Steven Mnuchin's fund buys major stake in security startup Zimperium for $525 million

[March 29, 2022]    By Krystal Hu

(Reuters) - Liberty Strategic Capital, a Washington D.C.-based private equity fund founded by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, has acquired a controlling stake in enterprise security firm Zimperium for $525 million, both told Reuters on Monday.

Steven Mnuchin, founder and managing partner of Liberty Strategic Capital and former U.S. Treasury secretary, speaks at the 2021 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., October 19, 2021. REUTERS/David Swanson

The deal is Liberty Strategic Capital's first majority stake acquisition since its launch last year. It has also led late-stage funding rounds in cybersecurity firms BlueVoyant and Cybereason.

SoftBank Corp, which has been an investor in Zimperium since 2017, will continue as a minority owner.

Founded in 2010, Zimperium provides mobile security solutions for iOS, Android, and Chromebooks devices. It serves enterprises across industries, including financial services and healthcare, counting JPMorgan Chase and the U.S. Department of Defense as its customers.

The Dallas, Texas-headquartered firm has raised over $100 million in equity and debt financing from investors including Warburg Pincus, according to PitchBook data. The business has been growing during the pandemic, with its annual recurring revenue expanding 53% last year, the company said.

"It's been a big tailwind for us because as workers are starting to work more from home, they're starting to do more of their work on mobile devices," said Shridhar Mittal, chief executive at Zimperium.

Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive who served as Treasury Secretary during the Trump administration, will chair Zimperium's board of directors.

Mnuchin raised $2.5 billion for Liberty Strategic Capital last year and focuses on investment opportunities in the cybersecurity, payment as well as media space.

He said he did not invest in former President Donald Trump's new media venture Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), but signed up for the wait list for the Truth Social app it launched in beta version last month. TMTG is still in the process of going public through merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp since the deal was announced in October.

(Reporting by Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)

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