McAfee to acquire Singapore-based startup tenCube

By | Jul 30, 2010 | News

logo_tencubemcafee_logo_1McAfee, Inc., a security technology company, is all set to expand their mobile platform portfolio through their acquisition of tenCube.

tenCube is the company behind the mobile security service, WaveSecure. Key features of WaveSecure include remotely locking your lost phone, tracking your lost phone (location, use, and even if a new SIM is inserted), auto-backup all of your mobile data, and remote wiping of all your data.

“Mobile devices have become an extension of our lives,” said Darius
Cheung, chief executive officer, tenCube. “Through this acquisition, McAfee
can broaden its security capabilities and offer users protection and remote
control of the phone whether it is in their possession or not. This means no
more worries about the whereabouts of your phone or losing personal
contacts, photos or messages.”

“Mobile devices have become an extension of our lives,” said Darius Cheung, chief executive officer, tenCube. “Through this acquisition, McAfee can broaden its security capabilities and offer users protection and remote control of the phone whether it is in their possession or not. This means no more worries about the whereabouts of your phone or losing personal contacts, photos or messages.”

WaveSecure was recently selected as the “Most Fundable Product” by over 40 top VCs in Silicon Valley and received a strategic investment of SGD1 million from India-based telecom application platform One 97 Communications.

tenCube was founded by National University of Singapore alumni Darius Cheung, Varun Chatterji and Rishi Israni. Their early investors include the Economic Development Board (EDB) and SPRING Singapore who supported them via the SEEDS and TECS fund respectively (see our list of regional government funding options for startups).

The acquisition is expected to close in August of 2010.

This is great news for the startup ecosystem in Singapore. Congratulations to Darius and his team.

  • http://twitter.com/E27sg E27sg

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  • http://twitter.com/E27sg E27sg

    McAfee to acquire Singapore-based Startup tenCube http://bit.ly/9sFea4

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  • http://twitter.com/Alvin_Yap Alvin_Yap

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  • http://twitter.com/CampGiraffe CampGiraffe

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  • http://www.wego.com Ross

    Congrats to Darius and all at tenCube. Well deserved.

  • http://www.wego.com Ross

    Congrats to Darius and all at tenCube. Well deserved.

  • http://twitter.com/noc_alumni noc_alumni

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  • http://www.homecamera.com Varun

    SUPER. Super super SUPER.

    Great show, guys. :-)

    - V.

  • http://www.homecamera.com Varun

    SUPER. Super super SUPER.

    Great show, guys. :-)

    - V.

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  • http://budhahas.wordpress.com/ Budha Has

    Congratulations! Great work, and brilliant company strategy so far.

  • http://budhahas.wordpress.com/ Budha Has

    Congratulations! Great work, and brilliant company strategy so far.

  • http://twitter.com/CampGiraffe CampGiraffe

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  • http://twitter.com/cdtavijit cdtavijit

    Rishi’s (my room mate back at NUS) company has just been acquired by McAfee. Awesome news. Congrats guys http://bit.ly/tenCubeMcAfee
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  • http://twitter.com/cdtavijit cdtavijit

    Rishi’s (my room mate back at NUS) company has just been acquired by McAfee. Awesome news. Congrats guys http://bit.ly/tenCubeMcAfee

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  • http://twitter.com/papadimitriou papadimitriou

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  • http://twitter.com/papadimitriou papadimitriou

    Nice Singapore news! tenCube @wavesecure acquired by @mcafee http://ide.st/cciIOw Congrats @rius @roy100 @ricowyder

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  • http://www.birdinfo.net/ Sharad Khandelwal

    Great pride for Singapore and Lucknow boys. Congratulations!

  • http://www.birdinfo.net/ Sharad Khandelwal

    Great pride for Singapore and Lucknow boys. Congratulations!

  • http://twitter.com/gunawandeng gunawandeng

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  • http://twitter.com/gunawandeng gunawandeng

    McAfee to acquire Singapore-based Startup tenCube (WaveSecure app) http://bit.ly/9sFea4 via http://bit.ly/bmvlij

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  • Entrepreneur

    Good news to finally hear that a local tech company has been incubated , developed and sold. We need more success stories like this one in order to inspire and develop our community of technopreneurs.

    The only questions I have are about the deal. I hope that Darius and team are keeping enough upside for themselves. My major concern about all these deals is whether the entrepreneurs themselves got a good deal out of the experience. It is easy to get excited about the brand names, the acquisition and of course big press coverage. But when the dust settles, what’s the situation.

    To recap, Tencube is a 5 year old company. Revenue is neglible at <$500K for 2009 and I am sure it is still loss making. They have taken in 1M in feb 2010 from Indian firm valuing them about 4-5M SGD. Earlier, they took in 400K from SEEDs and I believe founders prob put in 100-200K. Via all these exercises the key founder is prob diluted to about 14-16% stake max.

