WndrCo led a $295m round raised by US-based mobile privacy software provider AnchorFree. The transaction also featured venture capital firms Accel, 8VC, SignalFire and Green Bay Ventures. The company also counts investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, which led a $52m series C funding round in 2012. AnchorFree has reportedly $358m in funding to date and has been registering profits since 2010.
Founded in 2005, AnchorFree has develops applications for mobile devices allowing users to surf the internet more securely. Its major app, dubbed Hotspot Shield runs as a virtual private network (VPN) that enables users to browse more securely by protecting their identity and encrypting data. The application has been downloaded 650 million times.
WndrCo is a holding company, which invests in, acquires, develops and operates media and consumer technology business, which recently helped raise a record-setting $1bn seed round for a company dubbed NewTV, which pursues a business model based on production of dramatic video content with but divided into episodes that are about five to 10 minutes long.
AnchorFree is part of the broader cybersecurity space, which has expectedly seen a lot of attention from corporate investors in recent years, as the historical bar chart from GCV Analytics suggests. In the era of internet, datafication and the emerging internet of things (IoT), the demand for tackling cyber threats and providing user privacy is virtually unceasing. Thus, it is no surprise that strategic investors from every sector undergoing digitisation are placing their bets on such enterprises.
