Who owns Proton VPN?

Proton VPN is a service provided by Proton AG(nouvelle fenêtre), a company based in Switzerland. The primary shareholder of Proton AG is the Proton Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit established to ensure the company must act in the best interest of the Proton community in perpetuity. Learn about the Proton Foundation(nouvelle fenêtre).

Proton employees own the vast majority of shares not held by the foundation. Remaining shares are held by the Fondation Genevoise pour l’Innovation Technologique (FONGIT)(nouvelle fenêtre), a nonprofit foundation established for the public good, and by Proton users. Proton benefits from support from Innosuisse (the Swiss Federal Innovation Agency) and the European Commission, but neither organization holds any shares nor exercises any control.

Proton was founded in 2014 by a team of scientists who met at CERN(nouvelle fenêtre) (the European Center for Nuclear Research) and created Proton Mail, the world’s largest encrypted email service(nouvelle fenêtre).

You can learn more about Proton and why you can trust Proton VPN here(nouvelle fenêtre).