Video Archives

Ceelox, Inc.

Product Name

Scram

Market Segment

Consumer

Funding

Seed round: Private investors, $3 million. Raising Series A in mid-2007.

Competitors

PostX, Message Secure, PGP

Product Description

Scram, a private messaging medium for both email and instant messaging, hides message text and attachments inside of images. This unique form of encrypting messages, known as steganography (steg), allows only the intended recipients to view the contents of the steg image. Steg images can be produced using any digital picture, enabling advertisers to hide premiums available only to intended recipients inside them.

Market Opportunity

The use of steg as advertising opens a whole new market for interactive online advertising. The market for secure messaging is expected to reach $3.7 billion by 2009, according to In-Stat Research. No market data exists that includes the consumer market, but TNS Media Intelligence estimates the Internet advertising market at nearly $10 billion.

Demo Says

Steganography, biometric authentication, synchronous key system— the description of Ceelox’s Scram can seem a bit daunting at first. But it essentially boils down to a technology that could revolutionize email and virtually erase online identity theft. This ingenious little Outlook plug-in allows users to embed sensitive documents into harmless-looking images. Only the intended recipient, identified by the sender, can decrypt the hidden message within. The real kicker is that Ceelox believes Scram should be available to everyday consumers; in order to make that financially possible, they’re selling the image space to advertisers. Hack-proof email that’s incredibly intuitive and easily monetized. Did we mention it also works in IM?