Malwarebytes, an Antivirus Start-Up, Raises $30 Million

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Dima007

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Marcin Kleczynski didn’t want the money.

It was February 2013, and Mr. Kleczynski, the chief executive of an antivirus start-up called Malwarebytes, had received a cold call from a venture capitalist hoping to discuss a possible investment. But Malwarebytes, which started in 2008, was already making enough profit to sustain itself.

Now, a little more than a year later, Mr. Kleczynski has accepted the check. Malwarebytes announced on Thursday a $30 million investment from Highland Capital Partners, the same firm that tried to get in the door in 2013. It is the first outside capital Malwarebytes has raised.

The investment shows investors’ continued hunger for antivirus and cybersecurity products, which are increasingly in demand as cybercriminals devise more sophisticated methods. The stock of one prominent cybersecurity firm, FireEye, closed on Wednesday at $34.20 a share, 71 percent above its initial public offering price in September, though far below a high of almost $96 that it reached in March.

Highland Capital previously recorded a big success with its investment in Qihoo 360, a Chinese Internet security company that went public in 2011 and now has a market capitalization above $20 billion.

Mr. Kleczynski said Malwarebytes is still profitable, but he wanted to raise additional money to hire more employees, including sales people and engineers. Malwarebytes, though it would not disclose its revenue or profit, said it had 60 million quarterly active users of its products.

“We don’t see that kind of size very often at all, particularly for a company that has literally bootstrapped itself,” said Jeremiah Daly, the partner at Highland Capital who placed the original call.

Malwarebytes, based in San Jose, Calif., offers a free product as well as a subscription antivirus service, and it has attracted individual and business customers.

The free product, which can be downloaded from the company’s website, provides a one-time cleanup of a Windows computer, seeking to neutralize intruders that other antivirus programs don’t catch. Malwarebytes hopes that users will enjoy the experience enough to sign up for the $25-per-year subscription service, which can supplement an existing antivirus program.

Mr. Kleczynski, 24, became interested in malicious software in 2004, when his parents’ computer became infected. He went to online forums to do research. Several years later, while participating in an online forum, he encountered Bruce Harrison, who would help him start Malwarebytes.

But the two initially did not meet in person. Only when the company started taking off did they arrange a meeting. “I met Bruce in person after we made our first million dollars,” Mr. Kleczynski said.

Mr. Kleczynski, who said he worked on the company while attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, moved just a few days ago to San Jose.

Now, with new investors, Malwarebytes is hoping to continue its growth. Highland is planning to take a hands-on approach, including by helping to hire employees, Mr. Daly said.

“It took months and months of meeting and convincing that Highland could add value to the company,” Mr. Daly said, “before we closed the investment.”
 

Koroke San

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Jan 22, 2014
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Malwarebytes is not an 'antivirus' means it's not a fully Antivirus since it lacks BB, firewall,anti-spam, exploit blocker, automatic portbale device scanning like components plus it can' t detect all types of malware even MBAM members tell us to use it alongside AV. The author is confused, i guess.
 
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kmr1684

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Jun 23, 2014
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ok good news for hiring new talents, but end result will after a long time we will come to know, if something in middle of the traveling, i believe to cover the cost and profit they close the lifetime license and free version.:eek: let pray this will not happen very soon like symentic takeover night mares.:eek:
 
D

Deleted member 178

More employee? :rolleyes:

When he will uses the funds for his new villa and sport car?

/s
 

Ink

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So you still want to purchase yearly licenses for MBAM Pro, Backup and Anti-Exploit?

Any well protected PC can be secure using free solutions, and a good backup.
 

Ink

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Jan 8, 2011
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Malwarebytes is not an 'antivirus' means it's not a fully Antivirus since it lacks BB, firewall,anti-spam, exploit blocker, automatic portbale device scanning like components plus it can' t detect all types of malware even MBAM members tell us to use it alongside AV. The author is confused, i guess.

Sounds to me like you're describing an Internet Security suite, not a standalone AV. An Antivirus can be as simple as Microsoft Security Essentials or ClamAV. Doesn't need more than half the features you've mentioned - IMO.

