July 30th, 2014
Geneva, Switzerland
Proton Mail’s crowdfunding campaign has surged past $500,000 with the support of over 10,000 backers, setting a new record for a software project in the technology category on Indiegogo. The success of the campaign is strong evidence that the start-up’s mission of ensuring online privacy resonates strongly with people around the world.
Proton Mail’s innovative email service distinguishes itself from other providers through its ease of use which allows anyone, tech savvy or not, to benefit from email encryption. Demand for the service was so high that two days after the beta launch in May, Proton Mail’s servers overloaded, forcing the developers to seek funding to continue growing the service. In June, the Swiss start-up turned to Indiegogo and launched a month long crowdfunding campaign which sought to raise $100,000 to cover immediate operating expenses.“Proton Mail was created to give people around the world their privacy back. Raising money from the community was a very natural choice given our mission,” says Co-founder Andy Yen.
Within three days of launch, the campaign hit its goal of $100,000 and climbed to $200,000 just two days later. The campaign received an unexpected boost when PayPal froze the start-up’s account, questioning whether or not encrypted email was legal. The ensuing global backlash against PayPal, and the accompanying surge in Bitcoin donations, helped drive the campaign to new heights.
The Proton Mail team, made of former CERN, MIT, and Harvard scientists, hope to reinstate and protect the right to privacy and personal freedom in the digital world. So far, over 200,000 users have signed up for the service which is still in beta. The service already has a number of unique features that protect user data, such as end-to-end encryption that ensures even Proton Mail cannot read the contents of a message.
“Proton Mail lets you know with confidence that what is personal stays personal. It is peace of mind created by detailed research and cutting edge encryption technology,” says Co-founder Jason Stockman.
The company follows a community driven development path, interacting regularly with its user base via social media, blogs, and email, fostering a close relationship between developers and users as it strives to continually improve the service.
“The tools for stealing data are becoming more and more sophisticated, so data protection requires constant innovation to succeed over the long term,” explains Co-founder Andy Yen, “that is why we will be continually improving security over the course of our beta.”
Proton Mail’s Indiegogo campaign page can be found here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protonmail(new window)
About Proton Mail
Proton Mail is a service offered by Proton AG (Switzerland). Proton Mail was founded in summer 2013 by scientists who met at CERN and were drawn together by a shared vision of a more secure and private Internet. Today, our core team also includes scientists from ETH Zurich, Caltech, and Harvard, and we specialize in building the secure and private online communications platforms of the future. Every day, the Proton Mail team, with the assistance of supporters from around the world, works to advance internet security and privacy.
Contact: media@proton.me
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