'Freemium' antivirus firm Avast gets funding boost
Security vendor has received a $100 million investment from private equity firm Summit Partners, in exchange for a minority stake in the company.
The security vendor Avast has received a $100 million investment from private equity firm Summit Partners, in exchange for a minority stake in the company.
Avast chief executive Vince Steckler described the $100 million deal on Monday as "a vote of confidence in our disruptive 'freemium' business model," which sees the vendor giving its product--including updates--for free to millions of non-corporate users.
The company's current model is based on providing its antivirus program, which contains similar features to competitors' paid-for offerings, to home users for free. As with rival antivirus firm AVG, this is done in the hope that those customers will then upgrade to a paid-for premium version.
Read more of "'Freemium' antivirus firm Avast gets funding boost" at ZDNet UK.