PALO ALTO, CA, AGARI, formerly Authentication Metrics, Incorporated (AMI), today announced $2.5 million in Series A funding and the rebranding of the company as AGARI. The investment was led by Alloy Ventures with participation from Battery Ventures, First Round Capital and Greylock Partners.

The company will use the funds to scale its cloud-based Email Trust Fabric to protect brand reputation, eliminate email threats, and prevent the loss of sensitive data. AGARI developed its Email Trust Fabric to provide real-time processing of 1.5 billion messages daily to protect major brands in the Financial, E-Commerce, and Social Media sectors at more than a billion consumer mailboxes.

"Email is the most widely used form of communication in history, yet it remains untrusted and subject to constant attack. If we are to continue to rely on email and expand its scope of possibilities, we must be able to trust it. Our notable and insightful investors join AGARI in promoting a trusted email environment," said Patrick Peterson, AGARI founder and CEO and Cisco Fellow. "AGARI's Email Trust Fabric introduces a new model for online communications, shifting from reactive to proactive controls that protect customers, prevent brand dilution and enable new email applications."

"We are delighted to have led this financing and believe AGARI is redefining how to establish trust in email," said Ammar Hanafi, General Partner at Alloy Ventures. "When Patrick came to us with his vision, we immediately saw the value AGARI could bring to companies and consumers alike. We look forward to working with AGARI, and seeing their solution protect brands and consumers across the cloud."

"AGARI is reinventing the way companies think about their messaging infrastructure, and more importantly helping them reclaim the trust and credibility of their online brand," said Battery Ventures General Partner, Sunil Dhaliwal. "Patrick's deep background in the industry and clear vision for what comes next is a killer combination. We look forward to helping him and the entire AGARI team redefine this market."

"With the continued innovation in online commerce and finance, both brands and consumers are relying on email more than ever before. It's critical for it to remain a trusted communication channel," said Kent Goldman, Principal, First Round Capital. "Patrick and the AGARI team are leveraging insights from massive datasets to protect consumers from phishing and spam, while safeguarding brands from malicious attacks."

"Patrick Peterson is a world-class technologist and a recognized pioneer in email security," said Asheem Chandna, Partner at Greylock Partners. "AGARI allows brands to use email as a trusted method to build and engage online communities with confidence. We're excited to back Patrick and the rest of the AGARI team in their mission to establish the industry's leading cloud-based Email Trust Fabric."

AGARI's genesis was technology first created by IronPort Systems, and further developed at Cisco after it acquired IronPort Systems in 2007.

About AGARI, Inc. (formerly Authentication Metrics, Inc.)

AGARI collects terabytes of email data from sources across the Internet to create a cloud-based solution to assess, visualize, and protect against email threats to brands, such as phishing and other fraud. Founded by the thought leaders behind Cisco's IronPort solutions, the AGARI platform provides global brands with the tools needed to proactively protect brand reputation, eliminate email threats, protect customers and prevent the loss of sensitive data. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., AGARI is backed by Alloy Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, and Greylock Partners. Additional information is available on our website at http://www.agari.com.

About Alloy Ventures

Based in Palo Alto, California, the partners of Alloy Ventures have been providing venture capital funding to entrepreneurs since 1977. With over $1 billion under management, Alloy's focus is on the next generation of ground-breaking Life Science, Information Technology and Cleantech companies. Our current portfolio includes companies like Barrx, Mavenir, Molecular Imprints, NuGen, Optimedica, Pacific Biosciences, Teradici, ViVotech, and YouSendIt which are poised to become the next global leaders. Additional information is available on our website at www.alloyventures.com.

About Battery Ventures

Since 1983, Battery has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide. The firm partners with entrepreneurs and management teams across technology sectors, geographies and stages of a company's life, from start-up and expansion financing, to growth equity and buyouts.

Battery has supported many breakthrough companies around the world, including: Airespace (acquired by Cisco), Akamai Technologies, BladeLogic (acquired by BMC Software), Cbeyond, ITA Software (acquired by Google), LIFFE (acquired by Euronext), MetroPCS, Neoteris (acquired by Netscreen), Omniture (acquired by Adobe), and Skullcandy.

Battery's current enterprise IT and infrastructure portfolio includes companies such as ActivePath, Calxeda, Opscode, XtremIO, Viddy, VSS Monitoring and Zerto.

From offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, Battery manages $4B in committed capital, including its current fund of $750M. For more information visit www.battery.com or the firm's infrastructure IT blog www.thewholestack.com. Follow Battery on Twitter at @BatteryVentures.

About First Round Capital

First Round Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm dedicated to helping talented entrepreneurs build great companies. As seed-stage investors, we often provide a company's first outside capital - and are not afraid of funding pre-revenue companies. First Round Capital's portfolio is a community of web-enabled businesses led by entrepreneurs, guided by an active partnership and connected through a technology platform designed to support companies throughout their growth. The firm's current portfolio includes companies like StumbleUpon, One Kings Lane, Bazaarvoice, Modcloth, RockMelt, Uber and Square. First Round Capital invests nationally with offices in San Francisco, New York and Philadelphia.

About Greylock Partners

Greylock partners with entrepreneurs to help them build market-leading businesses. Over the past 45 years the firm has worked with hundreds of companies, 150 of which have gone on to IPOs and 100 of which have gone on to profitable M&A events. Such companies include Ascend Communications, CheckFree, Constant Contact, Continental Cable, Decru, Data Domain, DoubleClick, Internet Security Systems, Legato, Media Metrix, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Openwave, Open Market, OutlookSoft, Polyserve, Red Hat, RightNow Technologies, Success Factors, Tellabs, Trilogy and Wily Technology. Current Greylock portfolio companies include Apptio, Cloudera, Coupons.com, Data Robotics, Facebook, Groupon, Imperva, LinkedIn, One Kings Lane, Palo Alto Networks, Pandora, Picarro, Redfin, Tumblr, Workday and ZipCar.