Wire raises €24m to spearhead the next era of secure collaboration amidst growing geopolitical tensions
Led by investors Cipio Partners and Iconical, this funding round will fuel the company’s ability to further develop its industry-leading solution for mission-critical secure collaboration.
BERLIN, August 12th, 2022 – Wire, a groundbreaking leader in secure collaboration platforms, today announced it has raised €24 Million in a new funding round led by the growth equity firm, Cipio Partners, along with Iconical - the investment vehicle of Skype co-founder Janus Friis, and with participation from existing investor, UVC Partners. This infusion of capital comes at a time when escalating geopolitical tensions are heightening fears of cyberattacks and data leaks.
The growing demand for enhanced security underscores the need for a paradigm shift in communication and collaboration technology on a global scale. Having raised a total of €53 million in the past few years, Wire is well positioned to continue its leadership in this digital transformation toward the next generation of communication and security platforms.
Designed to meet the exacting demands of government and enterprise customers worldwide, Wire’s high-performance platform allows customers to confidently collaborate using the most advanced end-to-end encryption for messaging, audio/video conferencing, file-sharing, and external collaboration. The need for the next generation of security platforms is reflected in Wire’s recent growth trajectory and with significant customer wins across private and public sectors.
No stranger to disruptive technologies, Janus Friis, co-founder of Skype, has demonstrated a strong belief in Wire from its inception. Friis explains: “The need for secure communications is constantly growing. Wire allows any organisation to deploy a communication product they can trust with end-to-end encryption that has been independently audited and code that is open source.”
This statement is echoed by Roland Dennert, Managing Partner at Cipio Partners: “Wire’s growth has been impressive these past years. Under The leadership of CEO, Morten Brøgger, has been a key part of this. As he is now resigning from Wire after a 4,5 year sprint, we look forward to welcoming Andre Kiehne as the co-Managing Director along with co-founder, Alan Duric, for this next stage of the journey we’re embarking on together.”
Developed with the highest levels of security from the outset, Wire recently also integrated Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol into its platform architecture to make secure messaging in large groups more efficient and to provide the basis for post-quantum cryptography. Wire’s unique security capabilities and custom deployment options cater to enterprises and governments looking to protect their documents, and secure communications across teams, clients, and partners both against the threats of today and tomorrow. Wire currently has over 1,800 government and enterprise customers worldwide, including five of the world’s G7 governments - one being the German federal administration, with whom Wire works to ensure that Federal authorities can use modern collaboration solutions even for classified communications.
Alan Duric, co-founder of Wire said: “As our clients contend with the challenges of managing and securing remote working models from ongoing cybercrime and privacy challenges, they now face new security concerns stemming from the current climate of increased geopolitical
tension. By securing funding from Cipio Partners, Iconical, and UVC we are very pleased to be able to invest further in our people and in our technology platform to be able to offer complete peace of mind that our customers’ data is safe and protected from all manner of threats. The investment will also help us to retain our position as the undisputed leader in the secure collaboration space.”
Together with enabling the company to continue investing in its technology, the funds will enable the company to support market-wide platform interoperability to help bring collaboration into the next era and support a more secure alternative for everyone.
About Wire
Wire is the most secure collaboration platform, transforming the way businesses communicate at the same speed and with the same impact that our founders disrupted telephony with Skype. Headquartered in Berlin with offices in Switzerland and San Francisco, Wire’s award-winning collaboration and communications platform counts over 1,800 government and enterprise customers worldwide, including EY, Fortum, the German government and four other G7 governments. Recognised for its secure collaboration platform as a leader and high performer by G2 Crowd, IDC, Forrester and Gartner, Wire offers messaging, audio/video conferencing, file-sharing, and external collaboration - all protected by the most advanced end-to-end encryption.
About UVC
UVC Partners is a Munich- and Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm that invests in European B2B startups in the areas of enterprise software, industrial technologies, and mobility. The fund typically invests between € 0.5m - 10m initially and up to € 30m in total per company. Portfolio companies benefit from the extensive investment and exit experience of the management team as well as from the close cooperation with UnternehmerTUM, Europe’s leading innovation, and business creation center. With over 300 employees and more than 100 industry partners, UnternehmerTUM can draw from many years of experience in establishing young companies. This cooperation enables UVC Partners to offer startups unique access to talent, industry customers, and other financial partners.
