The Swiss company Proton, creator of ProtonMail, is transforming itself into a foundation to strengthen its security and independence. Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a board member of the new structure.
The Geneva company Proton, known for its secure applications including Protonmail, announces that it is adopting a non-profit foundation structure. Co-founders Andy Yen and Jason Stockman, along with first employee Dingchao Lu, recently transferred their shares to the new foundation.
The board of directors consists of co-founder Andy Yen, Dingchao Lu, director of the FONGIT accelerator Antonio Gambardella, professor of ethics for AI and privacy Carissa Veliz, but also Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the fathers of the Web.
“We want to ensure that Proton continues to faithfully serve the community for the next ten years and beyond,” says Andy Yen. By adopting this Swiss non-profit structure, Proton claims to strengthen its security. Unlike commercial companies, Swiss foundations do not have shareholders. This configuration allows Proton to no longer depend on the goodwill of a person or group. The foundation’s board of directors is legally required to respect the mission for which it was created, namely to defend the original mission of Proton, further specifies the announcement from the Geneva-based software publisher. This transformation was made possible in part by the absence of venture capitalists at Proton.
In addition to its governance role, the Proton Foundation will consolidate, continue and expand its grantmaking efforts to support organizations that defend freedom, both online and offline.
