From bootstrapped to billions: How Nord spent ‘hundreds of millions’ minting VPN customers to become Lithuania’s tech darling

Nord Security began as a mysterious and sweetest company in part of the world where the technology heroes Nadron: Lithuania.

But it didn’t take long until it became prevalent through its cyber products (sometimes expensive) and the virtual private network network (VPN).

Thomas Oakanas and Emantas Sapaliaskas witnessed this opportunity in 2012 while following professions and decided that it was worth exploring.

NORD is a simple logic to help it grow: people depend on the Internet for everything, which means that the need for online safety will increase over time. In fact, you did not find a huge market among the internet surfers for privacy.

Okmanas admits that when the company was established, “no one cares” outside some technology companies that took cybersecurity seriously.

While continuing to build Nord, cases of use and demand have grown. This also means that the founding duo had to become skilled in more than just engineering.

“I had to learn now [about] Finance, legal world, corporate governance, then how to manage teams and companies. ” luck last year.

Nord is famous for its VPN program, allowing users to use the Internet while protecting their data and iP addresses. This means more privacy for the normal user when browsing the web – but technology is also very controversial.

VPNS can be used to circumvent government restrictions on the Internet and have been attacked by Hollywood Film Studios for use in piracy and violating copyright.

But Lithuania -based Nord does not stumble through these legal and moral concerns. It focuses on enhancing its basic use of the web use safely. The company’s servers do not record user data – part of the SPIEL privacy. He argued that AD nausea, and said luck People who use VPN only to access banned or not “outdated” broadcasting services.    

Okmanas says Nord tools are rarely used for illegal or illegal purposes. The company also has systems to prevent security violations and other online threats.

He said: “Our goal is to connect the largest possible number of people to this Nord Cloud, as people can use it in a very safe way.”

VPN world and more

Wide strokes for great Nord growth: in 2022, 10 years after its founding, it has achieved a single -century position, has more than 15 million users worldwide, and is one of the most famous companies in Lithuania (VINTED is another one).

Amaomas said Nord had witnessed “tremendous growth” over the years. In September 2023, the company raised $ 100 million with a rating of approximately $ 3 billion, or nearly twice the amount it raised when it became unicorn a year ago.

The company was out of shopping to help expand it. She announced a merger with Surfsharak in 2022 and bought the Ironwall competitor this year, which helped Nord to influence cybersecurity and beyond. Most of the Nord user base is centered in the United States and extends to a wide age range, while the rest of its customers are a mixed bag of ordinary Internet users and small and medium -sized companies.

Norder has made her existence – it is not unusual to stumble on her ads while listening to Podcast or watching a video on YouTube or Tiktok (VPN has been discovered by rapper Drake, according to Bloomberg. Okmanas says this is a deliberate effort to educate more people on online Nord. This is just one of the many ways the company spends for new customers with continued online threats.

“We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to gain our customers, and it works. Users see the value, and we are very happy,” said Ammanas.

Next steps

Nord has another building coming in Vilnius, where it continues to expand its business. For large -scale companies such as Nord, the public subscription seems the next step (at least this is what Airbnb and Uber, one of the missing companies that are lured).

But Nord does not see this in this way. Their goal is to prepare for public subscription but not necessarily for the public immediately, because it is a good measure of the place where the company stands.

“We have great ambitions, but we do not need this to do the public subscription,” said Ammanas. Nord may start small, but it was profitable on the basis of cash flow from the start. She turned into positive Ebitda last year.

He said that Nord is not subject to a final date, but he wants to prepare it so that he is ready for public subscription to “press a button”.

“But certainly, we do not need it, and we will not do it in the next six months or in general,” said Co-COO.

“We are very lucky as we grow very quickly, and we are very profitable.”

A copy of this story was originally published on Fortune.com On September 30, 2024.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

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2025-04-30 05:47:00