We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck super-private messaging app Wire used to land $21 million
- Encrypted messaging app Wire has raised $21 million in a round led by Germany’s UVC Partners.
- Wire claims it was “flooded” with customers as remote working took hold during the pandemic.
- Scroll down to see the pitch deck that helped Wire land the funds.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
A super-private messaging app that pitches itself as the “most secure collaboration tool for work” has raised $21 million as it aims for widespread expansion.
Munich-based Wire, which is backed by Skype cofounder Janus Friis, raised the funds in a Series B round after it was “flooded” with customer requests throughout the pandemic.
Wire is among a batch of business-to-business communication firms jostling to take advantage of the growing shift towards hybrid working where employees divide up their time between working remotely and in the office.
The company raised the funds in a round led by German venture capital firm UVC Partners after reporting three times annual revenue growth last year.
Wire says its encryption technology is more advanced than other market players such as Slack, Zoom, or Signal. The software generates new encryption keys for each message or call, meaning that if a hacker ever breached its system they would only ever gain access to one message that was out of context.
“If you have $1 million and you don’t want anyone to steal it, you go and buy the best safe you can buy and put your money in the safest encryption algorithm,” Wire chief executive Morten Brøgger told Insider.
“There will still be criminals making a business case as to how much time and effort and risk is associated with hacking into the safe. In Wire, the $1 million is in $1 notes and put in a million different safes. There is just no longer a business case.”
The company offers its service as a subscription starting at €4 per seat for its entry-level Wire Pro service. It has projected to hit $10 million in annual recurring revenue this summer and Brøgger has tipped that figure to hit the “teens” before the end of the year.
Brøgger said that Wire largely targets big enterprises and government agencies that have an “above normal awareness of cybersecurity.”
“Very small consumer companies are not really ready to pay for decent security, that’s unfortunately how it is,” he said.
Wire says it received “hundreds” of requests from therapists last year looking to keep their consultations with patients secure.
Brøgger took the helm of Wire in 2017 having overseen the sale of Dropbox rival Huddle to private equity firm Turn/River. There was some suggestion that he may look to sell Wire too but he insisted it is not on the cards for now at least.
“No right now it’s all about the future and growing,” he said.
“A long life in enterprise software … I figured out it’s way better to be bought than it is to be sold, so much more sexy.”
Brøgger also dismissed the idea of introducing in-app crypto transactions as Signal has begun trialling.
One of Wire’s engineers recently stated on Twitter that he would not build a “shitcoin” into the app.
When asked if he agreed with the sentiment Brøgger said he had “no plans at this point in time.”
While it is based in Berlin, Wire moved its holding company from Luxembourg to the US in 2019 in the hope of securing future fundraising. However, it has since moved back to Europe, with Brøgger insisting the move was to “make us closer to who we are.”
He also said that there had seemed to be “some preference” about European companies buying software from other European firms in recent years.
Check out Wire’s redacted fundraising deck below:
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