“Avast gets $100 million for free antivirus software push” plus 2 more |
- Avast gets $100 million for free antivirus software push
- Avast gets $100 million for free antivirus push
- Summit Partners Pumps $100 Million Into Antivirus Software Maker AVAST Software
| Avast gets $100 million for free antivirus software push Posted: 23 Aug 2010 10:42 AM PDT Free antivirus software pioneer Avast, has received a $100 million (£64 million) investment from private equity firm Summit Partners to woo business users and open new offices around the globe. Summit Partners managing director Scott Collins will get a seat on the Czech company's board in return for its cash and will help the infused company to drive a strategy based around the 'freemium' software model. Also used by European rivals such as AVG Software and Panda Security, freemium offers users a basic antivirus product at no cost in the hope that in time they will be willing to pay for a more featured product. According to Avast, offering free antivirus since 2004 has allowed the company to claim a 100 million user base, an unknown number of whom pay for the upgraded paid-for product. The company and its new investor see potential to apply the same approach to business users. "We are convinced that the freemium model is the wave of the future," said Avast's CEO, Vince Steckler, a US executive appointed to head the company in July 2009. "This approach is already upsetting the traditional antivirus market. Instead of paying for advertising or installation on new computers, Avast continues to experience dramatic growth as fans of avast! recommend our products to their friends. The word-of-mouth of our large and loyal, satisfied customer base is certainly the most effective form of advertising," he added. In fact, it is more accurate to state that the freemium model has been around for some years and was considered more or less the only way for small, European antivirus companies to stand a chance against the huge marketing and partnering operations run by Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro. As it stands, Avast still has only one significant office, its Prague HQ, no history of hands-on support and even its large user base flatters to deceive. People flock to companies offering free antivirus because the bigger brands charge significant annual subscriptions for almost the same basic features. Despite its sudden popularity as a buzz term, freemium's biggest rival is probably not paid-for antivirus so much as totally free software along the lines of Microsoft's Security Essentials. This is rated as basic in its feature set but is slowly acquiring more sophistication, including that added by a recent upgrade. The commercial imperative is to get users to upgrade but means getting them to understand the purpose and value of the extra features. That might be easier to achieve with SME users as long as the price can beat the big three for value. Avast is said to be profitable, but Summit Partners is likely to be after either an IPO – hinted at as a possibility during a conference call – or a sell out to a better known security brand. Venture capitalists don't throw $100 million around these days without a good prospect of bettering their investment. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Avast gets $100 million for free antivirus push Posted: 23 Aug 2010 10:12 AM PDT Free antivirus software pioneer Avast, has received a $100 million (£64 million) investment from private equity firm Summit Partners to woo business users and open new offices around the globe. Summit Partners managing director Scott Collins will get a seat on the Czech company's board in return for its cash and will help the infused company to drive a strategy based around the 'freemium' software model. Also used by European rivals such as AVG Software and Panda Security, freemium offers users a basic antivirus product at no cost in the hope that in time they will be willing to pay for a more featured product. According to Avast, offering free antivirus since 2004 has allowed the company to claim a 100 million user base, an unknown number of whom pay for the upgraded paid-for product. The company and its new investor see potential to apply the same approach to business users. "We are convinced that the freemium model is the wave of the future," said Avast's CEO, Vince Steckler, a US executive appointed to head the company in July 2009. "This approach is already upsetting the traditional antivirus market. Instead of paying for advertising or installation on new computers, Avast continues to experience dramatic growth as fans of avast! recommend our products to their friends. The word-of-mouth of our large and loyal, satisfied customer base is certainly the most effective form of advertising," he added. In fact, it is more accurate to state that the freemium model has been around for some years and was considered more or less the only way for small, European antivirus companies to stand a chance against the huge marketing and partnering operations run by Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micro. As it stands, Avast still has only one significant office, its Prague HQ, no history of hands-on support and even its large user base flatters to deceive. People flock to companies offering free antivirus because the bigger brands charge significant annual subscriptions for almost the same basic features. Despite its sudden popularity as a buzz term, freemium's biggest rival is probably not paid-for antivirus so much as totally free software along the lines of Microsoft's Security Essentials. This is rated as basic in its feature set but is slowly acquiring more sophistication, including that added by a recent upgrade. The commercial imperative is to get users to upgrade but means getting them to understand the purpose and value of the extra features. That might be easier to achieve with SME users as long as the price can beat the big three for value. Avast is said to be profitable, but Summit Partners is likely to be after either an IPO – hinted at as a possibility during a conference call – or a sell out to a better known security brand. Venture capitalists don't throw $100 million around these days without a good prospect of bettering their investment. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Summit Partners Pumps $100 Million Into Antivirus Software Maker AVAST Software Posted: 23 Aug 2010 03:06 AM PDT
Fresh off the heels of Intel acquiring security software vendor McAfee for $7.7 billion in cash, another household name in the industry, AVAST Software, has raised $100 million in private equity from investment firm Summit Partners. With the investment, Summit Partners has acquired a minority stake in the company, which markets its popular antivirus software based on a freemium model. AVAST Software CEO Vince Steckler says the combination of offering a free product alongside a premium one has disrupted the tradition antivirus software market, where vendors often rely on advertising or installation fees for revenues. Steckler added that they'll stick to this approach for the foreseeable future. According to the company, its software suite – avast! antivirus – currently protects one out of every five computers around the world from malware. One of the co-founders of AVAST Software, Pavel Baudis, is cited as saying that the company's Virus Lab adds around 3,000 new virus samples to its database on a daily basis, compared to a single virus emergence every six months when he wrote a program to remove the Vienna virus back in 1988. We covered other Summit Partners investments in the past, including its participation in the $23 million round for Cloudmark together with Nokia Growth Partners. Summit Partners clearly eyes Europe for interesting financing deals, too; AVAST Software is based in Prague, Czech Republic and the growth equity firm recently acquired a majority stake in Belgium-based e-payments provider Ogone. Source: press release This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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