Nord Security, a cyber security tech firm that is behind NordVPN, has become Lithuania’s second company to be valued at over $1 billion after attracting an investment of $100 million.
Founded in 2012, Nord Security is now valued at $1.6 billion. This makes the company Lithuania’s second unicorn, after the clothing resale platform Vinted.
According to one of the founders, Eimantas Sabaliauskas, Nord Security is now striving to become the world’s biggest cybersecurity company.
“We received various proposals from partners, we deliberated for a long time and decided that in order to reach the next step in the evolution of the company, we should bring in external partners who have both experience and a network of contacts,” he said.
The company’s most successful product is the VPN service NordVPN.
There are about 700 startups operating in Lithuania, according to Inga Langaite, president of the association Vienaragiai LT (Unicorns LT). Many of them have growth potential.
“We are about average with this figure, but the potential for growth is significant. The fact that we have two official unicorns today confirms a statistic in multiple markets that it takes between 250 and 300-400 startups to raise a unicorn. If we want more unicorns, we should try to have more startups,” she said.
Lithuania’s northern Baltic neighbour Estonia continues to lead globally in terms of unicorns per capita. With a population of 1.3 million, it has nine startup companies valued at over $1 billion. (LRT/Business World Magazine)