Zkey.com (formerly Zcentral.com), a division
of SDN Online Inc., closed on $10 million in second-round financing from Bear
Ventures, Ridgely Capital, Zone Ventures and Oracle Corp.
Zkey.com said its vision is to make the Zkey a universal, ubiquitous key “for
enabling simplified and accurate information exchange between businesses and
people, both on and off the Web.”
This includes the migration of the desktop
to the Web, unified messaging, wireless Web delivery to cell phones and
pagers, Web-based applications and smart and dumb card based solutions.
Bear Ventures, a private equity investment fund focusing on growth and
Internet related investments, led the round with a $5 million investment.
“In our deals we look for and provide three things: Leadership, strategy and
capital,” said Philip Erdoes, president of Bear Ventures. “Zkey had the first
two down cold; we were glad to provide capital. The Zkey team has done a
great job of taking this company
from a backyard idea to a paradigm shifting entity.”
“The Zkey is one of those very simple ideas that turns out to be
revolutionary, as the Hotmail model was to viral marketing,” said Frank
Creer, managing partner with Zone Ventures. “We are very excited about the
future of this company.”