Premier consumer security and privacy suite ZenMate today announced a $3.2 million Series A funding round led by influential German internet investors Holtzbrinck Ventures.
Holtzbrinck Ventures is also joined by current investor and company builder Project A Ventures in this round, while new investors include Shortcut Ventures and T-Venture, both of whom can offer potential strategic support to ZenMate’s growing mobile offerings, thanks to Limited Partners of ePlus and Deutsche Telekom respectively.
Launched in July 2013, ZenMate offers a free agnostic internet security solution for desktop and mobile, which acts in a similar way to a VPN connection. The startup’s technology recently won the Europas Award for Best Security/Privacy Startup of 2014.
Initially launched as a browser extension for Google Chrome, ZenMate announced versions for iOS and Android in August 2014. Today the startup also announces a new product for Firefox browsers, the first to the market for a worldwide VPN-like encryption service for Mozilla fans.
ZenMate additionally announces today that its registered users have grown to more than 5 million in 180 countries in just over a year. ZenMate’s founder and CEO, Simon Specka said: “Over the past 18 months we have focused on making ZenMate the best of its kind, and watched it grow to be a product that millions around the world have come to trust. With our new investment we hope to scale and grow our product family, to become the number-one privacy solution of its kind.”
Barbod Namini, Principal at Holtzbrinck Ventures said: “We saw an incredibly talented team in ZenMate, with deep technical knowledge and a crystal-clear product vision. Their already global reach and strong growth puts them on the right path to becoming a household name in internet security.”
By the way: If you’d like to stay up-to-date regarding startup news and interesting opportunities, make sure to subscribe to our free weekly EU-Startups Newsletter.