Mobile risk management (MRM) software provider Fixmo raised a total of $23 million in its third round of funding. Previous investor Paladin Capital Group led the round, which included participation from new investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Horizons Ventures.
MRM is emerging within healthcare, including the government, as physicians express their desire to use personally-bought tablets and smartphones in their practice. In October, The Department of Veterans Affairs announced plans to acquire as many as 100,000 tablets, primarily for use by their medical clinicians staff, marking one of the largest such deployments by a civilian agency. The VA sought MRM vendors to help them secure the devices, as Apple iOS and Android do not currently support the federal FIPS 140-2 security encryption.
As part of the investment, Lieutenant General Kenneth Minihan and Frank Meehan will join Fixmo's Board of Directors. Minihan is the former director of both the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He is currently a managing director at Paladin Capital Group. Meehan is the founder of INQ Mobile and a former board member of the now Apple-owned, Siri (see "Siri: iPhone’s new personal health assistant?"). Fixmo's MRM services use an NSA-developed technology transfer agreement and collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA).
According to the company, the funding will be used to expand its line of MRM products in 2012, including Fixmo Sentinel and Fixmo SafeZone, to carriers, consumers, government agencies, and enterprises. Mobile risk management allows multiple types of wireless devices to be used securely by users in organizations while still allowing the full range of mobile features.
"We are seeing rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets by the enterprise, and a large portion of this is driven by employee liable devices. Only 30.1 percent of US companies expressly ban the use of mobile devices not issued by IT," stated Chris Hazelton, Research Director, Mobile & Wireless for 451 Research, in a press release. "Many of today's device management tools focus on the physical risk devices that are lost or stolen. IT must also address the increasing risk of digital threats that are targeting both employee and corporate liable devices in the enterprise." (One such device theft of an iPad occurred at the VA this summer before its deployment).
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Read the press release below.
PRESS RELEASE -- Fixmo Inc., the mobile risk management (MRM) company, today announced it has closed a $23 million Series C round, led by new investor Paladin Capital Group. Horizons Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers join as new investors; existing investors and management all participated in the round.
The funding will enable Fixmo to continue driving the emerging MRM market and expand its line of products that manage the risks associated with mobile devices and help organizations maintain and prove regulatory compliance. Fixmo's MRM offerings are built on a strong foundation of government partnerships and standards, including a technology transfer agreement and collaborative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).
As the round closes, Lt. Gen. Kenneth A. Minihan (US Air Force--Ret.) and Frank Meehan join Fixmo's Board of Directors. Lt. Gen. Minihan, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency, is a managing director at Paladin Capital Group. Mr. Frank Meehan is the founder of INQ Mobile, a Hutchison Whampoa company, and a former board member of Spotify and Siri that was acquired by Apple in 2010.
MRM: Managing Risk and Compliance to Enable the Full Potential of Mobility
Mobile risk management (MRM) is an emerging category of technologies that empower organizations to identify, mitigate and manage the risks associated with mobile devices, including financial risk due to regulatory non-compliance; reputation risk resulting from security breaches and violations; and competitive risks from intellectual property and data leakage. MRM helps organizations go beyond traditional mobile device management (MDM) practices, which have primarily relied on risk avoidance or control tactics that limit how devices can be used by employees, to help them exercise the full potential of mobility while protecting corporate data and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Using a "risk mitigation" philosophy, Fixmo MRM enables organizations to support a wide range of mobile devices and confidently embrace the "bring your own device" (BYOD) trend by taking a holistic approach to MDM, corporate data security and mobile application management (MAM), and fusing them with comprehensive integrity monitoring and verification, malware prevention, risk intelligence and IT compliance reporting. Fixmo MRM gives organizations the tools they need to ensure the mobile devices on their corporate network start, and remain, in a known trusted state and that they can prove compliance with internal policies and government regulations.
"We are seeing rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets by the enterprise, and a large portion of this is driven by employee liable devices. Only 30.1% of US companies expressly ban the use of mobile devices not issued by IT," said Chris Hazelton, Research Director, Mobile & Wireless for 451 Research. "Many of today's device management tools focus on the physical risk - devices that are lost or stolen. While lost or stolen devices are the most frequent type of mobile security breach today, IT must also address the increasing risk of digital threats that are targeting both employee and corporate liable devices in the enterprise. In this way enterprise security and end-user productivity can be balanced while ensuring data security and organizational compliance."
Fixmo: A Comprehensive Approach to Mobile Risk Management
Fixmo's mobile risk management offerings--which currently include Fixmo Sentinel and the new Fixmo SafeZone secure container--continuously monitor and verify the configuration and integrity of mobile devices and infrastructure, protect corporate data from loss or theft and provide powerful reporting and analytics tools that help organizations prevent potential threats and prove regulatory compliance. In 2012 the company plans to expand its offerings with additional MRM solutions for carriers, consumers, enterprises and government agencies.
"There is a rapidly growing need for organizations to heighten their risk management practices around mobile devices to ensure they are maintaining compliance with security policies and government regulations," said Rick Segal, Founder and CEO of Fixmo. "This round of funding is critical for Fixmo as we continue to drive the MRM market while extending our offerings into new market segments and geographies. We are very proud to have these top-tier venture partners and such prominent individuals on our board. Their expertise and direction will be invaluable."
Fixmo will be demonstrating their MRM solutions as a Platinum Sponsor at the Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) 2011 Fall Summit from November 29th through December 1st at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
About Paladin Capital Group
With offices in Washington, D.C., New York, New York and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Paladin Capital Group is a leading multi-stage private equity firm providing capital and strategic guidance to growing companies in the IT, telecommunications and alternative energy sectors. The firm focuses on companies with products and services that are "dual use" in nature, serving both commercial and government customers. Paladin has over $950 million dollars of committed capital across multiple funds and has invested in over 50 portfolio companies.
About Fixmo
Fixmo is the Mobile Risk Management (MRM) company that empowers enterprises and government agencies to identify, mitigate and manage the risks associated with using mobile devices for business and personal use. Fixmo helps organizations understand their risks and implement solutions that mitigate and manage those risks to the highest degree possible so that they can be confident and compliant while enabling the full potential of mobility. Fixmo's MRM solutions continuously verify the integrity and authenticity of mobile devices and apps, protect them from private data loss and security breaches, monitor and track regulatory compliance and enable them to prove their adherence through enterprise reporting and auditability. Fixmo solutions are built on a strong foundation of government partnerships and standards. Through a technology transfer agreement, Fixmo's products have been built on a foundation of MRM technologies initially developed by the U.S. Government's National Security Agency (NSA) and its Fixmo SafeZone solution has received FIPS 140-2 certification. Fixmo is headquartered in Sterling, Virginia and Toronto, Canada.
