MobileMonday Global

^{Company gets a new CEO} F-Secure’s Siilasmaa invests over EUR 2 million in Valimo

Valimo Wireless Ltd. closed a significant equity investment of over two million euros, led by Risto Siilasmaa, the founder and chairman of the board of F-Secure Corporation, the leading network security company.

This is a strategic investment, which brings Mr. Siilasmaa’s entrepreneurial experience and IT security connections to Valimo’s fast growing mobile signature and identity business. Mr. Siilasmaa joins the company’s board of directors.

“The timing of Risto’s investment is perfect for us,” says Will Cardwell, CEO of Valimo. “We have seen an explosive growth in interest from mobile operators and banks for our mobile signature solutions. I believe that the combination of Risto’s insight and the new funds will help us to both add more names to our growing list of mobile operator customers, and to grow the number of end users who use Valimo solutions to secure their access to web banks and corporate networks.”

“I believe that the mobile phone is the perfect identity token. This has also been Valimo’s vision from day one, and what really won me over was the level of dedication that their customers have to them, whether they are located in Finland, Slovenia, Turkey, Kuwait, Spain or elsewhere,” says Siilasmaa.

With his 20-year experience in the anti-virus and Internet security business, Risto Siilasmaa appreciates Valimo’s value proposition. “Risto brings enormous experience to Valimo as someone who grew his company from a start-up, through an IPO and its continued growth. We cannot ask for a person with a wider or more relevant network,” says Jarkko Elonen, COO and founder of Valimo.

Risto Siilasmaa joins Atine Group Oyj and SpringBank Tech Ventures in Canada as the major investors in Valimo. Mr. Siilasmaa’s investment in Valimo provides him a nearly 20 percent stake in the company. This sets the company’s market value at about 12 million euros.

Siilasmaa led the investment round which also included Atine Group Oyj. Atine Group Oyj, an industrial group, remains the company’s majority owner and committed to funding Valimo’s growth.

New CEO

Valimo Tuesday chose Tapio Vailahti as the new CEO. He has a long work history in security and id busienss in Gemalto Oy. Will Cardwell will become a member of Valimo board of directors. He will joint Conor Venture Partners.

With the two recently announced deals delivering mobile signature service infrastructure to Turkcell in Turkey and Telefónica Móviles in Spain, Valimo's subscriber coverage with ready to use mobile signatures increases from 7 million to about 60 million subscribers. Valimo’s group-level agreements with mobile operator customers represent about 200 million subscribers.

With Valimo's software solutions, mobile operators can offer mobile signature services for banking, purchases and corporate security. Only a mobile signature-enabled SIM card is necessary. Strong mobile authentication and the generation of digital signatures becomes as easy as sending a short message.

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