It doesn't need a BB, though most have one now. The Firewall and Anti-Spam are mostly found in Internet Security, except you should know Windows Firewall is sufficient, and more vendors are opting for WFP over their own (ie. Avira) or other technologies. Even more people are using web-based email, is an Anti-Spam module needed for the average webmail user.. probably not.

Exploit prevention measures can range from the simple "keep your software fully updated" to actual Anti-Exploit (ie. Kaspersky's AEP) or even standalone tools such as EMET.
 

Moose

Level 22
Jun 14, 2011
2,271
Hi,

Moving in the same direction as Webroot did!

I quest MBAM will now become bloated.
Only leaving me with SUPERAntiSpyware
as my next choice.:(
 

Koroke San

Level 29
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Jan 22, 2014
1,804
Sounds to me like you're describing an Internet Security suite, not a standalone AV. An Antivirus can be as simple as Microsoft Security Essentials or ClamAV. Doesn't need more than half the features you've mentioned - IMO.

It doesn't need a BB, though most have one now. The Firewall and Anti-Spam are mostly found in Internet Security, except you should know Windows Firewall is sufficient, and more vendors are opting for WFP over their own (ie. Avira) or other technologies. Even more people are using web-based email, is an Anti-Spam module needed for the average webmail user.. probably not.

Exploit prevention measures can range from the simple "keep your software fully updated" to actual Anti-Exploit (ie. Kaspersky's AEP) or even standalone tools such as EMET.
But some free AV provide this protection too & i'm talking about third party AV not MSE. And yes a antivirus needs BB or herustic protection to counter 0 day threats imo & like i said before MBAM team already said MBAM is not a fully antivirus
https://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?/topic/8068-is-antimalwarebytes-an-anti-virus-program/
https://forums.malwarebytes.org/ind...bytes´anti-malware-a-full-antivirus-programm/
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/do-i-need-an-antivirus-with-malwarebytes-pro.350698/
 

Ink

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Check what I wrote, "though most have one now". And FYI, Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender do include Heuristics and Behavioural. So why can't MSE/WD be included? o_O

Read your own post, and tell me you didn't say in order to be an Antivirus it requires the following..
Malwarebytes is not an 'antivirus' means it's not a fully Antivirus since it lacks BB, firewall,anti-spam, exploit blocker, automatic portable device scanning like components plus it can' t detect all types of malware even MBAM members tell us to use it alongside AV. The author is confused, i guess.

That's the only reason I replied to your comment, I didn't say Malwarebytes was an Antivirus. :rolleyes:
 

Koroke San

Level 29
Verified
Jan 22, 2014
1,804
Check what I wrote, "though most have one now". :rolleyes:
I said before 'some free AV provide this protection too' which means i was talking about some free AV provide internet security type protection . I was not talking about BB. Plus these days mostly (specially i'm talking about basic home users)noone use simple failed AV like clam AV coz it's outdated.
And FYI, Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender do include Heuristics and Behavioural. So why can't MSE/WD be included? o_O
:rolleyes:
Like i said before i was talking about third party AV who provide extra features then simple & plane MSE/WD.Plus it's heuristic behavior lacks latest 0 day protection. If it's suits u then u can include it, i won't
smoking_18.gif

Check what I wrote, "though most have one now". And FYI, Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender do include Heuristics and Behavioural. So why can't MSE/WD be included? o_O

Read your own post, and tell me you didn't say in order to be an Antivirus it requires the following..


That's the only reason I replied to your comment, I didn't say Malwarebytes was an Antivirus. :rolleyes:
Yes i said that, so? That's why i said before 'Malwarebytes is not an 'antivirus' means it's not a fully Antivirus '. I didn't said that it's not a AV, i said it's not a complete AV since today AV getting modern & some free AV including most of internet security features like Qihoo 360. In it's english version it's called qihoo 360 IS & TS ( just added a avira & repair engine & nothing useful ) but u look it's original version they called it Qihho 360 antivirus which included more features then english one.
 
D

Deleted member 178

Mbam is not an AV not because it lack features but because it uses only signatures not even heuristics sigs like avira or others. One reason its devs always recommend to use it as companion.
 
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