The sale of WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion and the heightened awareness of data security in an NSA-watched world have created a perfect storm for apps that offer messaging with a privacy-first ethos. Wickr, which lets users send encrypted and self-destructing messages, is today announcing that it has raised a Series A of $9 million. It will use the funds to grow its standalone product and also to build out its business model.
Wickr, which aims to offer a more secure alternative for private mobile messaging, said Monday that it has closed a $9 million Series A funding round, including investments from Alsop Louie, which led the round, as well as Juniper Networks and the Knight Foundation. Alsop Louie partner Gilman Louie, known for Tetris and In-Q-Tel, is joining Wickr’s board. In addition to the larger investors, a number of other entrepreneurs and hackers have invested both time and money in the company, including former presidential adviser Richard Clarke, Lookout CEO John Hering and Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen. “I am convinced there is a huge market that will make Wickr successful, but moreover, we need it,” Clarke said in a statement.