Surfshark's owner: Surfshark B.V. in Amsterdam and the Nord Security merger

Surfshark runs as Surfshark B.V., a Dutch firm registered with the Chamber of Commerce under KvK 81967985, based at Kabelweg 57 in Amsterdam. Since 1 February 2022 it has shared a group with Nord Security, the firm behind NordVPN, and it also owns the data removal service Incogni along with a set of smaller tools.

Surfshark B.V.: the Dutch company on your contract

Whoever signs up for the service concludes the subscription with this specific entity, and every legal question about an account points back to that registration.

The KvK entry is public, which makes it the fastest way to verify an operator that keeps a low profile elsewhere.

From a 2018 iOS app to the Nord Security group

Surfshark launched in 2018, its first client built for the iPhone, and the business grew out of Lithuania before Amsterdam became the listed base. Kaziukonis has steered it throughout, both as founder and as chief executive. Negotiations with Nord Security began in mid-2021, and the completed merger agreement followed on 1 February 2022.

Does Nord Security own Surfshark, or is it a partnership of equals

Officially the deal created one group in which both companies operate autonomously. NordVPN did not buy Surfshark outright; the two sit under a common roof yet still compete for the same customers. Our separate page on NordVPN's ownership lays out the Nord half of that structure, including its investors.

What the merger left untouched

According to Surfshark's own announcement, brand, infrastructure, management, employees and product roadmaps all stayed apart, and the privacy policy plus terms of service were kept as they were through the deal. If you suspected your traffic now flows over Nord hardware after the merger, the company states it does not.

Products under the Surfshark name and which plan carries them

The company sells a bundle of tools around the VPN, and the plan determines how much of it appears in your account.

Incogni crosses brand lines: the Surfshark team came up with it in September 2021, and it now describes itself as belonging to the same group as NordVPN. Antivirus and Alert require the One or One+ plan, while Incogni comes only with One+, so Starter leaves all three out.

Dutch jurisdiction and the group clause in the privacy policy

The Netherlands sits in the 9 Eyes surveillance alliance, which is one of several reasons Surfshark's privacy score reaches only 4.4 in our data. The company hands over data only when legally obligated, and it publishes a transparency report, though no warrant canary exists. How providers fare under the same jurisdiction is covered on our Dutch VPN jurisdiction page.

One line in the privacy policy deserves a second read: besides payment processors and analytics or support vendors, group companies appear among the recipients of personal data. Ownership, though, decides nothing about what the VPN logs; that question belongs to the Deloitte audit of the no-logs policy and the separate Cure53 review of the infrastructure, which the safety page covers in detail.

Surfshark ownership FAQ

Is Surfshark an American company?

No. The contracting entity, Surfshark B.V., is registered in Amsterdam.

Are Surfshark and NordVPN the same company?

They form one group but run as autonomous firms with separate apps, servers and prices.

Who runs Surfshark?

Vytautas Kaziukonis, who founded the company and serves as its CEO.

Did the merger change how Surfshark handles user data?

Surfshark said its privacy policy and terms of service stayed unchanged and that the two companies remain independent in infrastructure and product development.

Short answer on who controls Surfshark

Surfshark B.V., KvK 81967985, operates the service from Amsterdam. Since February 2022 it has been grouped with Nord Security while remaining an autonomous brand, and the family spans Incogni, Surfshark Antivirus, Surfshark Alert and Alternative ID, most of them gated behind the One and One+ plans. VPNRadarLab gives the service 5.3 out of 10, placing it eighth in the main ranking.