    My educated guess is that Mcafee paid anything from SGD$5M-10M but I think the guess of 7-8M or US$5M is prob quite accurate. 40% return for Indian firm for ½ year work.

    Using US$5M, key founder share is worth about 700K-800 USD. Not bad for a 29 year old but hardly anything to retire with. For 5 years work, it means about 160K US per year. Don’t forget I am sure they probably took low salaries last 5 years. Make no mistake, SEEDS, the Indian fund etc are happy. They get to exit with profit. Eg. Seeds & NUS S$400K now worth about 1.4M SGD that is about 300-400% in 5 years for nonfull-time involvement. Indian fund makes at least 40% for 6 mths work.

    Which brings me to the upside bit for founders. If my guesstimate is not too off, then Darius and team should lock in more upside by negotiating performance deals. Mcaffee obviously sees good potential in what WaveSecure has. So why not negotiate to continue working and then take a good cut of future profits from WaveSecure?

    Of course, my guesstimate could be wrong and Wavesecure is super valuable and Mcafee paid US$20M for it. Then Darius gets about 3.2-3.5M USD. Almost enough to retire depending on the person but I think a very good deal for 5 years work for one so young! Conversely, it could be even lower at just S$5M. It has to be higher than what the indian firm put in with soem profit for it.

    All in all a great story. I hope to read much more such stories in the years ahead. And perhaps one where the founders gain the lions share

  • Entrepreneur

    Good news to finally hear that a local tech company has been incubated , developed and sold. We need more success stories like this one in order to inspire and develop our community of technopreneurs.

    The only questions I have are about the deal. I hope that Darius and team are keeping enough upside for themselves. My major concern about all these deals is whether the entrepreneurs themselves got a good deal out of the experience. It is easy to get excited about the brand names, the acquisition and of course big press coverage. But when the dust settles, what’s the situation.

    To recap, Tencube is a 5 year old company. Revenue is neglible at <$500K for 2009 and I am sure it is still loss making. They have taken in 1M in feb 2010 from Indian firm valuing them about 4-5M SGD. Earlier, they took in 400K from SEEDs and I believe founders prob put in 100-200K. Via all these exercises the key founder is prob diluted to about 14-16% stake max.

    My educated guess is that Mcafee paid anything from SGD$5M-10M but I think the guess of 7-8M or US$5M is prob quite accurate. 40% return for Indian firm for ½ year work.

    Using US$5M, key founder share is worth about 700K-800 USD. Not bad for a 29 year old but hardly anything to retire with. For 5 years work, it means about 160K US per year. Don’t forget I am sure they probably took low salaries last 5 years. Make no mistake, SEEDS, the Indian fund etc are happy. They get to exit with profit. Eg. Seeds & NUS S$400K now worth about 1.4M SGD that is about 300-400% in 5 years for nonfull-time involvement. Indian fund makes at least 40% for 6 mths work.

    Which brings me to the upside bit for founders. If my guesstimate is not too off, then Darius and team should lock in more upside by negotiating performance deals. Mcaffee obviously sees good potential in what WaveSecure has. So why not negotiate to continue working and then take a good cut of future profits from WaveSecure?

    Of course, my guesstimate could be wrong and Wavesecure is super valuable and Mcafee paid US$20M for it. Then Darius gets about 3.2-3.5M USD. Almost enough to retire depending on the person but I think a very good deal for 5 years work for one so young! Conversely, it could be even lower at just S$5M. It has to be higher than what the indian firm put in with soem profit for it.

    All in all a great story. I hope to read much more such stories in the years ahead. And perhaps one where the founders gain the lions share

  • Analyst

    My guess is if the acquisition price is in the millions, it probably would have been mentioned.

  • Analyst

    My guess is if the acquisition price is in the millions, it probably would have been mentioned.

  • Neosy

    This is a piece of positive news for Singapore startup

  • Neosy

    This is a piece of positive news for Singapore startup

  • http://www.homecamera.com/ Varun

    Once again, warmest congratulations to the team. Hard-working, fun, smart. Good work, guys. Well done. :-)
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.homecamera.com/ Varun

    Once again, warmest congratulations to the team. Hard-working, fun, smart. Good work, guys. Well done. :-)

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://twitter.com/sriramkri sriramkri

    RT @noc_alumni: Congratulations! RT @E27sg: McAfee to acquire Singapore-based Startup tenCube http://bit.ly/9sFea4
    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/sriramkri sriramkri

    RT @noc_alumni: Congratulations! RT @E27sg: McAfee to acquire Singapore-based Startup tenCube http://bit.ly/9sFea4

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • Entrepreneur

    Update. Digital Life mention figure of $15M SGD. Based on 15% share for Darius, that is SGD$2.25M. Not bad for 5 years work. Like a top investment banker or property agent or insurance sales man! Great job!

