Silent Circle, the company behind the secure Blackphone smartphone, said it had raised $50 million in funding – shortly after the performance of its operations came into question.

It said it will use the cash to “expand product development, customer service, business development and marketing activities while eliminating its debt”.

It was reported recently that the company had been facing “serious financial difficulties”, with former partner Geeksphone taking to the courts to recoup money owed. This was attributed to weaker than expected sales for Blackphone.

As with Blackberry, another company that has focused on security but seen its devices business struggle, Silent Circle has been looking to bolster its propositions beyond hardware – it said its Enterprise Privacy Platform is “the world’s most robust suite of privacy applications, services and devices”.

Its proposition includes the Silent Phone application, which provides secure calling, messaging, file sharing and video; devices (Blackphone); encrypted calling plans and management services.

“Silent Circle’s customers value the flexibility we offer in our platform. Our software can reside on existing iOS or Android devices, or our Blackphone handset, and benefits from our zero-touch, organisation-wide management capabilities,” said Matt Neiderman, interim CEO of Silent Circle.

TechCrunch noted that Niederman, who is Silent Circle’s general counsel, has moved into the interim CEO position recently, following the departure of Bill Connor last month. And security expert Jon Callas has also left Silent Circle to rejoin Apple.

The current funding round was led by Santander Bank.