ExpressVPN was sold to Kape. Are you safe?

Kape Technologies PLC, a company that changed its name from Crossrider to hide its past, acquired the popular VPN ExpressVPN service. Express VPN is the fourth VPN company acquired by Kape (CyberGhost VPN, Zenmate and Private Internet Access) in recent years.

ExpressVPN was a privately held company based in the British Virgin Islands. It has created its own Lightway protocol in which it has complete control.

See more articles from iGuRu.gr when you search for news on Google.

iGuRu.gr preferred source

Most of the features offered by the company are similar to those of other VPN services: ExpressVPN supports desktop and mobile applications, runs on servers located in 94 countries, does not limit bandwidth, allows P2P and does not hold logs, except for technical reasons.

ExpressVPN announced its acquisition by Kape Technologies PLC on the company's official blog.

"We have announced our plan to join Kape Technologies, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, to be added to the clear world leader in digital privacy. With their support and resources, we will be able to innovate faster and protect you from a wider range of threats. Together, we will promote privacy technology, keeping you firmly in control of your digital experience even when new threats and challenges arise. ”

According to the announcement, ExpressVPN will remain a separate service and everything will remain as it is for the subscribers of the service.

Kape Technologies paid $ 936 million to acquire ExpressVPN, making the market the largest recorded deal on VPN services. Kape, for example, acquired Private Internet Access for one-tenth of the amount two years ago: $ 95,5 million.

TechRadar reports that the acquisition has lifted the veil behind ExpressVPN's business size. The company has over three million subscribers, which brought them "revenues of about $ 279,4 million in 2020, increased by 37% from 2019".

It seems that the lucrative VPN services are in the process of integration. Kape has acquired its fourth VPN company, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, subscriber VPN provider.

But the company has a dark past. When it was called Crossrider, it had a bad reputation for making money from potentially unwanted software (PuP) offerings . Security companies like Malwarebytes classified Crossrider products as adware. According to reports, the company's founder was a former Israeli agent.

[Forbes] These Ex-Israeli Surveillance Agents Hijack Your Browser To Profit From Ads

It is not clear how influential Kape Technologies is in ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access or its other recent markets. Everything indicates that the companies are independent of the parent company.

Kape's previous activities, however, are a cause for concern. If you forget at some point, the question remains whether integration is good for VPN services in general but for all users worldwide.

Larger companies have more resources that could be used to improve standards and functionality. However, they can also be used to increase prices once they dominate the market.

giorgos

George is still wondering what he is doing here….