Tomas Okmanas (born November 5, 1987) is a Lithuanian tech entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder of several global startups. He is best known as the co-founder and co-CEO of Nord Security, a global cybersecurity company that provides a popular VPN serviceNordVPN.
Okmanas focuses on bootstrapping and leveraging technology to grow businesses in multiple different industries.[2] As the co-founder of Tesonet house of brands, he built a diverse investment portfolio. It currently includes a web intelligence collection platform Oxylabs, a hosting provider Hostinger, and a cybersecurity company Surfshark. All three were listed among the fastest-growing European companies by The Financial Times.[3] Hostinger was also named the fastest-growing brand in its market.[4] Tesonet is a shareholder at Šiaulių Bankas, one of the biggest banks in Lithuania,[5] where Okmanas currently holds a seat on the supervisory board.[6]
In 2022, Okmanas entered the sports industry as a part-owner of EuroLeague team BC Žalgiris.[7] In 2024, he expanded his ownership by acquiring the BC London Lions.[8]
Through Tesonet, Okmanas is also a venture-capital investor in various industries, including gaming, adtech, AI, retail, and deep tech.[9] He is also a Limited Partner in several venture capital funds, including Creandum, Plural, and Moonfire.[10]
In 2024, the combined workforce across all his ventures was 3,200 people.[11]
Okmanas founded Tesonet together with Eimantas Sabaliauskas in 2008.[13] After trying 34 various projects and ideas, from computer games to web hosting solutions, they finally focused on network security, business hosting, and big data solutions.[14][15] Both individually and through the Tesonet accelerator, Okmanas invested in more than 50 different projects and ventures.[16][17] He is actively involved in mentoring new ventures in the Lithuanian startup ecosystem and has taken part in launching a new association aimed at the growth of active Lithuanian startups.[18][19]
In 2012, Okmanas co-founded the VPN service company NordVPN.[12] He contributed to the development of the solution, significantly reducing the time required for TCP packets to travel between the client, the VPN server, and their ultimate destination.[20] Okmanas is listed as one of the inventors of this method in the US patent office database.[21]
In 2017, Okmanas co-founded Nord Security, an umbrella company for several cybersecurity solutions both for clients and businesses, like NordVPN, NordLayer, and NordPass. However, a near-future vision for Nord Security, according to Okmanas, is to have one app that users could forget about after its activation: it would cover all the important areas of consumer security in the background.[12]
Since 2020, Okmanas has been a member of the Forbes Technology Council.[22]
In 2023, together with Eimantas Sabaliauskas, Okmanas helped raise a million euros to Ukraine in an hour, and then doubled the donation.[24] For their philanthropy, Okmanas and Sabaliauskas were named National Patrons of Lithuania.[25]
As of 2024, Okmanas’ net worth is estimated to be €1.2 billion.[26]
Advocacy
Okmanas is a member of the board of directors of the Internet infrastructure coalition (i2Coalition).[27] This initiative ensures that those who build the infrastructure of the internet have a voice in public policy. In 2019, i2Coalition and six leading VPN service providers launched an initiative called VPN Trust Initiative (VTI).[28] A year later, VTI released a set of VTI Principles to offer a comprehensive set of best practices for VPN providers. Speaking on behalf of NordVPN, a member of VTI, Okmanas stated that the release of VTI Principles and Standards sets the bar for the whole industry.[29]
