Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Leads Investment to Bolster the New Front Line for Cybersecurity: Mobile Threat Defense
DALLAS – March 29, 2022 – Zimperium, the mobile security platform purpose-built for enterprise environments, today announced it will be acquired for approximately $525 million by Liberty Strategic Capital, the private equity firm founded and led by former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. With this investment, Liberty Strategic Capital will acquire a controlling interest in Zimperium and Secretary Mnuchin will chair the company’s Board of Directors. The investment will enable Zimperium to continue accelerating its growth, both organically and via strategic acquisitions. SoftBank Corp., which has been an investor in Zimperium since 2017, will continue as a minority investor.
“Mobile devices and applications are an integral part of daily life for people around the world. They contain or serve as a gateway to the most sensitive personal and organizational data, making them an extremely valuable target for attackers,” said Secretary Mnuchin. “It’s clear that mobile is the new front line for cybersecurity. We all need to increase our focus on the protection of mobile devices and applications. Liberty Strategic Capital is investing in Zimperium because they’ve shown that they can lead the way in this multibillion-dollar market. Employees are using their own devices, driving enterprises to increasingly recognize the need for top-of-the-line cybersecurity designed for the mobile environment. As the use of mobile devices and the cyber threats against them proliferate, we believe Zimperium has positioned itself as the leader in securing mobile endpoints and applications. We’re excited to work with Zimperium as they lead in this critical and fast-growing market to strengthen mobile security worldwide.”
The number of mobile devices worldwide is expected to reach 18.2 billion by 2025, more than doubling the number of people in the world. As the number of mobile devices worldwide expands, so does the cybersecurity threat to people, organizations and governments across the globe. Zimperium’s 2022 Global Mobile Threat Report recently revealed that nearly one in four mobile endpoints encountered malicious applications last year. Attack vectors for compromising mobile devices expanded as well, with Zimperium’s research showing that 75% of phishing sites discovered last year specifically targeted mobile devices.
Zimperium is the global leader in mobile device and app security, offering real-time, on-device protection against both known and unknown threats. Zimperium’s patented and award-winning z9 machine learning-based engine protects mobile devices from device, network, phishing and application attacks. Zimperium delivered record growth and momentum in 2021, with milestones including:
- 53 percent growth in annual recurring revenue (ARR)
- Acquisition of Mobile DevSecOps technology leader, whiteCryption
- New strategic partnerships with organizations including SentinelOne, Motorola Mobility, Intertrust and Ping Identity
- Launch of Michigan Secure and LA Secure apps to provide residents and visitors with free mobile security, similar to the previously launched NYC Secure app
“There’s no question that the world is going mobile. And as that happens, modern operating systems like Android and iOS are playing a more prominent role powering the devices people use in their personal and professional lives. But what many people don’t realize is that protecting these devices is much different from protecting traditional endpoints and requires a new approach,” said Shridhar Mittal, CEO of Zimperium. “We’ve helped leading public and private organizations across the globe strengthen mobile security, and as we enter a high growth phase to help even more organizations, Secretary Mnuchin and the team at Liberty Strategic Capital will be a tremendous asset to guide and propel our company forward. I would also like to personally thank the incredible investors that have supported our company and vision of making mobile secure, including Warburg Pincus, Sierra Ventures, SoftBank, Telstra Ventures and Samsung.”
As Secretary of the Treasury and a member of the National Security Council, Secretary Mnuchin helped shape the U.S. government’s approach to cyber threats, including supervising the design of new economic sanctions targeting Iranian, Russian and North Korean cyber attackers and transnational cyber criminals, and using sanctions authorities to combat ransomware attacks. Secretary Mnuchin was also the U.S. government’s lead official responsible for cybersecurity across the financial services sector. In that capacity, he worked directly with top U.S. regulators and chief executives of the largest U.S. financial institutions on cybersecurity preparedness, regulatory coordination and incident response. In addition, Secretary Mnuchin led the modernization of technology and data security within the Internal Revenue Service to better protect the single largest collection of sensitive personal financial data in the country.
“Over the past 6 years, Zimperium has experienced transformative growth, providing innovative mobile threat defense solutions at a time where cybersecurity, specifically mobile security, is a must have. We want to thank Shridhar and his team for their unrelenting hard work and commitment during our partnership. We are excited for their next chapter with Liberty Strategic Capital which will continue to advance Zimperium’s development and growth, building on its market-leading technology and addressing new challenges for clients,” said Ashutosh Somani, Managing Director, Warburg Pincus.
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Zimperium, while Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP provided legal counsel. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP provided legal counsel to Liberty Strategic Capital. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022.
About Liberty Strategic Capital
Liberty Strategic Capital is a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm focused on strategic investments in technology, financial services and fintech, and new forms of content. The firm was founded in 2021 and is led by former Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. Liberty’s portfolio includes significant investments in the cybersecurity technology firms Cybereason, Contrast Security and BlueVoyant, as well as an investment in the satellite technology firm Satellogic.
About Zimperium
Zimperium provides a leading mobile security platform purpose-built for enterprise environments. With machine learning-based protection and a single platform that secures everything from applications to endpoints, Zimperium’s solution provides on-device mobile threat defense to protect growing and evolving mobile environments. Zimperium is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. For more information, follow Zimperium on Twitter (@Zimperium) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/zimperium), or visit www.Zimperium.com.