Proton AG

Who owns Proton AG?
Since June 2024, the controlling shareholder of Proton AG has been the non-profit Proton Foundation. The Foundation was established to ensure Proton maintains its privacy-focused mission over the long term and legally prevents the company from being acquired. Andy Yen serves as CEO. Proton AG is not publicly traded.

Is Proton Mail truly private?
Proton Mail uses end-to-end encryption, meaning Proton itself cannot read the content of users' emails. However, Proton can be compelled by Swiss courts to provide metadata (such as IP addresses) for specific accounts. Proton does not log IP addresses by default but can be ordered to begin logging for specific accounts. Users seeking maximum anonymity should use Proton via Tor.

When was Proton AG founded?
Proton AG was founded in 2014 by Andy Yen, Jason Stockman, and Wei Sun while they were researchers at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

What services does Proton offer?
Proton offers Proton Mail (encrypted email), Proton VPN (secure VPN), Proton Drive (encrypted cloud storage), Proton Calendar (encrypted calendar), Proton Pass (password manager), Proton Meet (encrypted video conferencing), Proton Docs and Sheets (encrypted documents), Proton Workspace (integrated productivity suite), Lumo (AI assistant), and SimpleLogin (email aliasing).

What is Proton Workspace?
Proton Workspace is an integrated productivity suite launched in April 2026 that bundles all Proton services into a single subscription, rivaling Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. Workspace Standard costs €12.99/user/month and includes Mail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Meet, VPN, and Pass. Workspace Premium costs €19.99/user/month and adds expanded storage, email retention policies, and Lumo AI.

What is Proton Meet?
Proton Meet is an end-to-end encrypted video conferencing tool launched in April 2026. All calls are secured using the MLS (Messaging Layer Security) open-source protocol, meaning even Proton cannot access audio, video, screen shares, or chat messages. Free users can host calls for up to 50 participants for one hour; the Professional plan (€7.99/user/month) removes restrictions.

How many users does Proton have?
Proton has over 100 million registered users globally and serves over 100,000 businesses, including law firms, newsrooms, NGOs, consultancies, Fortune 500 companies, and public sector organizations.

Is Proton AG publicly traded?
No, Proton AG is privately held and controlled by the non-profit Proton Foundation. The company is not publicly traded and cannot be acquired due to the Foundation's controlling stake.

Proton AG was founded in 2014 by Andy Yen, Jason Stockman, and Wei Sun, who were researchers at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. The founders were motivated by concerns about internet surveillance, particularly following the 2013 Edward Snowden revelations about NSA mass surveillance programs.

Proton Mail launched in public beta in May 2014, receiving overwhelming demand that temporarily required signup restrictions. In summer 2014, Proton conducted a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, raising $550,377 from 10,576 donors. Proton Mail officially launched out of beta in March 2016, using end-to-end encryption with servers located in Switzerland.

Proton expanded its portfolio with Proton VPN in 2017, Proton Calendar in 2020, Proton Drive in 2022, and Proton Pass in 2023. In 2022, Proton rebranded from "ProtonMail" to "Proton" and acquired SimpleLogin, an email aliasing service.

In June 2024, Proton established the Proton Foundation as the controlling shareholder, ensuring the company's privacy mission could not be compromised by acquisition.

2026 marked Proton's most significant commercial expansion. In April 2026, Proton launched Proton Workspace, an integrated productivity suite bundling all Proton services into a single subscription to rival Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. The company also launched Proton Meet, an end-to-end encrypted video conferencing tool using Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. In June 2026, Proton launched Easy Switch for Business, enabling organizations to migrate from Google Workspace to Proton without taking systems offline. In July 2026, Proton introduced business continuity tools allowing companies to maintain email and video communications during outages of their primary technology provider.

Geopolitical events in 2025-2026 significantly boosted demand for Proton's services. The Trump administration's threats to take control of Greenland in early 2026 sparked an 80% jump in sign-ups across the Nordics and 100% from Denmark. COO Raphael Auphan noted that demand had shifted from "European sovereign desire to risk reduction" as company leadership began asking IT departments to create roadmaps for reducing US technology dependency. EU users spend €264 billion annually on foreign (predominantly US) proprietary technology, and more than 74% of Europe's listed companies rely on US email providers.

Proton's sustainability and ethics strategy is centered on digital rights, privacy protection, and democratic values:

Privacy as a Right: Proton's core ethical commitment is that privacy is a fundamental human right. The company provides free encrypted services to make privacy accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford it.

Democratic Values: Proton explicitly supports privacy, freedom, and democracy as core principles. The Proton Foundation's structure ensures these values cannot be compromised by commercial pressures or acquisition.

Environmental Responsibility: Proton operates its own infrastructure with energy efficiency in mind. The company's Swiss operations are subject to Switzerland's strong environmental regulations.

Transparency: Proton publishes transparency reports detailing law enforcement requests and how they are handled. The company's open-source code allows independent security audits.

Law Enforcement Data Sharing (2021): In 2021, Proton Mail provided IP address data to Swiss authorities in response to a legally binding Swiss court order, which was then shared with French authorities. This incident generated significant controversy among privacy advocates. Proton clarified that it does not log IP addresses by default but can be compelled by Swiss courts to begin logging for specific accounts. The company subsequently published a transparency report and recommended Tor for users requiring maximum anonymity.

AI Data Concerns: As Google and Microsoft integrate AI more deeply into their productivity suites, processing increasing volumes of audio, video, and text data, Proton has warned that shifting privacy policies create risks that fragments of private conversations could be fed into AI training models. CEO Andy Yen noted that "companies are increasingly worried that their confidential business data is becoming business intelligence for Big Tech."

Jurisdictional Limitations: While Swiss privacy laws are among the strongest in the world, Proton operates within a legal jurisdiction and must comply with Swiss court orders. The company is transparent about these limitations, distinguishing itself from providers that make absolute privacy claims they cannot legally guarantee.