startupmania

Petach Tikva based PostalGuard, which develops e-mail based distribution channels for the financial market, has just completed a venture capital fund raising round totaling at $4 million from the Genesis Partners fund as well as private investors. Genesis’ Jonathan Saacks is joining the company’s board of directors.

PostalGuard’s CEO and one of its founders is Aryeh Mergi, who founded AM-Systems. The company has developed unique, secure e-mail based solutions that allow transfer of data and encrypted documents, so that banks and other financial institutions can conduct internet-based communication with their customers. PostalGuard’s solutions allow direct teller-client communication as well as sending messages and alerts on the client’s bank account. The company is intending to expand its solutions, so that clients can preform actions such as managing loans, opening deposits, cash transfers and more, all via e-mail.

According to Mergi, most banks in Israel and the world operate rich websites, while most clients continue to make heavy use of the banks physical branches and phone services. “PostalGuard’s solution allow banks to strengthen their service to the client, leverage marketing maneuvers via the internet as well as save on paper and mail expenses.” Mergi adds that only 50% of bank clients are registered to their respective bank’s website, and a good majority of those who are registered, only use the website to view their account, rather than preform actions. “Internet users across the world use e-mail as their main communication platform; this is an opportunity to meet them in the realm they are most active in.”

Among the company founders are Ariel Walersztajn, VP of sales and marketing and Ram Cohen, VP of technologies. It serves dozens of clients, consisting of most of the Israeli banks, as well as making contact with some of the leading banks in the world to sell its products. According to Mergi, the company intends to utilize the funds it raised to continue and invest in research and development as well as expand its marketing in Europe and the US. At first, the company is focusing on the retail banking market and plans to expand, later on, to other financial branches such as investment houses.

Jonathan Saacks, a general partner at Genesis, said that “the e-Banking market is a large market which is constantly growing and we have no doubt that PostalGuard, that has already proven itself in the Israeli market, will be a central player.”

Translated by Itai Rosenbaum