Zimperium, a leader in mobile threats detection, has been acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital for a total of $525 million. This move is part of the company’s strategic mission to strengthen mobile security worldwide.
With this acquisition, Zimperium will now be under the Liberty umbrella and will be able to accelerate its growth and pursue its mission of securing mobile devices.
This article will provide an overview of Zimperium’s history and Liberty’s involvement in the acquisition.
Overview of Zimperium’s History
Zimperium, the leader in mobile threat defense, was founded in 2011 and headquartered in San Francisco with offices worldwide. Since its inception, the company has been dedicated to strengthening mobile security worldwide by developing award-winning solutions that keep businesses and users safe from mobile threats. As a result, Zimperium’s solutions are trusted by millions of users around the globe — those who leverage Zimperium’s highly-accurate advanced detection technologies to protect themselves from malicious attacks and improve their security posture while simplifying their IT management across multiple platforms.
In February 2021 Liberty Strategic Capital entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Zimperium for approximately $525 million as part of Liberty’s 2020 strategy focusing on technology investments. The investment is designed to accelerate Zimperium’s mission of strengthening security for mobile devices, make enterprise solutions more broadly available and strengthen system integrations with private cloud environments. In addition, this transaction will help bring together two successful businesses: Liberty Strategic Capital’s consumer focused media companies such as Thunder Ventures and Thrillist Media, along with Zimperium’s expertise in mobile threat defense solutions for enterprise customers such as IBM Security and Samsung KNOX.
Overview of Liberty’s Involvement
Liberty Strategic Capital, a leading private equity firm, is acquiring Zimperium, an advanced security firm specializing in mobile protection and threat detection. The transaction values Zimperium at approximately $525 million and provides the company with additional resources to accelerate its global mission of strengthening mobile security.
Zimperium’s patented machine millions of customers trust learning-based detection engine in the government, financial services, enterprise and retail sectors to protect mobile devices from malicious actors. In addition, liberty Strategic Capital’s investment will provide significant resources to drive continued innovation across the entire spectrum of enterprise mobility security including stronger defense against advanced attacks on companies’ mobile devices and networks.
The acquisition allows Zimperium to expand its global presence while continuing its commitment to providing enterprises with innovative technologies that protect their valuable assets from advanced cyber threats that can evade traditional network protections. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
Zimperium’s History
Zimperium is a leading mobile security company founded in 2010. It provides device and application threat protection against malware, zero-day and network-based attacks for mobile devices. Recently, the company announced that it will be acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital for approximately $525 million, providing it the capital and resources it needs to accelerate its mission of strengthening mobile security worldwide.
Let’s look back at Zimperium’s history.
Founded in 2011
Founded in 2011 by Zuk Avraham and Shai Morag, Zimperium is a mobile security company dedicated to helping defend mobile users and enterprises worldwide. In its early days, Zimperium was self-funded and built its core technology around machine learning-based mobile security detection capabilities.
In 2016, SoftBank led the company’s first institutional round of $15 million. The following year, global investment bank Goldman Sachs took a significant stake in a follow-on financing round of $25 million. This new capital enabled Zimperium to expand its worldwide operations and invest in world class engineering capabilities dedicated to innovating in mobile security threats protection.
In 2018, Zimperium formed strategic partnerships with leading device makers and system chip vendors including Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., MediaTek Incorporated and Swann Security, giving it a dominant market position for mobile device threat detection technology that is pre-loaded onto millions of devices globally every year – from smart phones to tablets, laptops and VR headsets.
Now part of Liberty Strategic Capital’s portfolio of companies focused on cybersecurity and digital transformation initiatives, Zimperium anticipates continued growth for the years ahead with direct investments in sales & marketing efforts coupled with greater investments into research & development activities across all global offices.
Mobile Security Platform
Zimperium is a mobile security platform with extensive capabilities to detect, predict, prevent and respond to unsafe app behavior, network threats and device vulnerabilities. The company’s award-winning solution provides real-time protection from the world’s most advanced mobile threat defense platform. With more than 600 enterprise customers across 30 countries, Zimperium’s solution helps protect organizations from data loss harm and cybercriminal attack activity on mobile devices.
