The Tunnel Technology's Angel

AnchorFree, which was established in November 2005, received a series C investment in the amount of 6 million dollars in 2006, 4.8 in 2008 and 52 million from Goldman Sachs recently. Around 20 million people in the world, with 2 million of them in Turkey, use the technology of this firm, which has 70 employees.

Rhymes, who is a graduate of the Dokuz Eylül University Economoics Department and Carnegie Mellon University, states that the market value of their company is 1 billion dollars and since they offer free download options, they have an advantage compared to other firms. Currently, there are about 12 firms offering tunnel technology for desktops and 15 for mobiles.

Pointing out that they sometimes face difficulties with governments and FBI, who desire to have access to the users’ information, Rhymes says they never keep any personal information in their databases, so, they do not have to share anything. She adds, “We spend more money in order not to keep any user information on our server. Although it is normally less costly to keep such information, we spend this extra money to show our customers that we value their security.”

In addition to the US, the firm also has another office in Sweden. Rhymes explains that one of their goals is to reach out to the public through either buying firms or joining them together.

Having served as the vice president of the marketing firm LSF Interactive and structured its marketing department prior to her experience at AnchorFree, Rhymes says that they are preferred not only by those who want to access banned sites but also by those who cannot access other countries’ broadcasts due to political issues. For example, those who can’t watch the British BBC channel in Ireland use the AnchorFree service.

Their service is not solely used in countries where social media is banned. Users prefer this service also when they don’t want their location to be known.

Regarding the Egypt or Tunisian experience, Rhymes notes that they are not the reason for the revolution but they served as a mediator in making people’s voices heard. The majority of the AnchorFree users consist of people in the USA and Muslim countries, such as Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan.

In the company that has 70 employees.  In addition to Rhymes, there is another Turk, Levent Sapçı, who is the head of the marketing department.