eGuardian Signs Agreement with i-Safe

IRVINE, Calif., June 24, 2009 – eGuardian, the digital identification company that protects children on the Internet, has signed a partnership agreement with i-SAFE, the e-safety education company that has educated and empowered more than 8.5 million children worldwide to be safe digital citizens. The announcement was made today by Stephen Block, lead investor in eGuardian from the Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the nation’s largest angel investment network. According to Block, who is a member of the eGuardian board of directors, “This partnership represents one of the most significant steps in the protection of children online that has yet been made in the market. It also shows the powerful growth and success of eGuardian, our TCA-invested company.”

 

eGuardian employs patented technology and processes to absolutely verify the age, gender and location of member children to subscribing web partners. Armed with this validated information, popular social networking sites, chat and e-mail can be rendered safe from sexual predators and adult content, making them appropriate for the child audience. eGuardian requires no software, subscriptions or complicated set-up and costs only $29 per child for a lifetime enrollment, so it is easy for parents to access. Under terms of the agreement with i-SAFE, the eGuardian product will be offered as part of the i-SAFE educational program to schools for kindergarten through 12^th grade.

 

Ron Zayas, chief executive officer of eGuardian, said, “We’re very excited about our relationship with i-SAFE. Since the two companies share a mission of keeping children safe online, and both work with officials at the boards of education and state levels, the partnership is a natural.”

 

Teri Schroeder, chief executive officer of i-SAFE, added, “At i-SAFE, we approach the problem of online safety from an educational point of view and eGuardian comes from a technological one, but the core synergies are undeniable. We are both empowering children to protect themselves and giving educators and parents the tools to help accomplish that.”

 

TCA invested in eGuardian in August 2008, and according to Ron Zayas, has been instrumental in the company’s ensuing success. Zayas stated, “We originally approached TCA back at the end of 2007 with a business plan. At that time we had a business model in mind that involved the creation of complex proprietary software. TCA investors asked us such great, probing questions that we went away and decided to revise our model to the open-standards we employ today. TCA made the investment in 2008 and since then, Stephen Block and fellow investors have worked with us hand-in-hand to develop our partnership strategies and secure additional funding. While the money was great, the support we continue to get from our TCA investors is simply invaluable. We wouldn’t have secured the i-SAFE partnership or our other relationships without TCA’s mentoring.”

 

 

Founded in 1998 and active in all 50 states, i-SAFE Inc. is the leader in e-Safety education. i-SAFE is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and empower students, parents, seniors, and community members to safely and responsibly take control of their Internet experiences. i-SAFE provides knowledge that will enable them to recognize and avoid dangerous, destructive, or unlawful online behavior, and to respond appropriately. This is accomplished through dynamic K through 12 curriculum and community-outreach programs to students, parents, law enforcement, and community leaders. i-SAFE is the only e-Safety foundation to combine these elements. i-SAFE Inc. is recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Additional information on i-SAFE can be found at www.isafe.org.

 

Tech Coast Angels, https://tcaventuregroup.com, is the largest angel investor group in the United States. Its members provide funding and guidance to more early-stage, high-growth companies in Southern California than any other investment group. Since its inception in 1997, TCA members have focused on building valuable companies, personally invested over $100 million, and helped portfolio companies attract more than $1 billion in additional capital, mostly from venture capital firms. TCA members invest in companies in a wide range of industries, including the life sciences, biotech, IT, services, retail, Internet, financial, software, media, consumer products and tech startups. TCA members give companies more than just capital; they also provide counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of potential investors, customers, strategic partners and management talent. TCA has more than 250 members, including its venture capital affiliates, in five networks in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Westlake/Santa Barbara and the Inland Empire. More information on investment with Tech Coast Angels can be found at https://tcaventuregroup.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/techcoastangels.