Who owns Surfshark? Ownership structure explained (2026)

Surfshark is one of the best known names in consumer virtual private networks, but its ownership is easy to misread. The brand looks like a standalone challenger. In practice it sits inside a larger cybersecurity group that also controls NordVPN, its most direct competitor. The two brands compete for the same customers on the same review pages while sharing a parent.

That structure is the result of a 2022 merger with Nord Security, a deal that reshaped the European privacy market. Surfshark never raised outside venture capital on its own. It grew from browser extensions into a full security suite through reinvested revenue, then folded into a holding company that could raise money at scale. Understanding who owns Surfshark means understanding that holding company and the investors who bought into it.

This article traces the full picture: the founder and his equity, the merger structure, the funding rounds, the institutions now on the cap table, and why the arrangement matters for the millions of people who pay for the product.

Surfshark was founded in 2018 by Vytautas Kaziukonis, a Lithuanian entrepreneur. The company launched with browser extensions before releasing its flagship VPN app the same year. It is registered as Surfshark B.V. in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with operational offices in Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania, plus Warsaw and Berlin.

The product has expanded well beyond a single VPN. Surfshark now sells a bundle of privacy tools: the core VPN, an antivirus, a data breach monitor called Alert, a private search engine called Search, and a personal data removal service called Incogni. It has added an Alternative ID identity generator, a Dedicated IP option, and an ad blocker called CleanWeb. The company describes its goal as making cybersecurity simple enough for mainstream users rather than specialists.

Surfshark does not publish standalone financials. The clearest recent figure comes from its parent group, Nord Security, which reported crossing $1 billion in combined revenue in 2025 on roughly 40 percent growth across NordVPN and Surfshark. Surfshark says its tools protect users across more than 100 countries, and the company employs over 500 people.

Surfshark is privately held. It has never traded on a public exchange, and neither has its parent group. There are no public shareholders and no market capitalization to cite. Ownership sits with the founder, the holding company created in the 2022 merger, and the private investors who later bought minority stakes in that holding company.

Vytautas Kaziukonis built Surfshark without a traditional seed or Series A round, which is unusual for a company of its scale. Because the business was bootstrapped and stayed private, the exact size of his stake has never been disclosed. Before the Nord Security merger, Kaziukonis was the controlling owner of Surfshark, having funded its growth through revenue rather than equity sales.

After the merger, his Surfshark holding converted into a position in the combined group. The precise split between the Surfshark and Nord Security founders inside the holding company is not public. What is confirmed is that both founding sides retained ownership and control, and that outside investors hold only minority stakes. Kaziukonis remains chairman of the board, which signals continued founder influence over strategy.

The defining event in Surfshark's ownership is its February 2022 merger with Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN, NordPass, NordLayer, and NordLocker. Announced on February 2, 2022, the deal placed both companies under one holding structure while keeping the brands and their operations separate. Reporting at the time named the holding entity Cyberspace, based in the Netherlands.

The merger was a combination of equals in spirit rather than an acquisition. Surfshark and Nord Security both trace back to the same Lithuanian tech ecosystem and the Tesonet incubator, and both were profitable, bootstrapped businesses. Management stated that the two brands would keep separate infrastructure, separate product roadmaps, and separate teams. That remains true today. A customer comparing Surfshark and NordVPN is choosing between two products with a shared owner, not two badges on one codebase.

The strategic logic was scale. A single group could pool capital, pursue acquisitions, and prepare for an eventual public listing in a way neither brand could alone. The funding rounds that followed were raised at the group level, not by Surfshark on its own.

Surfshark raised no priced venture rounds under its own name. The rounds below were raised by the merged Nord Security group after the 2022 combination, and Surfshark shares in that ownership as part of the group. Exact per-brand allocations are not disclosed.

The April 2022 round was the first outside capital either company had ever taken. The September 2023 round doubled the group's valuation to $3 billion in roughly 18 months, a rare step up for a European consumer software business.

Novator Ventures, the investment firm founded by Icelandic entrepreneur Thor Bjorgolfsson, led the April 2022 round. It was joined by Burda Principal Investments, the growth arm of German media group Hubert Burda Media, and General Catalyst, a large US venture firm. That first round also drew a group of high-profile angels, including Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, Wolt CEO Miki Kuusi, and Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg.

Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm, led the September 2023 round that lifted the group to a $3 billion valuation. Novator Ventures and Burda Principal Investments both returned to participate. Warburg Pincus brought not just capital but public-market experience, which the group has openly tied to its ambition to go public. Even after both rounds, these investors hold minority positions. Control stays with the founders and the holding company.

Vytautas Kaziukonis is the founder of Surfshark and its most important figure. He led the company as CEO from its 2018 launch until March 17, 2026, when Dovydas Godelis, previously the Chief Operating Officer, became CEO. It was the first leadership change in Surfshark's history. Kaziukonis moved into the role of board chairman, keeping him central to ownership and long-term direction.

