• by Jess Nelson , August 23, 2016

Virtru, an email and file encryption service, has closed on a $29 million Series A funding round.   

Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the funding round also includes participation from New Enterprise Associates, Soros Fund Management, Haystack Partners, Quadrant Capital Advisors and Blue Delta Capital. Monday’s announcement places Virtru’s total funding to date at $35 million.

With a single plug-in, Virtru allows email users to dictate who receives, reviews and retains their digital information via email. Virtru detects sensitive information contained within emails such as social security numbers, and then automatically encrypts it for added security.

Virtru also allows its users to customize the level of security they desire, and customers manage their own encryption keys and can provide or revoke privileges to anyone at any time -- even after an email has already been sent. 

Additional features include the ability to watermark an attachment with one click, a customizable email expiration feature and disabled email forwarding.

Virtru already works with Gmail, Google Drive, Yahoo and some forms of Outlook, but the company intends to expands its product to other cloud providers with the added investment.

In addition, the company plans to expand product development on its SDKs and APIs.

Founded in 2011, Virtru first launched in 2014. The technology does not require any coding or advanced IT knowledge, and is available for both personal and business use. Virtru’s business service ensures compliance with HIPAA, FERPA, CJIS, and ITAR.

The co-founders, brothers John and Will Ackerly, both have experience in the public technology sector. Will Ackerly previously worked with the NSA and John Ackerly was a White House technology advisor.

The Virtru technology itself is built on the Trusted Data Format (TDF), a new standard for digital privacy created by Will Ackerly.