Email encryption startup Virtru raises $29 million Series A

Virtru, a D.C.-based encryption and privacy startup, announced on Monday that the company has secured $29 million in Series A financing. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners.
Virtru was founded in 2014 by brothers John and Will Ackerly. John previously worked at the White House where he advised on tech issues during the Bush administration, and Will was a security engineer at the National Security Agency. These experiences, apparently, imbued each with “the belief that privacy is a basic human right” — a belief upon which Virtru was subsequently built.
Virtru provides tools for email and file encryption and data protection. According to a press release, the company works with “more than 4,000 organizations around the world.”
The new funding will help the startup scale and build new products. “We’ve always been about making it easy for people to take back control of their private information, on their terms and without unnecessary complexity,” John Ackerly, Virtru’s CEO, said in a statement. “With the new funding and the support of best security and privacy investors and operators in the industry, we will take our mission to more businesses, software developers and individuals around the world.”