Holtzbrinck leads ZenMate's $3.2m series-A

Project A Ventures, which had already invested in the company, committed to the new funding round. New investors Shortcut Ventures and T-Venture also participated.

Holtzbrinck stated it chose to invest because of ZenMate's technical knowledge and plans for the future. Shortcut Ventures echoed Holtzbrinck's views on the company's founders and highlighted ZenMate's technological capabilities.

In the wake of the National Security Agency privacy scandal, German privacy software has seen increasing interest from users worried about their online footprint. In September, Active Venture Partners led a $7.6m series-C funding round for mobile advertising analysis app adjust, which is endorsed with the ePrivacy seal of approval; online and mobile products receive this award following an audit and a technical and legal review to ensure they comply with both German and European data protection laws.

Company
Launched in July 2013, ZenMate provides customers with a virtual private network-style connection to ensure secure access to websites. It encrypts browser traffic, hides users' locations, unblocks geo-restrictions and protects privacy.

Originally a browser extension for Google Chrome, ZenMate is now available on FireFox, Opera, iOS and Android. It has five million registered users in 180 countries. It has 15 employees based in its Berlin headquarters.

People
Simon Specka is CEO and founder of ZenMate. Barbod Namini is principal at Holtzbrinck. Jürgen Kohr represented the deal for T-Venture. Uwe Horstmann is co-founder and managing director of Project A. Martin Ostermayer is founder of Shortcut Ventures.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Technology
• Expansion
• Germany
• Holtzbrinck Ventures
• T-Venture