To accelerate its mission of strengthening mobile security worldwide, Zimperium announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital (LSC) at an approximate value of $525 million in August 2020. With this acquisition of Zimperium, LSC will gain valuable resources and knowledge in companies that seek cyber resilience solutions for their customers worldwide. In addition, the combination of experience and technology will bolster both organization’s’ growth strategies while providing them with the opportunity to serve some of the world’s largest enterprises with mission-critical solutions in cyber resilience.
Global Customer Base
Since its launch in 2014, Zimperium has dramatically grown its global customer base. The company’s award-winning technology has been adopted by over 50 percent of the Fortune 500 and thousands of organizations in 67 countries. Its customers are also across various industries, including banking and financial services, telecommunications, healthcare and government.
The acquisition of Zimperium by Liberty Strategic Capital will allow those customers to leverage additional resources and expertise to ensure their businesses benefit from the power of the Zimperium solution. In particular, the combination will drive a global expansion effort to ensure more companies can use this industry-leading mobile security solution. The expanded global visibility will also help position Zimperium as a leader in next-gen mobile security coverage for enterprise customers.
Zimperium to be Acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital for Approximately $525 Million to Accelerate Mission of Strengthening Mobile Security Worldwide
Recently, Liberty Strategic Capital announced their agreement to acquire Zimperium in a deal worth around $525 million. This acquisition signals Liberty Strategic Capital’s commitment to strengthening mobile security worldwide.
In this article, we’ll explore Liberty’s involvement in the acquisition of Zimperium and the importance of the deal.
Acquisition of Zimperium
The acquisition of Zimperium marks the newest milestone in Liberty Strategic Capital’s strategic approach to acquiring and investing in innovative companies, as it completes its previously announced combination with leading-edge mobile security innovator Zimperium. Through this latest move, Liberty Strategic Capital is continuing its aggressive efforts to expand its portfolio and exposure in the digital asset management market.
The acquisition of Zimperium further strengthens Liberty’s position as a global digital asset management and security leader. By combining leading-edge mobile security technologies, such as those offered by Zimperium, with Liberty’s established experience in managing technology investments, Liberty endeavors to create an exceptional offering that provides more comprehensive coverage across all device types and IT/OT environments.
Liberty’s acquisition of Zimperium enhances Libery’s expertise in managing large portfolios that cater to traditional investments’ needs and a new digital asset management paradigm. In addition, the combination is expected to enhance Liberty’s portfolio optimization capabilities leveraging automated decision making for improved grant efficiency and risk mitigation. With the new capabilities gained from this engagement, Liberty continues to evolve its solutions tailored for sophisticated digital investors who desire control over their portfolio at every point.
Plans to Accelerate Growth
Following the acquisition, Zimperium will become a division of Liberty Strategic Capital, with the team and technology remaining largely unchanged. Liberty Strategic Capital’s management team plans to leverage its resources to accelerate Zimperium’s growth, particularly in the mobile security market. This increase in resources, personnel and capital should propel Zimperium further than it could ever have.
Liberty Strategic Capital will focus on expanding Zimperium’s operations into new geographies, enabling it to be a global player in providing top-notch mobile security solutions. Through this acquisition and expansion, Liberty Strategic Capital hopes to create a secure, integrated and comprehensive mobile security environment that is accessible around the world—protecting enterprises, governments and consumers alike.
The two companies have already begun integrating their teams and technologies to achieve their combined mission of increased mobile device protection. In addition, this union is strengthening Zimperium’s reach and commercializing its technologies for rapid deployment throughout customers’ IT environments and businesses.
Strengthening Mobile Security Worldwide
The acquisition of Zimperium by Liberty Strategic Capital, initially announced on August 6, 2020 and completed on October 16, 2020, will create a security powerhouse leveraging both companies’ expansive investments in technology innovation and mobile security expertise. In addition, the financing strengthens the position of both companies in the mobile security market with Liberty Strategic Capital investing approximately $525 million to accelerate Zimperium’s mission of strengthening mobile security worldwide.
