Corvigo
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information technology, Cybersecurity |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Defunct | 2008 |
| Fate | Acquired by Axway Software (subsidiary of Sopra Group) |
| Headquarters | Redwood City, California , United States |
| Products | MailGate, SecureTransport, Validation Authority |
| Parent | Axway Software (from 2008) |
Tumbleweed Communications Corp. was a company focused on delivering secure messaging and file transfer technologies tailored for enterprise and governmental organizations. Established in 1993, it went public in 1999, trading on NASDAQ under the ticker TMWD. In 2008, Tumbleweed combined operations with Axway, which operates as a subsidiary of the Sopra Group.
The company’s product lineup—including MailGate, SecureTransport, and Validation Authority—was designed to meet cybersecurity requirements by preventing threats, safeguarding data, and supporting secure commercial communications. MailGate provided email defense by filtering spam, viruses, and attacks through policy-driven controls and encryption methods. SecureTransport enabled the transmission of large files securely without requiring proprietary clients. Validation Authority offered verification services for digital certificate validity.
With a customer base of roughly 2,300 enterprise and government entities, Tumbleweed primarily served industries such as financial services, healthcare, and public sector agencies.
Merger
- Axway Software completed the acquisition of Tumbleweed in 2008.
- In 2004, Tumbleweed expanded its portfolio by acquiring Corvigo, which brought the Linux-based anti-spam appliance MailGate into its offerings.
- The integration of SecureTransport was achieved through the 2003 purchase of Valicert.
- Earlier, in 2000, Tumbleweed acquired Worldtalk.
Revenue
Tumbleweed reported gross revenues near $50 million USD in 2005 from its products and services, with licensing fees contributing approximately $3 million USD.
By 2006, revenue increased by 24%, reaching $62 million USD. The following year saw a revenue decrease of 7.3%, totaling $57.5 million USD.
Awards
In January 2007, MailGate 5550 earned the SC Magazine Best of 2006 "Recommended" distinction within the Anti-Spam category.
Patents
The company held a collection of 22 utility patents alongside one US design patent. Among these, US patent 6192407 covered systems for document delivery utilizing unique URLs assigned to recipients. These intellectual property rights were licensed to 29 different organizations.
Tumbleweed engaged in multiple patent infringement litigations, resulting in settlements with notable corporations such as:
- PayPal — terms of settlement remain confidential.
- Hallmark Cards — agreed to license the patents.
- Yahoo! and HSBC Bank USA — settlements reached favorable to defendants.
- DST Systems and NewRiver — consented to pay royalties amounting to four cents per electronic delivery that used personalized URLs.
Licensing revenue accounted for about 6% of Tumbleweed’s total income.
Competitors
Tumbleweed’s main competitors included:
Representative customers
Prominent clients comprised: