Wire

Wire is a secure enterprise messaging, calls, and collaboration platform operated by **Wire Swiss GmbH** — headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with its main development centre in Berlin, Germany. The company was founded in Fall 2012 by **Jonathan Christensen, Alan Duric, and Priidu Zilmer** (engineers who had previously worked at Skype and Microsoft) and is backed by Skype co-founder **Janus Friis**. The current CEO since January 2024 is **Benjamin Schilz**; the advisory board includes Schilz, Diana Meyel (Cipio Partners), Janus Friis, and notably **Rolf Schumann of Schwarz Gruppe** (the German private retail giant that also operates STACKIT) — a direct tie between the Wire / Schwarz sovereign-tech ecosystems. The product surface covers instant messaging, voice + video calls, file sharing (Wire Drive), document collaboration, and an enterprise admin console. For procurement-grade EU buyers Wire's ownership architecture is unusually clean: **Wire Group Holdings GmbH is majority-owned by European institutional investors who collectively hold more than 90% of the company** — no US PE or US VC majority anywhere in the cap table. The Zug Switzerland legal entity benefits from CH's EU adequacy decision (Art. 45 GDPR) for SCC-free EU-CH transfers, and customer data is hosted inside the EU. Security architecture is built on **MLS (Messaging Layer Security)** — the IETF-standardised end-to-end encryption protocol — with zero-knowledge keys so Wire itself cannot read customer messages. Wire is **VS-NfD ready** (the German "Verschlusssache — Nur für den Dienstgebrauch" classified-communications standard for restricted government information) and **NIS 2 compliant**. Customer base reflects the security posture: the **German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)** is a public reference, alongside the **US Air Force** and 1,800+ total organisations covering governments, public authorities, law enforcement, and regulated industries. Wire offers an on-premise deployment option for customers needing fully-controlled infrastructure, plus a managed Wire Cloud. Pricing is enterprise / sales-engaged; specific entry-tier figures not captured at audit. Best fit: governments and defence ministries (especially DACH where VS-NfD readiness is the procurement key), regulated financial services, law-enforcement agencies, and any organisation that wants MLS-based E2EE messaging from a vendor structurally independent of US capital.