New Signal Foundation Gets $50 Million From WhatsApp Co-Founder

Open Whisper Systems, the developer of the Signal chat app, has announced the creation of a Signal non-profit foundation. It receives fifty million dollars from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who will become part of the board of the foundation.

The announcement states that Acton, who has left WhatsApp parent company Facebook since September, will join the new Signal Foundation as executive chairman, while Moxie Marlinspike will retain the role of CEO. Marlinspike, who leads Signal development, became acquainted with Acton in 2013 when they collaborated to bring end-to-end encryption from Signal into WhatsApp. Acton will influence the development of the Signal app.

Marlinspike writes in the blog post that the money comes in handy because there were never more than seven people working on Signal at the same time. Moreover, there would never have been any investment in Signal, whether by venture capitalists or not. The investment makes it possible to hire and expand new people. Acton adds that the ultimate goal is for the Signal Foundation to be self-supporting.