Quova raises $21 million

Quova, whose technology helps marketers track consumers based on their physical location, says it has raised $21 million in a round of funding led by Internet security company VeriSign. The funding also included former investors Softbank Venture Capital, IDG Ventures and Fidelity Ventures.

Quova's software, GeoPoint, lets online businesses approximate the geographic location of Net-connected devices for the purpose of marketing, digital rights management, security, authentication and fraud detection. VeriSign and Quova plan to jointly promote industry adoption of Quova's geo-location technology for security purposes. In a separate announcement, the company said that Net industry pioneer Craig Fields, a former board member of Network Solutions, will join Quova's board of directors.