Inversoft CEO and Founder Brian Pontarelli is speaking about online safety at the
Digital Kids Conference in New York later this week. "It's about how we make sure kids are safe and how we keep the environment healthy," he says.
Pontarelli started Inversoft in 2009 after realizing there was a market for screening user names, message boards and other online content for objectionable language.
"I saw this need," says Pontarelli. "There was nothing out there."
Pontarelli developed what he calls "an intelligent language filter." Online gaming companies loved it, and Nintendo was an early client. Now numerous brand-name companies like Disney use Inversoft's products.
"It's the only filter that understands how people get around a filter and how they use language," he says. "With a single word, the filter finds all the variations people come up with."
Annual contracts start at $20,000 for Inversoft's filter. The company also offers moderation services to supplement its software.
Inversoft has operated in the black without any outside capital since day one. "There was no funding at all," says Pontarelli. "We hit the ground running and have been cash-flow positive ever since."
Now four employees, the company "could grow to 20" if it gets traction with real-time moderation services, says Pontarelli, noting, "We could be scaling up very quickly."
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