VPNInfobaseMost of the big-name VPNs sit under a few parent companies. Kape Technologies is named as the parent of ExpressVPN and CyberGhost by their own policies; Private Internet Access and ZenMate are tied to Kape by its policy wording and press reports. Nord Security runs NordVPN and announced a merger with Surfshark in 2022. Ziff Davis lists IPVanish among its services in its annual report. Mullvad, IVPN, Windscribe and Proton VPN each say they are held by their founders or a foundation. The table shows the parent for each service and how we confirmed it.
The ownership table
“Confidence” means: Vendor states (the provider’s own page says so), Filing (a regulator or exchange document), Secondary only (a news or reference site, not confirmed by the vendor), or Not verified. Rows come from the VPN audit register, checked 28 September 2026 unless noted.
| Service | Operating company | Parent or owner | Confidence | Source and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ExpressVPN | Express Technologies Ltd. | Kape Technologies PLC, named as ultimate holding company | Vendor states | Privacy policy; its trust page also names the Kape Group. Acquisition dated 2021 in Wikipedia |
| CyberGhost | CyberGhost S.R.L. (Romania) | Kape Technologies PLC | Vendor states | Kape is named as ultimate holding company in the vendor’s policy |
| Private Internet Access | PIA Private Internet Access, Inc. (US) | Kape Technologies | Vendor wording only | PIA’s privacy policy refers to “anyone at Kape Technologies” but makes no explicit ownership statement; acquisition dated 2019 in Wikipedia |
| ZenMate | ZenGuard GmbH | Kape Technologies | Secondary only | 2018 acquisition; service since rebranded |
| NordVPN | Nord Security | Nord Security; individual owners not stated on the register’s record of vendor pages | Vendor states (register record; page returned HTTP 403 on 29 Sep) | About page |
| Surfshark | Surfshark B.V. (Netherlands) | Merger with Nord Security announced in February 2022; transaction terms and any holding structure not disclosed | Vendor states | Surfshark’s announcement says the two will “continue to operate as autonomous companies”; press release says details are not disclosed |
| Atlas VPN | Nord Security | Nord Security (announced 2021); service closed 24 April 2024 | Vendor states | Closure date from Nord Security’s blog |
| IPVanish | not stated on the filing | Ziff Davis, Inc. | Filing | The FY2025 10-K says IPVanish “offers one of the leading virtual private network services in the industry” |
| StrongVPN | not verified | J2 Global / Ziff Davis per Wikipedia | Secondary only | Vendor pages returned HTTP 403 on 28 Sep; the 10-K read on 29 Sep does not name StrongVPN. Treat as unconfirmed |
| Proton VPN | Proton AG (Switzerland) | The non-profit Proton Foundation is the primary shareholder | Vendor states | Proton VPN about |
| Mullvad | Amagicom AB (Sweden) | Two individuals hold 100%, per Mullvad | Vendor states | Mullvad about |
| IVPN | IVPN Limited (Gibraltar) | The founder holds 100%, per IVPN | Vendor states | IVPN team page |
| Windscribe | Windscribe Limited (Canada) | Its about page describes it as owned by its founders; shares not stated | Vendor states (partly) | Windscribe about page says it is self-funded and independently owned by its founders; the terms name only Windscribe Limited, Ontario |
| hide.me | eVenture Limited (Malaysia, Labuan) | No higher parent stated | Not verified | Operator only |
| PureVPN | GZ Systems Private Ltd (BVI address) | No higher parent found | Vendor states (operator) | Privacy policy |
| Trust.Zone | Internet Privacy Ltd (Seychelles) | No higher parent stated | Not verified | Operator only |
| Astrill | Veloxee Corp. (Liechtenstein) | No higher parent stated | Vendor states (operator) | |
| TunnelBear | TunnelBear LLC | McAfee acquired it in 2018 per the register; current owner not verified | Secondary only | Do not read this row as current |
| Hotspot Shield | Pango Group (Intersections LLC / Pango GmbH) | Reported as merged into Point Wild in December 2024 | Secondary only | Point Wild press pages returned HTTP 403 |
| VyprVPN | Certida LLC (Texas) | No higher parent found | Vendor states (operator) | Older pages named Golden Frog GmbH; sale date not verified |
| PrivateVPN | PrivateVPN Global AB (Sweden) | Miss Group Holdings, reported acquirer in 2022 | Secondary only | Not confirmed on vendor pages |
| AirVPN | not readable | not verified | Not verified | Vendor pages could not be read |
What the Kape row means
In February 2023 Unikmind Holdings, owned by Kape’s majority shareholder, made a cash offer for the Kape shares it did not already hold and said it intended to seek a delisting whatever the outcome, as Kape’s independent directors noted (Kape’s response, RNS 13 Feb 2023). Secondary reports say the offer closed on 19 May 2023 and that Kape was to be delisted from AIM on 31 May 2023 (Regency Research); the exchange’s own closing notice returned HTTP 403 to us, so treat the delisting as reported, not confirmed from the notice. None of the three Kape VPN vendors names an individual owner on its own pages, so the register marks the person-level owner “per Wikipedia only”.
What the Ziff Davis row means
Ziff Davis’s 10-K says its technology brands include CNET, PCMag, Mashable, Lifehacker, Spiceworks and ZDNET, and it lists IPVanish among its cybersecurity services (FY2025 10-K, checked 29 Sep 2026). We state this so you can weigh any VPN review from those outlets accordingly. It is a fact about ownership, not a claim about what they wrote.
Why the pattern matters and where it stops
Shared ownership does not by itself mean shared servers or shared logs. Nord Security and Surfshark said in 2022 that they would rely on separate infrastructure and product roadmaps, and we have not checked that independently. What ownership changes is who is legally responsible for a company’s policies and who can be compelled to act. For what each provider has promised and had audited, see the audit tracker. For how those claims behaved when police or attackers arrived, see the incidents timeline.
Our own money comes from one affiliate link, for NordVPN (disclosure). NordVPN’s row is written from its own pages like every other.
Method
Researched from vendors’ own policies and about pages, one SEC filing, one exchange notice and named secondary sources, then checked on the dates shown. No provider was tested by us. Ownership changes; this page is reviewed every 90 days and corrections go through our contact page. See how we choose what to record.
Compare the Kape and Nord Security groups head to head in Surfshark vs CyberGhost.
Where each owner’s brands are based, and what that means legally, is on VPN jurisdiction explained.