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Quite similar to Snapchat, Wickr is an instant messaging platform where users and professionals can share end-to-end encrypted images, video and file attachments, with an expiration time for each message

Wickr, the instant messaging app, was founded in 2012 by a group of security experts and privacy advocates, and the company is now spearheaded by Joel Wallenstrom, the former co-founder of iSec Partners, a security consulting firm.

What’s unique about Wickr’s IM app is that, quite like Snapchat, it allows the user to set a time period up to when the message can exist, post which it will expire. Every communication, be it messages, photos, videos or file attachments, come with end-to-end encryption and an expiration date. While it was initially launched only on the iOS platform, it is now made available on Android, Mac, Windows and Linux.

Since founding, the company has introduced interesting features on its platform; in December 2014, Wickr released its desktop version, while also enabling syncing of messages across multiple devices such as mobile, laptop, tablets and more. Two years hence, in 2016, it announced Wickr Pro (for professionals), combining the functionality of a tool like Slack with end-to-end encryption and expiration time. In fact, each communication on the Wickr platform is encrypted locally on each device, and a new key is generated for each new message. What does this mean? That, only users on Wickr have the keys to access and decipher the content.

The company has raised a Series A & Series B, totaling US $39 million in funding; while Series A (of US $ 9 million) was led by Gilman Louie (Alsop Louie Partners), and followed by Juniper Networks and Knight Foundation, its Series B round (of US $30 million) was led by Breyer Capital and supported by CME Group and Wargaming.

Snapshot 

Category: Network Security 

Founded: 2012 

Founders: Kara Coppa, Chris Howell, Robert Statica, Nico Sell 

Investors: Gilman Louie, Juniper Networks, Knight Foundation, Breyer Capital, CME Group and Wargaming

Headquarters: California, United States