Samsung Ventures makes 'strategic' bid with Fixmo mobile security group

Samsung Ventures, the investment arm of the Seoul-based tech giant, has inked a "strategic" deal with mobile software provider Fixmo.

Based in Toronto, Canada, Fixmo specializes in mobile device and risk management for enterprise and government clients.

Fixmo CEO Rick Segal remarked in the announcement that this investment will help the mobile security firm advance its own R&D plans --specifically ones concerning "device integrity verification, adaptive policy management, and compliance assurance."

"These solution areas are becoming increasingly important to customers around the world, as they embrace consumerization and the BYOD approach, but cannot sacrifice security, integrity, compliance, or employee productivity," Segal added.

Fixmo confirmed the investment on Tuesday, noting that Samsung isn't the only major mobile company to invest with the Canadian security group. Motorola also partnered with Fixmo last summer. Financial terms of either deal haven't been disclosed.

While having two major global mobile partners is great for Fixmo, this investment is far more strategic for Samsung--and it doesn't necessarily have as much to do with Motorola.

Specifically, Bloomberg speculated that Samsung is looking to take advantage of Fixmo's resources and customer base for head-to-head competition with another mobile giant in Canada: Research In Motion.

RIM is strongly pushing the BYOD angle with the pending release of BlackBerry 10, and it's arguable that the business set is really the beleaguered phone maker's last hope.

But with Samsung (and others) looking to make a bigger splash in the enterprise market, it might come down to whichever company can address mobile security and BYOD trends the best--if not the soonest.

This investment hints that Samsung might not have the best resources in-house to accomplish this, but the strategic move signals that Samsung is serious about getting there.