Mnuchin's Liberty Fund buys control of Zimperium for $525m

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Liberty Strategic Capital, the private equity fund set up by former US Secretary of State for the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, has acquired control of mobile security solutions company Zimperium, for $525 million. This is the largest investment by Mnuchin’s fund, which was set up last year, and previously invested in the growth rounds of companies like Israeli startup Cybereason. Zimperium was founded in Israel by Zuk Avraham.

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According to PitchBook, Liberty’s investors include Japanese giant SoftBank and the Saudi sovereign wealth fun PIF, which has become an indirect partner in many Israeli cybersecurity companies. This investment by Liberty is in a company based in the US, which has extensive relations with the US government. Zimperium has for many years served the US Department of Defense and its customers as well as investment banking giant J.P. Morgan.

Founded by Israelis, Zimperium is today managed from Dallas, Texas. The company has raised $100 million from Warburg Pincus, Samsung Next and SoftBank, who will all continue to hold a minority stake in the company. Zimperium was founded in Israel in 2010 to focus on cybersecurity for mobile phones with both Apple and Android operating systems. The company grew rapidly after the outbreak of the Covid pandemic as companies sought to expand their security coverage to include the phones of employees working remotely. In 2021, Zimperium’s revenue grew 53%.

Zimperium was founded by Zuk Avraham, who wrote on his LinkedIn page that he would now be concentrating on a full time position in a new startup that he has founded called ZecOps, which received publicity in Israel during the NSO-Israel Police affair. ZecOps conducted a free examination of the smartphones of former Ministry of Finance director generals Shai Babad and Keren Terner, and found that Pegasus spyware had been removed several days prior to the examination.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on March 30, 2022.

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