GeoTrust Closes $11.1 Million Financing

Leader in Trust Solutions for Internet Security Infrastructure Poised for Next Stage of Growth
September 10, 2001 - BOSTON, MA. - GeoTrust, Inc.(www.geotrust.com), a leader in trust solutions for the Internet security infrastructure, today announced that it has closed an $11.1-million expansion round of financing from St. Paul Venture Capital, CB Capital, and Castile Ventures. The funds will be used to fuel global expansion following the recent successful introduction of True Site™, the world's first second-generation Internet trust solution.

"We were impressed by GeoTrust's management team, disruptive technology, value proposition, and market opportunity," said Zenas Hutcheson, General Partner of lead investor, St. Paul Venture Capital. "GeoTrust's technology addresses the critical problem of site identity trust on the WWW simply and affordably. By enhancing secure socket layer (SSL) certificates with a superior web business credential at a lower price, GeoTrust offers compelling value to business users and channel partners, while leveraging the large high-growth SSL market"

GeoTrust has emerged as a leading innovator in the 3As - authentication, authorization and administration - sector of the Security Market, which IDC projects to grow to $9.5-billion by 2005. With its unique technology and extreme operating cost advantages, GeoTrust is well positioned to capitalize on the critical Internet trust issue.

Trust in the security of transactions and in the identities of a transaction's parties is the essential foundation of the Internet security infrastructure. First-generation SSL encryption solutions have built a good foundation of transaction security. However, SSL fails to provide identity trust. A growing number of business identity theft incidents have led to a scramble for solutions. To address this problem, GeoTrust has extended SSL with its recently announced True Site Seal product, the World's first and only "smart seal" Identity Trust solution ready for mass commercialization.

"We are very pleased to successfully conclude this round of financing, particularly given the extremely difficult market conditions," GeoTrust CEO Neal Creighton said. "This endorsement comes as we begin commercializing more than two years of intensive R&D effort, which has already resulted in five patents, pending, and is the core foundation of our new True Site products."

True Site, GeoTrust's flagship offering, utilizes patent-pending Identity Trust technology to enable transparent verification of site identities. By coupling industry-standard SSL certificates with smart seals, True Site offers a compelling value, at one-third the price of previous SSL-only offerings.

"The True Site Seal adds a great deal of credibility to small and medium businesses struggling to establish themselves," said Greg Way, co-founder of Infodial (www.infodial.com), one of the top Internet Service Providers with more than 150,000 supported domains. "Coupling True Site Seal and True Site SSL gives a complete solution at an incredible price."

About St. Paul Venture Capital

St. Paul Venture Capital is one of the largest early-stage venture capital funds in the United States with $3.0 billion in committed capital and offices in Minneapolis, Boston and Silicon Valley. The firm, founded in 1988, invests primarily in the areas of Communications, Business Applications & Software, Consumer Technology and Health Care. For more information, visit the firm's Web site at www.stpaulvc.com.

About GeoTrust, Inc.

GeoTrust, Inc.(www.geotrust.com), a leader in trust solutions for the Internet security infrastructure, is paving the way to a new world of trust and business opportunity. GeoTrust's second-generation Internet trust solutions, based on breakthrough identity trust and world-class digital certificate technologies, enable Web sites, enterprises and individuals to safely exploit the Internet.