Press Kit: ZenGuard

Press Kit: ZenGuard
1. Announcements
Funding Announcement:
● Recently closed a $3.2m Series A fundraising led by Holtzbrinck Ventures. Shortcut
Ventures and T-Venture as other investors. ePlus and Deutsche Telekom as limited
partners.
Product Releases:
● Release of brand new iOS 8 specialised ZenMate App - Increased connectivity options
and complete UI overhaul of previous applications
● Release of ZenMate for FireFox - First encrypted VPN solution for the Firefox browser
Company Milestones:
● Breaking 7 million registered user mark across all platforms (December 2014)
2. Company Factsheet
Founding date
July 2013 (Manchester, UK)
Founding team/
Management
Simon Specka - CEO
Markus Hänel - CTO
Headquarters
Ritterstraße 12, 10969, Berlin, Germany
Employees
32+ (20 Tech, 12 Business)
Business concept
Freemium Model (SaaS)
Website
www.zenmate.com
Total Number of Users
7.4 million
Platforms
Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Android, iOS
Investment
Seed Funding - Oct 2013
€1 million Seed Investment
● Project A Ventures
● Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator
● Business Angels
Series A Funding - Sep 2014
Recently closed $3.2m funding round.
● Holtzbrinck Ventures (Zalando, Wooga, Delivery Hero,
Paymill, Hitfox Group)
● Shortcut Ventures (Tado, Sum Up, Media Kraft)
● T-Ventures
● ePlus and Deutsche Telekom - Limited Partners
Awards and recognition
Registered TradeMark of the European Union since May 2014
Received ‘The Europas Award for Best Security and Privacy
Startup 2014’ in June 2014
TeleTrust Initiative - IT Security Made in Germany
https://www.teletrust.de/en/it-security-made-in-germany/
Main product features
VPN, Encryption, Data Compression, Malware Blocking,
Geo-Relocation
Focus: Security and Privacy Applications
Delivery Area
Worldwide (Almost 200 countries)
Target group
Users who don’t have any particular knowledge or expertise
in using security tools, who nevertheless want to protect
themselves through the simple handling of our products |
Technically well versed users who are happy to utilise easy
security solutions | The approach can be compared to
Apple/Avira Antivir – simple display and solving of complex
processes and issues in combination with intuitive handling
Data Retention
At ZenMate we take user privacy very seriously. We don’t log
or retain any user identifying information. In fact - we’re not
allowed to! As a Berlin based company, we are covered by
Germany’s strict Data Protection Laws, which forbid us from
data logging.
Privacy Policy
Key Events
Turkey Twitter and Youtube Block - 20/03/2014
● Received ~500,000 installs from Turkey within 1 week
(27/03/2014 - 03/04/2014)
● 4000% increase in installs from Turkey
● Surge of Tweets about ZenMate (35,000 in 1 week,
2,000 new Twitter Followers)
Similar spikes in other countries during times of unrest or
internet restrictions - E.g. during riots in Ukraine, Venezuela,
Military Internet censorship in Thailand.
Previous Coverage
VentureBeat, Forbes, Gigaom, Dazed, the-Hundert, Gizmodo
Social Media
Facebook Twitter Google+ VK -
Press Contact
General Enquiries Clarity PR -
https://www.facebook.com/zenmate.io
https://twitter.com/ZenMate
https://plus.google.com/+zenmateio/posts
http://vk.com/zenmateofficial
[email protected]
[email protected]
3. Firefox Plugin Extension Release date:
1st October 2014
Firefox Download Link:
https://zenmate.com/get/firefox
Facts
● First encrypted VPN solution for the Firefox browser
● Targeting a market of over 500 million Firefox users
● Bringing the features of our highly popular Chrome VPN-Solution, which currently has
over 7 million users, to a new platform.
● A lightweight extension that provides VPN features and encryption built directly into the
browser.
● Similar aims and goals as the Mozilla Team - Mozilla Manifesto
● This month, placed in the official Firefox add-ons store and quickly became a Mozilla
featured privacy application.
Features
● Encryption - Tested industry standard encryption protocols, encrypting all traffic going
through the user’s browser, protecting against hackers, eavesdroppers and protected
public WiFi spots.
● Geo-Relocation - IP relocation to one of our 5 country locations (USA, UK, Germany,
Switzerland and Hong Kong), hiding the user’s real location and unblocking
geo-restricted content such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora.
● Faster Speeds - Our built in server accelerators ensure the fastest browsing speeds
available.
4. iOS App iOS 8 Re-Release date:
3rd October 2014
We have overhauled our current iOS application to specialise ZenMate for the highly anticipated
iOS 8 update. This includes a UI redesign, much better connectivity options and improved user
experience.
ZenMate Security & Privacy VPN for iOS - to protect from malware sites, eavesdroppers,
unsafe WiFi spots and targeted cyber attacks by hackers. Protects and encrypts all internet
connections running through the device, including threats from 3rd party apps.
Upon install, the user receives a 7 day premium trial. This includes all app features. After this
expires, the user has the free version which provides encryption, VPN routing to 5 country
locations and 500mb of free data per month.
