[Geneva, Switzerland] Information security and identity management software and services firm WISeKey has closed a $20 million financing round at a $200 million valuation. The investment comes from a group of undisclosed institutional and private backers in both Europe and the United States.
With the extra capital, WISeKey plans an accelerated expansion in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
WISeKey also marks itself an IPO candidate, saying that it will file to go public as soon as the market stabilizes. The company boasts that it only took them 4 months to raise $20 million from the pre-IPO placement, which it says instills confidence in institutional investors for the duration of the IPO.
WISekey offers tools for the encryption of data and for digital identification of individuals and objects. These technologies are aimed to fight against counterfeiting, to provide security for identity cards and bank cards, transactions on the Internet and portable phones, and so on.
WISeKey was founded in 1999 by Carlos Moreira, who has been the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board since. Moreira is a former United Nations expert in IT telecommunications, Security and Information Networks.
Perhaps the company can use part of the funding to bring its logo and website into the current century.