Morten Brøgger. Image: Wire
The Berlin company targets its encrypted platform at governments and large enterprises that need to secure workflows with remote teams.
Wire, a Berlin-based start-up building an encrypted collaboration platform, has secured $21m in fresh funding.
The age of remote working, hastened by the pandemic, has seen more companies turn to online collaborative tools. But while this has helped keep teams connected, it can also present security headaches when it comes to following security and data protection protocols for sensitive information.
Wire develops a platform for messaging, file sharing, video and voice calling built with end-to-end encryption.
The start-up markets its platform to enterprise clients and governments – according to the company, “five of the G7” governments are its customers – as a means to collaborate, share documents and communicate remotely while staying in line with security protocols and privacy regulations. It has 1,800 customers overall.
Wire chief executive Morten Brøgger said that the platform has been designed for “mission-critical communications”.
The Series B round of funding has been led by UVC Partners, a venture capital firm based in Munich and Berlin that invests in B2B companies.
“[The funding] will help propel us towards meeting and anticipating the security architecture needs of the future, with edge-based, zero-trust applications,” Brøgger said.
“Our enterprise and government customers constantly grapple with monumental productivity, security and privacy issues all at once, and Wire is best positioned to address these challenges.”
Wire will invest the funds in further product development and growing its headcount across its Berlin headquarters and offices in Switzerland and San Francisco. It currently employs 90 people.
Dr Ingo Potthof of UVC Partners said there is a growing demand for secure products like this that Wire can tap into.
“Corporate awareness of the growing issue of cybercrime has increased rapidly in recent months and has accentuated the need to find new ways to communicate and collaborate securely,” he said.
Wire previously raised more than $14m from investors such as Elysium Venture Capital and Morpheus Ventures.
