Private Internet Access owner: from London Trust Media to Kape Technologies

Private Internet Access belongs to Kape Technologies. The VPN itself is run by Private Internet Access, Inc., a US-registered company with its office in Denver, Colorado. Kape took control by buying PIA's former parent London Trust Media: the deal was made public in November 2019 and completed that December.

Who runs PIA today: the Denver operator and its parent

A subscriber deals with two levels. Your account sits with one firm, which answers to US courts; that firm belongs to another, which sets the group's direction.

The London Trust Media years: Andrew Lee, Ted Kim and the 2018 CTO hire

Andrew Lee launched PIA in 2010 under London Trust Media because IRC channels were leaking users' IP addresses, and he built a tunnel to hide them. Ted Kim was chief executive of both PIA and its parent company before the sale. In 2018 London Trust Media hired Mark Karpelès, previously the CEO of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, as chief technology officer; his tenure was brief.

How Kape bought PIA in 2019

Kape Technologies was the buyer, and LTMI Holdings was the target: that formal name is London Trust Media itself, the company that created PIA. The news broke on 18–19 November 2019. Part of the price was paid in Kape stock, so the headline figure and the full outlay diverge.

At the time of the deal PIA had over a million paying subscribers, almost half of them in the US (Kape's figures, reported by TechRadar). Ted Kim joined Kape as a non-executive director and continued running the North American operations. Kape's own company timeline lists the closing as December 2019.

Why the sale worried part of PIA's user base

Kape previously traded as Crossrider, a business that built browser software bundled with unwanted programs. Some PIA users objected to that history on principle. The deeper story of who controls Kape sits on our ExpressVPN owner page; none of it changes who signs your PIA contract.

PIA and its sister brands inside Kape

Our data lists four services under this parent. Moving from PIA to CyberGhost feels like switching providers, yet your money stays inside one group.

PIA scores highest of the four and sits 9th in our main ranking. Intego trails far behind because its VPN is an add-on inside a Mac security suite rather than a standalone product. Every Kape-owned brand appears on the Kape brands page. Kape delisted from the London Stock Exchange in May 2023 and reports over 7 million paying users across its products.

What a US owner means for your data

The United States sits inside the Five Eyes surveillance alliance, so US authorities can serve PIA with subpoenas through its Denver office. The company complies with valid requests after legal review and says it has little data to hand over. That rests on a zero-logs policy, RAM-only servers and independent Deloitte audits of the no-logs claim (more than one, though our data gives no years). PIA also states that its no-logs policy has been proven in court; the site data carries no case details, so no names or dates here. A transparency report is published, and the apps are open source with code on GitHub.

Two owner-related details deserve attention. The privacy policy, last refreshed on 3 November 2025, lists group companies alongside Deskpro (support), Stripe, Amazon Payments, BitPay and PayPal among parties that may receive your data. And the terms of service bar use from US-embargoed countries and from export control lists D:1 and E:2, which include China, Russia and Vietnam.

FAQ

Is Private Internet Access an Israeli company?

The operator is a US-registered firm, and the parent is a UK-registered group. Questions about Israeli links concern who controls Kape, the parent, and not the US operator.

Is PIA still run by London Trust Media?

No. London Trust Media was absorbed in the 2019 purchase, and PIA now answers to Kape Technologies.

Where is Private Internet Access based?

Denver, Colorado, at 2590 Welton Street, Suite 200.

Does Kape see PIA user data?

The privacy policy permits sharing with group companies. Activity logs, per PIA's own policy, are not kept.

Short answer: who owns PIA

Kape Technologies holds Private Internet Access, Inc., the US firm with a Denver office that runs the VPN. Andrew Lee founded the service in 2010 inside London Trust Media, which Kape purchased for $95.5 million plus $32.1 million of debt; the deal closed in December 2019. CyberGhost, Intego and ExpressVPN share the same parent, and PIA's US registration keeps it inside a Five Eyes country.