News Archive 2007

30.03.2007
Valimo Wireless Secures Major New Investment
Risto Siilasmaa, the founder and chairman of the board of F-Secure Corporation, invests in Valimo.

HELSINKI, Finland – 30 March 2007 - Valimo Wireless Ltd. closed a significant equity investment 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,” adds Risto 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% stake in the company. He 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.

With the two recently announced deals delivering mobile signature service infrastructure to Turkcell in Turkey and Telefónica Móviles in Spain, the 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.

About Valimo’s market and opportunities

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.

Contact Valimo Wireless

Heli Koenkytö
Hill and Knowlton Finland Oy
Tel. +358 9 3486 1247
E-mail: heli.koenkyto@hillandknowlton.fi

Will Cardwell, CEO
Tel: +358-9-4365-0080

About Valimo Wireless

Helsinki-based Valimo Wireless is the leading provider of mobile signature solutions for mobile operators, banks and corporate customers. Valimo's solutions are used by more than 40 European and Middle Eastern customers, assuring non-repudiation, high data security and high availability over most network infrastructures and end-user devices. Valimo is growing strongly with offices in Finland, Sweden, Germany and Turkey. For more information about Valimo, please visit www.valimo.com.