Through this acquisition, Zimperium’s solutions-first approach to mobile device security will be reinforced by Liberty Strategic Capital’s extensive track record of successfully funding and scaling world-class enterprises. Additionally, this strategic acquisition puts Zimperium at the forefront of the multi-billion dollar enterprise mobility management (EMM) and Mobile Threat Defense (MTD) market.
The combined solutions portfolio with its integrated layer of defense for devices inside and outside an organization is an extension for today’s modern workforce. It is expected that through such acquisitions, Liberty Strategic Capital intends to reignite global demand for best-in-class solutions powered by its strong vision to make mobility secure.
With Liberty Strategic Capital’s capital injection, it is anticipated that significant numbers of job opportunities will be created to strengthen the framework for developing best-in-class IT solutions at an enterprise level relating to mobile device security worldwide. These newly created jobs will comprise of roles such as software engineering, analytics/data scientists, sales professionals, operations staff etc., which are pivotal elements necessary for a successful integration between two firms when undertaking a large scale acquisition such as this one.
Conclusion
This represents a major milestone in Zimperium’s history and Liberty’s involvement in the company. With the acquisition, Zimperium will now be able to expand its global reach and provide innovative mobile security solutions to customers around the world.
With the $525 million purchase price, Liberty Strategic Capital can use an experienced mobile security team in the market for years. As a result, the outcome of this deal is expected to be a long-term positive for both Zimperium and Liberty Strategic Capital.
Summary of Zimperium’s History
Zimperium is a mobile threat defense software provider, with headquarters in San Francisco and branches in Tel Aviv, Seoul and Tokyo. Founded in 2010 by Zuk Avraham, the company utilizes breakthrough technology to protect enterprises and consumers against malware, zero-day exploits, and malicious applications that target mobile devices. In addition, it is the first mobile solution provider to use machine learning to detect sophisticated cyber threats on iOS and Android devices.
Since its launch in 2010, Zimperium has introduced several market-first features designed to keep customers safe, including a revolutionary groundbreaking anti-exploit technology centered on virtual patching which prevents compromise of endpoint devices. In 2015, it released zIPS – the world’s first mobile device agentless intrusion protection system (IPS). And in 2017 it launched the industry’s first mobile endpoint detection and response (EDR) platform.
In November 2018 liberty strategic capital announced their plans to acquire Zimperium for approximately $525 million as part of its strategy to accelerate their mission of strengthening security on a global scale across consumer and enterprise markets. With this acquisition Liberty Strategic Capital will help Zimperium take its leading machine learning engine and next-generation technology solutions to a much wider audience than ever. Ultimately this acquisition is expected to help build greater global market share for both companies – giving them an even stronger foothold in the mobile security market than they have today.
Summary of Liberty’s Involvement
Liberty Strategic Capital, a diversified global Internet leader, has announced that it is acquiring Zimperium – a leader in mobile threat defense – for approximately $525 million. Liberty Strategic Capital will bring added expertise and scale to help Zimperium deliver on its mission of strengthening mobile security worldwide.
This acquisition marks Liberty Strategic Capital’s latest move in its commitment to enable global technology companies to remain at the forefront of innovation through their investments, trends analysis and forward-looking strategy. The company believes that this acquisition complements its efforts to reduce mobile risk and expand its global reach.
Zimperium’s system-agnostic platform provides visibility across all devices connecting to enterprise networks. It reinforces organizations’ endpoints by guarding against known threats and newly discovered zero-day vulnerabilities by combining advanced machine learning with deep security expertise. In addition, the platform automatically detects threats that have gone undetected by other defensive measures, empowering organizations to detect and respond quickly to targeted attacks.
By joining forces with Liberty Strategic Capital, Zimperium will be able to accelerate the development of cutting edge systems and solutions for global organizations, including deploying its cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) driven behavioral analytics capabilities on a larger scale than ever before. In addition, this acquisition underlines Liberty’s commitment to investing in emerging technologies around AI, particularly those related to cyber security tools. Finally, as part of this transaction Liberty Strategic Capital will continue to support Zimperium’s leadership team while expanding the company’s talent base through strategic hires worldwide.
