Who Owns ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN was founded in 2009 by Peter Burchhardt and Dan Pomerantz. From the start it positioned at the premium end of consumer VPNs: higher price, better apps, and a marketing emphasis on privacy jurisdiction, registering its operating company in the British Virgin Islands rather than the US or UK.

Through the 2010s the service grew into the most recognized consumer VPN brand internationally, helped by early and sustained investment in affiliate marketing and later by what became one of the largest sponsorship programs on YouTube and podcasting. By the time of the Kape acquisition in 2021, ExpressVPN reported more than 3 million paid subscribers, over 40 percent of them in North America, 2020 revenue of approximately $279 million, and a four-year revenue compound growth rate of roughly 35 percent.

Product milestones mattered to that growth. The proprietary Lightway protocol, launched in 2020 and later open-sourced, was built for faster reconnection on mobile networks. TrustedServer, introduced in 2019, runs all servers on RAM only so nothing persists to disk, and the company has subjected its no-logs policy and infrastructure to repeated third-party audits by firms including KPMG, PwC, and Cure53.

Kape completed the acquisition in December 2021. The founders' proceeds made them indirect holders of roughly 11.6 percent of Kape shares, positions they committed to Sagi's 2023 buyout offer.

Under Kape the brand remained the premium flagship of a portfolio that also includes CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, and Intego. Product additions since the acquisition include Keys, a built-in password manager, and an ad and tracker blocker, as the brand extends from VPN into broader consumer privacy. ExpressVPN has also maintained an unusually visible independent audit cadence relative to competitors, publishing audit results publicly.