47. Cocoon Data

Founder: Trent Telford, Stephen Thompson, Larry Nussbaum

Revenue: $330,000

Year: 2007-10-01

Head Office: New South Wales

Employees: 18

Industry: IT & Technology

Website: https://www.cocoondata.com

Australian software developer Cocoon Data hit the headlines in October 2010 when it was rumoured to be in negotiations with mobile phone giant Research in Motion, the name behind the iconic Blackberry.

Cocoon, which is an unlisted public company mainly held by a group of sophisticated private investors, is developing a secure file transfer technology called Secure Objects for use by corporations and government departments.

“We allow a user to send and store critical, private and sensitive information safely and securely without the need to download software, using military-grade encryption,” founder Trent Telford says.

The Blackberry deal would have involved RIM offering users – including many government departments and businesses for whom the Blackberry is the gold standard for secure mobile devices – the ability to encrypt message from their handsets.

It’s unknown if the deal went ahead, although a story about the rumours is featured prominently on the Cocoon website.

Cocoon’s Secure Objects technology, which is patent pending, is also waiting to receive approval for a standard known as “Common Criteria EAL 4+” that is used in 26 countries in the world as a sort of gold standard for cyber security.

Achieving this certification for governments to use the software to handle and transmit information classified as “secret”.

“We make it more secure and easier to use to alleviate one of the greatest threats to secure communication – ease of use,” Telford says.