Surfshark and Nord Security merge to create VPN and security powerhouse
Two of the biggest players out there join forces ahead of a formidable fight for your privacy
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Nord SecurityandSurfsharkhave announced plans to join forces, in what is arguably the biggest merger or acquisition theVPNindustry has ever seen. This comes just 72 hours afterwe wrote about the close ties between the two brands.
Although figures have not been disclosed, we believe that the value of the combined entity will surpass that of the new arch rival formed by theacquisition ofExpressVPN by Kapein September 2021, a deal worth nearly $1 billion. Intriguingly, Surfshark and NordVPN disclosed that the agreement marks the end of a process that started in mid-2021, likely before theExpressVPNdeal took place.
While NordVPN has been around for nearly a decade, Surfshark’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric, rapidly becoming one of the most popular VPN brands in the world, according toGoogleTrends data. In separate statements, both companies confirmed they will “continue to operate autonomously and rely on separate infrastructure and product roadmaps”.
A security behemoth
The combined entity will operate a number of brands, in line with the usual divide-and-conquer strategy common across the SaaS industry.
Nord Security has Nord VPN, its premium VPN brand,Atlas VPN, its entry-level freemium VPN,NordLayer, its B2B network access security solution,NordLocker, an encryptedcloud storagesolution, andNordPass, an advancedpassword manager.
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Nord Security brings more than 15 million users and 1000 employees to the table, while Surfshark has over 200 employees and one million paid users. Both brands place in the top three spots across almost all major VPN rankings.
So, what comes next? Tom Okman and Vytautas Kaziukonis, the co-founder of Nord Security and founder of Surfshark, declined to provide any hints.
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However, we would be surprised if an IPO based on a multi-billion dollar valuation wasn’t in the pipeline (or at the very least a private equity round), something that would give them a war chest to acquire more brands and bring in more features.
2022: The year of the big VPN consolidation
“Go big or go home” is probably the most appropriate saying to describe the transaction. As Google andApplehave launched their own VPN-cum-privacy solutions, it was only a matter of time before the smaller companies rushed to consolidate their positions. It started with J2Global (the owner of PCMag), then Kape, and now NordVPN.
Expect more consolidation to happen as the largest players in the VPN world raise the stakes. Who could be next?PureVPN, one of the oldest brands around?ProtonVPN, very popular amongst the privacy-first community?
Here are three scenarios we wouldn’t discount:
Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled inwebsite buildersandweb hostingwhen DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.
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