Features:
● Encryption - Tested industry standard encryption protocols, encrypting all traffic going
through the user’s mobile device, protecting against hackers, eavesdroppers and
protected public WiFi spots. This covers insecure data sent from 3rd party apps.
● Geo-Relocation - IP relocation to one of our 5 country locations (USA, UK, Germany,
Switzerland and Hong Kong), hiding the user’s real location and unblocking
geo-restricted content such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora.
● Faster Speeds - Our built in server accelerators ensure the fastest browsing speeds
available.
● Data Compression (Premium) - With ZenMate’s Data Compression feature enabled, the
user can save money on costly Data Bills by using up to 30% less data.
● Malware Site Blocking (Premium) - Our in app protocols will automatically protect the
user if they try and access harmful Malware Sites while ZenMate is active.
● Unlimited Bandwidth (Premium) - Always be protected by upgrading to premium and
unlocking unlimited bandwidth in app.
5. Chrome and Opera Plugin Extensions
Chrome Release:
Opera Release:
Chrome Link:
https://zenmate.com/get/chrome
Opera Link:
https://zenmate.com/get/opera
Facts
● Over 7 million users gained in 18 months
● Worldwide application - Active in almost 200 countries
● 450+ servers
July 2013
April 2014
● Currently processing over 3GB data per second
● Current server capacity to handle 13 petabytes of data per month
● 4.45* on Chrome Store from over 8,000 reviews
Features
● Encryption - Tested industry standard encryption protocols, encrypting all traffic going
through the user’s browser, protecting against hackers, eavesdroppers and protected
public WiFi spots.
● Geo-Relocation - IP relocation to one of our 5 country locations (USA, UK, Germany,
Switzerland and Hong Kong), hiding the user’s real location and unblocking
geo-restricted content such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora
● Faster Speeds - Our built in server accelerators ensure the fastest browsing speeds
available
6. Android App
Soft Released:
Beta Tested Hard Release:
19th June 2014
28th August 2014
(With Media outreach and coverage)
Link to Play Store
ZenMate Security & Privacy VPN for Android - to protect from malware sites, eavesdroppers,
unsafe WiFi spots and targeted cyber attacks by hackers. Protects and encrypts all internet
connections running through the device, including threats from 3rd party apps.
Upon install, the user receives a 7 day premium trial. This includes all app features. After this
expires, the user has the free version which provides encryption, VPN routing to 5 country
locations and 500mb of free data per month.
Features:
● Encryption - Tested industry standard encryption protocols, encrypting all traffic going
through the user’s mobile device, protecting against hackers, eavesdroppers and
protected public WiFi spots. This covers insecure data sent from 3rd party apps.
● Geo-Relocation - IP relocation to one of our 5 country locations (USA, UK, Germany,
Switzerland and Hong Kong), hiding the user’s real location and unblocking
geo-restricted content such as Netflix, YouTube and Pandora.
● Faster Speeds - Our built in server accelerators ensure the fastest browsing speeds
●
●
●
●
available.
ZenMate EverSecure Technology - Unlike most VPN services, our custom connection
protocols enables constant connection and protection, even when switching between
networks
Data Compression (Premium) - With ZenMate’s Data Compression feature enabled, the
user can save money on costly Data Bills by using up to 30% less data
Malware Site Blocking (Premium) - Our in app protocols will automatically protect the
user if they try and access harmful Malware Sites while ZenMate is active.
Unlimited Bandwidth (Premium) - Always be protected by upgrading to premium and
unlocking unlimited bandwidth for the app.
7. Story Angle Examples - Facts and Sources
Funding
●
●
Germany has problems attracting Venture Capital (Source: Allianz für Venture Capital, Wirtschaftswoche and
Mashable)
Shortage of Venture Capital - Germany wants to upgrade (Source: GoingPublic)
Privacy
EMC - Global Internet Privacy Study 2014
● 51% of respondents worldwide are not willing to trade their privacy for more convenience
● Global confidence in privacy is extremely low and even lower for future levels of privacy
PEW - Anonymity, privacy and security online 2013 in the US
● 86% of internet users have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital footprints—ranging from clearing
cookies to using virtual networks that mask their IP address
● 55% of internet users have taken steps to avoid observation by specific people, organizations, or the government
Cyber Crime
Symantec 2014 Internet Security Threat Report
● 38% of mobile users have experienced mobile cybercrime in past 12 months
McAfee Labs Threat Report Q4 2013
● 200 new attacks per minute in 2013
● Ransomware levels also doubled to 2 million reported cases in Q4 2013
RT News
● Every second, at least 12 internet users fall victim to cybercrime
● 19% of attacks directly target financial assets
Mobile Security
●
Source - BizReport
○ 65% mobile users (UK) have no kind of security software installed on their mobile device
●
Source - WebRoot
○ 70% of employee devices only have the security that was installed when the device was purchased.
○ 61% people don’t use secure internet connections from their mobile device when connecting to WiFi
●
Source - CTIA Cyber Security White Paper
○ By 2017, 80% of mobile devices in US will be Smartphones
●
Source - CloudTimes
○ The mobile security market is expected to exceed $11 billion by the end of 2014