Who Owns Tesonet?
Tesonet is a privately held Lithuanian venture builder and investor headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania. Founded in 2008 by Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas, it builds and backs technology ventures including Nord Security, Surfshark, Oxylabs, Decodo, and nexos.ai, with more than 4,000 people working across its ecosystem.
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Who Owns Tesonet?
- Parent Company: Tesonet
- Ownership Type: Brand division
- Company Type: Privately Held
| Brand | Parent Company | Ownership Type |
|---|---|---|
| Tesonet | Tesonet | Brand division |
History of Tesonet
- Founded: 2008
- Founders: Tomas Okmanas, Eimantas Sabaliauskas
Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas founded Tesonet in Vilnius in 2008. The company began as a small startup operation and spent its early years incubating digital products while Lithuania's tech scene was still thin.
The defining venture arrived in 2012, when Okmanas, Sabaliauskas, and a circle of childhood friends founded Nord Security inside the Tesonet orbit. NordVPN launched in 2013 and became the flagship product, later joined by NordPass, NordLocker, NordLayer, NordLynx, NordStellar, and NordProtect. In 2022 Nord Security merged with Surfshark, another Baltic-founded VPN company, while the brands continued operating independently.
Tesonet's model widened from building to backing. Its investment portfolio grew to include Hostinger, the Kaunas-based web hosting company founded in 2004, plus stakes in web intelligence platform Oxylabs, AI orchestration startup nexos.ai, content company Mediatech, customer care firm CyberCare, web data platform Decodo, and ScrapingBee. Beyond software it bought into Lithuanian basketball clubs BC Zalgiris and London Lions, and invested in ventures including Lovable, CAST AI, Eneba, Turing College, Zapp, Artea, PartiQlar, and Siauliu Bankas.
In 2021 the company's customer service arm was reshaped to serve the group's global ventures, handling support in multiple languages across 170 countries and processing millions of enquiries a year. The team tied to that operation exceeds 400 people.
By 2026 Tesonet described itself as a founder-led venture builder behind more than 50 ventures with an ecosystem of more than 4,000 people, making it one of the largest tech groupings in the Baltics. Its focus areas are cybersecurity, AI, edtech, sportstech, and digital services.
About Tesonet
Is Tesonet publicly traded?
No. Tesonet is privately held by founders Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas. Individual ventures have taken external funding, but the group itself has never listed.
Who founded Tesonet?
Tomas Okmanas and Eimantas Sabaliauskas founded Tesonet in Vilnius in 2008 and remain co-CEOs. They also co-founded Nord Security inside the group in 2012.
What does Tesonet own?
Tesonet's built or incubated ventures include Nord Security, Surfshark, Oxylabs, Decodo, Mediatech, CyberCare, nexos.ai, and ScrapingBee. Its investment stakes include Hostinger, Lovable, CAST AI, Eneba, Turing College, BC Zalgiris, and London Lions.
Where is Tesonet headquartered?
Tesonet is headquartered in Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania. Its ventures operate globally, with Hostinger based in Kaunas and Nord Security also in Vilnius.
What is Tesonet's relationship to NordVPN?
NordVPN is the flagship product of Nord Security, which Tesonet's founders created within the group in 2012. Tesonet built and accelerated Nord Security, making NordVPN part of the Tesonet venture family.
- Founded: 2008
- Headquarters: Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania
- Company Type: Privately Held
- Employees: more than 4,000 across the group ecosystem
Where Is Tesonet Made / Based?
- Headquarters: Vilnius, Vilnius County, Lithuania
Tesonet Categories & Tags
Tesonet Recalls & Controversies
Tesonet itself has limited direct controversy, though its ecosystem has attracted scrutiny.
NordVPN breach response (2019): Nord Security disclosed that a single rented server in a Finnish data centre had been accessed in 2018 through an insecure remote management system. No user credentials or activity logs were exposed, but criticism focused on the delayed disclosure, which came only after researchers publicised the incident. Nord Security commissioned audits and expanded its security programme in response.
Surfshark and Nord Security merger scrutiny (2022): When Surfshark merged with Nord Security, commentators noted the two consumer VPN brands would continue marketing as competitors despite shared ownership. The companies maintained the products and operations remain separate, but the consolidation drew criticism about transparency in the VPN review and comparison market.
Corporate opacity (ongoing): Tesonet publishes limited financial disclosure relative to the scale of its holdings. The relationship between the holding entity, its ventures, and their offshore registrations has drawn periodic questions in coverage of the VPN industry.
Tesonet Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Founder control enables long holding periods and no exit pressure on portfolio companies
- +Bootstrapped track record: built two unicorns without venture funding at group level
- +Shared infrastructure across ventures cuts cost and speeds new product launches
- +Deep concentration in cybersecurity and web data builds compounding expertise
Considerations
- -Opaque financial disclosure limits outside visibility into group performance
- -Concentration in consumer VPN and proxy markets carries regulatory and reputational exposure
- -Founder control means limited independent governance oversight
- -Brand complexity: consumers often do not realise NordVPN, Surfshark, and related products share common ownership roots
Frequently Asked Questions About Tesonet
Sources & Further Reading
Competitors to Tesonet
These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.
| Brand | Parent Company | Country | Founded | Market Position | Primary Market | Gender Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nord Security | Lithuania | 2024 | Mass market | Global | All Genders |
Learn More About Competitors
Competitive Analysis
Market Positioning: Tesonet competes with 1 brands in the same categories, ranging from mass market to luxury positioning.
Geographic Distribution: Competitors are headquartered across multiple regions, indicating global competition in this market segment.
Brand Heritage: Competitor brands range from established heritage brands to newer market entrants, with founding years spanning several decades.
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