Dovydas Godelis joined Surfshark early in its life, worked up through marketing and operations, and served as COO before taking the top job. His stated aim is to broaden Surfshark from a VPN into a mainstream consumer cybersecurity brand.

Above the brand sits the shared holding structure created with Nord Security. Board composition for that holding company is not fully public. What is confirmed is that the founders of both Surfshark and Nord Security retained ownership and board influence after the merger, and that Warburg Pincus, as the largest outside investor, gained the kind of governance rights that typically accompany a pre-IPO growth round. Nord Security's leadership, led by co-founders Tom Okman and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, sits on the other side of the combined group.

The clearest controversy around Surfshark's ownership is that its parent also owns NordVPN. VPN buyers rely on independent reviews and comparison sites, and the two brands frequently appear side by side as rivals. Critics argue that shared ownership makes that competition partly illusory, since a customer picking either brand pays the same group. The companies have been open about the link since the 2022 merger, but the arrangement still draws scrutiny from privacy commentators. It also mirrors a wider pattern of consolidation in the VPN industry, where a handful of owners sit behind many familiar names, similar to the ties documented in who owns NordVPN.

Surfshark markets itself heavily on privacy, so its legal home matters. The company is incorporated in the Netherlands, a country outside the "14 Eyes" intelligence-sharing arrangement, which Surfshark presents as favorable for user privacy. It operates a no-logs policy and has commissioned independent audits of that claim. Skeptics note that the operational teams sit largely in Lithuania and that trust in any VPN ultimately rests on audits rather than marketing. This is the same tension that shapes privacy-first rivals such as Proton, whose Swiss base is central to its pitch.

Both Surfshark and Nord Security have roots in Tesonet, a Lithuanian technology accelerator, and early reporting probed how closely the brands and their people were tied. The founders addressed these links publicly around the time of the merger. The relationships are now openly acknowledged rather than hidden, but the shared origin remains a point that privacy researchers raise when assessing independence.

For customers, the ownership structure explains why Surfshark and NordVPN feel like alternatives yet never truly undercut each other into oblivion. A shared parent has little reason to let one brand destroy the other's margins. The upside is scale. The combined group can fund audits, infrastructure, and new products such as Incogni that a smaller standalone brand might struggle to build. The concentration seen here echoes the pattern across privacy-focused challengers like Brave and DuckDuckGo, where a few owners shape a market that markets itself on independence.

For investors, the structure is a bet on a European cybersecurity champion built without the usual venture scaffolding. Surfshark and Nord Security reached unicorn scale while bootstrapped, then took capital only when they wanted to accelerate and prepare for a listing. Warburg Pincus, Novator, and Burda are backing a group that already generates over $1 billion in revenue, which is a very different risk profile from an early-stage startup burning cash.

For the founders, keeping control was clearly a priority. By bootstrapping first and merging before raising, Kaziukonis and his Nord Security counterparts diluted themselves far less than founders who raise round after round. Outside investors hold minority stakes. The founders and the holding company still steer the group, and Kaziukonis's move to chairman keeps founder authority in place even after the CEO handover.

Finally, the structure points toward a possible IPO. The 2023 round was described in reporting as a pre-IPO step, and the group has spoken about listing readiness. If that happens, the private, founder-controlled ownership described here would convert into public shares, and Surfshark's ownership would become far more transparent than it is today.

Surfshark is privately held and owned through the holding company it shares with Nord Security following their 2022 merger. Founder Vytautas Kaziukonis and the Nord Security founders retain control, while minority stakes are held by investors including Novator Ventures, Burda Principal Investments, General Catalyst, and Warburg Pincus.

Dovydas Godelis has been CEO of Surfshark since March 2026. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer and succeeded founder Vytautas Kaziukonis, who became chairman of the board.

No, but they share a parent. Surfshark and Nord Security, the maker of NordVPN, merged in February 2022 under one holding company. The two brands operate independently with separate teams, infrastructure, and product roadmaps, yet they are ultimately owned by the same group.

No. Surfshark is private, and so is its parent group. Neither has held an IPO. A 2023 funding round was reported as a pre-IPO step, and the group has discussed listing readiness, but no public listing has taken place.

Surfshark raised no venture rounds under its own name. Its parent group raised $200 million in total, split across a $100 million round in April 2022 at a $1.6 billion valuation and a $100 million round in September 2023 at a $3 billion valuation. That $3 billion figure is the most recent valuation for the combined group.

Vytautas Kaziukonis founded Surfshark in 2018 in Lithuania. He bootstrapped the company through reinvested revenue rather than outside funding and led it as CEO until 2026.