Antivirus giant McAfee just closed the acquisition of Canadian VPN provider TunnelBear. The terms of the acquisition have not yet been disclosed. According to McAfee, the plan is to integrate TunnelBear technologies into its own VPN product called Safe Connect.
TunnelBear was founded back in 2011 in Toronto and quickly gained a respectable customer base thanks to its amusing and casual cross-platform with quirky animations and some pretty decent features. The company boasts more than 20 million users across desktop and mobile platforms and has recently branched out into password management with its RememBear app.
The team behind TunnelBear will continue to work on their products under the TunnelBear brand. TunnelBear was a profitable company, according to the announcement, so although McAfee probably didn’t break the bank on this deal, TunnelBear was definitely in the position to wait until the offer was just right.
As you might remember, McAfee was acquired by Intel in 2010 for a whopping 7.7 billion dollars but regained its independence a couple of years ago. Note that Intel retained 49% of the business. TunnelBear is McAfee’s second acquisition after its fallout with Intel, the first one being Skyhigh Networks last November.
With a new owner registered in the US, TunnelBear will have to comply with US laws, so you should definitely keep an eye out for any changes in the company’s privacy policy. We are aware that this acquisition won’t be greeted kindly by existing TunnelBear users, but the company will have much more resources to absorb any potential losses that might arise due to the change in ownership.
Bottom Line, TunnelBear will continue to develop its products with the support and resources of a major cybersecurity company. The acquisition will enable the company to develop its service further, expand into new regions, and march toward the top of the VPN industry.