  • Entrepreneur

    Update. Digital Life mention figure of $15M SGD. Based on 15% share for Darius, that is SGD$2.25M. Not bad for 5 years work. Like a top investment banker or property agent or insurance sales man! Great job!

  • Budding

    Why McAfee acquires tencube?

    I am a fan of tencube, as I am monitoring these fellas since they day compete in NUS entrepreneurship competition and awarded. When wavesecure was commercialised, I paid SGD10 to install in my Nokia. Till date, it functions well, with no issues.

    McAfee is eyeing on the growing touch-phone markets, which is either iPhone or Android. Many corporations are moving from Blackberry to Iphones and the touch phone market is keep increasing. The AV issue has not creeped in yet in a big way. But will come soon. Hence, McAfee wants to get into this market of Mobile Phone AV with big bang. WaveSecure undoubtedly a ‘”must” program for mobile phone, and integration into AV will open a billion dollar industry for McAfee. A Smart Move, indeed, at a cheaper price. Darius might have agreed to integrate their mobile AV to Wave Secure, or vice versa.

    Watch this space for next few months to see a Mobile AV from McAfee, may be around SGD 50/- per year or SGD 4/- month along with Telco Operator’ bundle. Cool, isn’t it?

  • Budding

    Why McAfee acquires tencube?

    I am a fan of tencube, as I am monitoring these fellas since they day compete in NUS entrepreneurship competition and awarded. When wavesecure was commercialised, I paid SGD10 to install in my Nokia. Till date, it functions well, with no issues.

    McAfee is eyeing on the growing touch-phone markets, which is either iPhone or Android. Many corporations are moving from Blackberry to Iphones and the touch phone market is keep increasing. The AV issue has not creeped in yet in a big way. But will come soon. Hence, McAfee wants to get into this market of Mobile Phone AV with big bang. WaveSecure undoubtedly a ‘”must” program for mobile phone, and integration into AV will open a billion dollar industry for McAfee. A Smart Move, indeed, at a cheaper price. Darius might have agreed to integrate their mobile AV to Wave Secure, or vice versa.

    Watch this space for next few months to see a Mobile AV from McAfee, may be around SGD 50/- per year or SGD 4/- month along with Telco Operator’ bundle. Cool, isn’t it?

  • http://e27.sg Wong Joon Ian

    @entrepreneur: Do you think the $15mil figure is accurate?

  • http://e27.sg Wong Joon Ian

    @entrepreneur: Do you think the $15mil figure is accurate?

  • Singapore Boleh!

    Singapore Boleh! First I read about HARDWAREZONE’s $7.1M, I thought it was a lucky dip. Then recently, I heard SHOWNEARBY got $6.6M when they are not anywhere near HWZ or TC’s size. And now I read about TENCUBE’s $15M.
    Singapore really Boleh! Good job Singaporeans!
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • Singapore Boleh!

    Singapore Boleh! First I read about HARDWAREZONE’s $7.1M, I thought it was a lucky dip. Then recently, I heard SHOWNEARBY got $6.6M when they are not anywhere near HWZ or TC’s size. And now I read about TENCUBE’s $15M.

    Singapore really Boleh! Good job Singaporeans!

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • Lloyd Wu

    Congratulations to U and your team for achieving your “dream”.
    I hope that there will more potential companies from Singapore can be like Microsoft and other great IT companies in the world one day.
    Well done Darius !
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • Lloyd Wu

    Congratulations to U and your team for achieving your “dream”.
    I hope that there will more potential companies from Singapore can be like Microsoft and other great IT companies in the world one day.
    Well done Darius !

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • Sean Seah

    Darius is a great entrepreneur to learn from. congrates :)
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • Sean Seah

    Darius is a great entrepreneur to learn from. congrates :)

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.impersuasion.com/ Tzu Ming

    Great stuff. I am sure there would be more to come.
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.impersuasion.com/ Tzu Ming

    Great stuff. I am sure there would be more to come.

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.world24hrs.com/ Brand Singapore

    Congratulations to Darius and Team tenCube ! Great work , Well done !
    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    Develop in Singapore Develop for World !
    John Chang
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.world24hrs.com/ Brand Singapore

    Congratulations to Darius and Team tenCube ! Great work , Well done !
    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    ork , Well done !
    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    Develop in Singapore Develop for World !
    John Chang
    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.world24hrs.com/ Brand Singapore

    Congratulations to Darius and Team tenCube ! Great work , Well done !

    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    Develop in Singapore Develop for World !

    John Chang

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

  • http://www.world24hrs.com/ Brand Singapore

    Congratulations to Darius and Team tenCube ! Great work , Well done !

    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    ork , Well done !

    Made in Singapore Made for World ! Create in Singapore Create for World !
    Develop in Singapore Develop for World !

    John Chang

    This comment was originally posted on e27 – Discovering Web Innovation in Asia

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