After acquiring CyberGhost and ZenMate, Kape Technologies is looking to add Private Internet Access to its VPN roster. The company has just announced the acquisition of the famous VPN service that has amassed more than 2 million paying subscribers over the years.
Ted Kim, the previous CEO of Private Internet Access, will now become a non-executive director at Kape Technologies and continue to direct the operations in North America.
This acquisition follows the global trend of famous VPN services being bought by large international conglomerates. As we know, Touch VPN, Betternet, and Hotspot Shield are now owned by AnchorFree and Encrypt.me, StrongVPN, and IPVanish are owned by J2 Global Group.
The surge in competition on the VPN market is a very good thing for the end user since the extra resources will allow companies to improve their software and offer fully-featured and well-engineered products. Not to mention that strong competition tends to drive the prices down as well.
On the other hand, small VPN providers will find it even more difficult to stay afloat when super companies start infusing their competition with serious capital. Apparently, even Private Internet Access was struggling to compete since part of the acquisition deal involves Kape Technologies paying off $31.2 million in debt owed by Private Internet Access’ parent company.