart, and remediate patient privacy breaches as they occur in electronic health records.
Ridgeback Network Defense, located in bwtech@UMBC incubator, offers a security appliance is a low-maintenance cyber security device that attaches to an organization’s networks. Ridgeback actively defends an organization’s assets by analyzing network activity in real time, modeling the flow of information and evaluating the appropriateness of all activity occurring on the network. Ridgeback provides an in-memory automated response to information security intrusions and, through alerting and mitigation techniques effectively neutralizes these threats.
“We are thrilled to receive investment from TEDCO’s CIF program,” said Robert Lord, co-founder of Protenus. “This investment will help us build and test our product to deliver dependable data on the internal use and management of patient information and to scale to multiple hospitals.”
Funding from TEDCO’s CIF program help companies achieve early technical milestones that are critical to advancing their cybersecurity technologies toward commercialization. Qualifying cybersecurity technologies include all of the processes and mechanisms by which any devices or software that are part of, or connected to, any digital network are protected from unintended or unauthorized access, vulnerabilities, attacks, use, change or destruction. Additionally, computer and critical infrastructure security includes protection from unplanned events and natural disasters.
General guidelines and an application for the CIF can be found on the TEDCO website. The applications are accepted monthly by the 15th. Entrepreneurs interested in applying for the fund may contact Ron Kaese, Program Manager, by phone at 410-715-4170 or by email at rkaese@tedco.md.
The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) is the go-to source for entrepreneurial support and guidance for start-ups and early-stage companies engaged in bringing innovative ideas to market. For more than a decade, the organization has provided funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to support Maryland’s innovation ecosystem. While founded by the Maryland General Assembly, TEDCO is an independent entity that makes seed/early-stage investments and manages private capital for angel and venture capital funds. It is frequently ranked as one of the most active seed/early-stage investors in the nation. The organization plays a key role in bringing research created in Maryland’s educational institutions and federal laboratories into the commercial marketplace. For more information on TEDCO and its programs and resources, visit www.TEDCO.md.
Media Contact:
Fulya Gursel
(410) 715-4178
fgursel@tedco.md
