ProtonMail has raised $2M USD

In its first fundraising last summer, ProtonMail received over $550,000 in donations from over 10,000 supporters, and in the process set a new record for software technology crowdfunding. That critical early funding allowed the team to go from a software project started in the CERN cafeteria to a fully functioning encrypted email service, supporting hundreds of thousands of users around the world.

ProtonMail is now used worldwide by professionals, journalists, activists and people who value their privacy in their communications. Although ProtonMail is still in beta, over 350,000 users have registered for this service. The innovative service is distinguished by its ease of use that allows everyone, regardless of their technical skills, to benefit in full from encrypted emails.

The additional funding will allow ProtonMail to accelerate its growth and get the start-up closer to providing online privacy for everyone. The company will be growing the team, and more importantly, speeding up the pace of development in the coming months. 

With the support of FONGIT, ProtonMail moves into new offices in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva and expand its data center in Switzerland where the service is hosted under strict Swiss privacy law.

The ability to increase the infrastructure will largely eliminate downtime for system upgrades, and provide more storage space for all accounts. “We believe we have finally found the right set of partners with CRV and FONGIT as they truly understand the importance of privacy and our long-term vision”, comment the team in a blog post.

As early investors in Twitter, Zendesk, Yammer, and dozens of other successful companies, CRV has a proven track record of building success. CRV’s expertise in that area combined with ProtonMails highly technical team will ensure that the company is here to stay, continuing to protect privacy for many years to come.

“We are equally excited to have support from FONGIT”, writes the team. As a non-profit foundation financially backed by the Swiss Federal Commission for Technology and Innovation, FONGIT brings strong institutional and state support for privacy rights in Switzerland. “With this support, we will ensure that ProtonMail continues to grow and offer uncompromising data protection from Switzerland.”