Who owns NordVPN? The company chain from Panama to Vilnius
NordVPN is run by nordvpn S.A., registered in Panama; parent company: Nord Security.
Company
- Registered in
- Panama
- Address
- PH F&F Tower, 50th St & 56th St, Suite 32-D, Floor 32, Panama City, Panama
- Related brands
- NordPass; NordLocker; NordLayer; Incogni; Saily; HangUp; NordLabs
- Group
- Nord Security VPN brands
Other brands of the same group
- NordLayer1.26
Your subscription contract is signed with nordvpn S.A., a company registered in Panama (PH F&F Tower, 50th St & 56th St, Suite 32-D, Panama City). The entity belongs to Nord Security, the group behind NordVPN, a service started in 2012 by two Lithuanian childhood friends, which also sells a password manager, encrypted storage, a data-removal tool and a business VPN. No Israeli, Chinese or Russian company shows up among the owners or investors.
nordvpn S.A. and Nord Security: the two layers of ownership
The structure splits into a legal layer and a group layer. One sets the law governing your account, the other decides which products get built.
| Layer | Name | Registered or based | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | nordvpn S.A. | Panama City, Panama | Signs the contract with every subscriber |
| Parent | Nord Security | Establishment in the Netherlands; founders and much of the team Lithuanian, roots in Vilnius | Owns the Nord product family |
| Business sibling | Nord Security Inc. | New York address, US entity | Runs NordLayer |
Staff in Vilnius do not shift the service's legal home. NordVPN says that requests about its users must pass through the relevant institutions in Panama under Panamanian law.
Founders and the Tesonet connection
Per the official support article, NordVPN was founded in 2012 by Tomas Okmanas (also known as Tom Okman) and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, childhood friends. Tesonet, a Lithuanian incubator and business accelerator, supported Nord in its early years, and the same two men are listed among Tesonet's founders. That overlap feeds the most common ownership rumour about the company.
Nord's position is clear: the accelerator gave only investment and incubation help, while strategy and decisions stayed in-house. Critics also mention Oxylabs, a web data firm linked to the same circle, yet no one has shown NordVPN user data ever reaching it or any other Tesonet company.
Who has invested in Nord Security
For about a decade the group grew on its own revenue. The first outside money arrived in April 2022: $100 million at a $1.6 billion valuation, led by Novator Ventures. In September 2023 came another $100 million, this time at a $3 billion valuation, led by Warburg Pincus. Share splits between investors have not been published.
Products that share NordVPN's owner
The fastest way to map the group is the NordVPN checkout, where some sister brands come bundled and others stay outside.
| Brand | What it does | Link to a NordVPN plan |
|---|---|---|
| NordPass | Password manager | Included in Complete and Prime |
| NordLocker | Encrypted cloud storage | 1 TB included in Complete and Prime |
| Incogni | Personal data removal service | Add-on offered at checkout |
| Saily | eSIM for travellers | Sold separately, not part of any plan |
| HangUp | Screens unknown calls, scans incoming texts | Call and message protection app |
| NordLayer | Business VPN, run by Nord Security Inc. | Same parent, separate service |
| NordLabs | Experimental tools | No plan connection |
Prime adds identity theft insurance up to $1M, credit monitoring and cyber extortion insurance of $100K, so one Nord Account can hold your passwords, files and VPN under the same roof.
Surfshark and the 2022 merger
Nord Security and Surfshark finalised a merger agreement in February 2022 (talks started mid-2021) and now share one holding company. Each keeps its own infrastructure, user base and product roadmap, and they still compete for the same customers. Pick either one, the revenue ends up in the same group.
Israeli, Chinese or Russian owner? Checking the rumours
None of these countries appears in the ownership chain. The operator company is Panamanian, Nord Security is registered in the Netherlands with Lithuanian founders, and the lead investors are European and American funds. Tel Aviv is a location you can connect to through the server list, and it says nothing about who owns the business.
What the Panama entity changes for subscribers
Panama sits beyond the 5, 9 and 14 Eyes alliances, and quarterly transparency reports count official inquiries and DMCA complaints. For logging rules and audit history, see our page on NordVPN safety. The provider also helped found the VPN Trust Initiative and pays bug bounties through HackerOne. VPNRadarLab scores it 5.58 out of 10, placing it 5th in the main ranking.
NordVPN ownership FAQ
Is NordVPN a Lithuanian company?
By founders and team, largely yes. Legally the provider is a Panamanian entity, nordvpn S.A.
Is NordVPN owned by Tesonet?
No. Tesonet incubated it early on; the owner is Nord Security.
Do NordVPN and Surfshark have the same owner?
They share one holding company since February 2022 but operate independently.
Does NordVPN own its servers?
Partly: a large share is owned in-house, the rest is hosted by partners. Total capacity is 7115 servers across 150 countries.
Who controls NordVPN, in short
The contract holder is nordvpn S.A. in Panama; the owner is Nord Security, together with its sister brands from the table above. Two Lithuanian founders, two $100 million rounds led by Novator Ventures and Warburg Pincus, one holding shared with Surfshark. Details are confirmed in the official support article on founders and owners.