Online security and privacy startup, ZenMate has landed £2 million ($3.2 million) in Series-A funding round.
The round was led by Holtzbrinck Ventures with participation from existing patron Project A Ventures and new investors like Shortcut Ventures and T-Venture.
Principal at Holtzbrinck, Barbod Namini, said about the funding: “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.”
ZenMate’s founder and CEO Simon Specka added, “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.”
He furthermore said that the funding will be used for product development, tech and team scaling, as well as increased customer support. “Our goal is to become the primary brand for online privacy and security related products and to offer a whole and very user-friendly suite to both end- and business users.”
The Berlin-based startup has been providing end users with secure, encrypted access to any website, from anywhere, via a Virtual Private Network (VPN)-style connection. Started in July 2013, registered users have crossed 5 million, witnessing a 400% increase in the last six months. Outside Germany ZenMate has flourishing markets in US and UK, which tells something about how users see privacy, reports Forbes.
In this regard Specka says “In the post-NSA landscape, we’ve seen consumers become much more security conscious and willing to explore ways to keep browsing safe, whether that be from criminals and hackers or from government organisations. That goes some way to explain our 400% growth in users in the past six months.”
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(Image credit: Tony Fischer)
