ExpressVPN was sold to Kape. Are you safe?

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

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 he said its acquisition by Kape Technologies PLC on the official blog of the company.

“We have announced our plan to join Kape Technologies, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, to join the clear global leader in digital privacy. With their support and resources, we will be able to innovate faster and deliver to you protection from a wider range of threats. Together, we will advance privacy technology, keeping you firmly in control of your digital experience even as new threats and challenges emerge.”

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 purchase the largest recorded deal in VPN services. For example Kape got her Private Internet Access for a 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 he was called Crossrider, he had a bad reputation for making money from potentially unwanted software bids (PuP). Security companies such as Malwarebytes classified Crossrider products as adware. According to reports, the founder of the company 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.