Berlin-based NetBird has secured $10 million in Series A funding led by Pace Capital to scale its open-source Zero Trust networking platform. This investment, supported by Nauta Capital, InReach Ventures, and Antler, positions the startup as a sovereign European alternative to traditional U.S.-based VPN vendors. The capital will be used to expand the engineering team and accelerate customer migrations from legacy SSL VPN systems.
Shifting from Side Project to Security Standard
NetBird was founded in 2021 by Misha Bragin and Maycon Santos, born out of a side project originally intended to be a privacy-first Dropbox alternative. While building that storage solution, the founders realized that the underlying challenge was not the storage itself but the immense difficulty of setting up secure, peer-to-peer networking. They pivoted to solve this fundamental hurdle, leveraging the high-performance WireGuard protocol to create an overlay network that is both simple to deploy and highly secure.
Today, the platform combines this encrypted peer-to-peer foundation with Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to provide a unified solution for distributed teams. Unlike traditional SSL VPNs that require complex gateway configurations and open ports, NetBird eliminates single points of failure by connecting resources directly. This architectural shift has resonated deeply with the technical community, moving the product from personal "homelabs" to mission-critical corporate environments.
The Strategy of "Proof of Concept Starts at Home"
The company’s growth has been uniquely driven by a product-led strategy known internally as "Proof of Concept Starts at Home." This philosophy encourages network engineers and DevOps practitioners to test the platform in their private environments for free before advocating for corporate adoption. By removing the friction of long sales cycles and endless demos, NetBird has built a loyal base of advocates who value technical excellence over traditional marketing.
Misha Bragin, CEO and co-founder, emphasizes that this organic adoption model allows the community to shape the product's development more effectively than any executive-level pitch. As engineers stress-test the software in their own labs, they gain the confidence necessary to replace entire legacy VPN stacks with NetBird’s open-source alternative. This bottom-up approach has already successfully converted numerous high-growth startups and large European governmental organizations into long-term customers.
Commitment to Sovereignty and Open-Source Transparency
A core pillar of NetBird’s identity is its commitment to European sovereignty and the transparency inherent in open-source software. In an era where security infrastructure is increasingly scrutinized, the ability for organizations to self-host and inspect the codebase provides a level of trust that closed-source competitors cannot match. The platform's identity-first approach ensures that every device and user must be authenticated, strictly adhering to the "never trust, always verify" principles of Zero Trust.
The team behind NetBird remains intentionally international, with both founders being immigrants to Germany who bring a global perspective to their Berlin-based headquarters. While the company does not publish formal diversity statistics, its culture is deeply rooted in the inclusive and collaborative nature of the open-source community. This diverse background contributes to a product that is designed to be accessible and affordable for teams of all sizes and geographical locations.
NetBird’s successful Series A marks a pivotal shift toward transparent, peer-to-peer security models that prioritize user experience and cryptographic integrity. By replacing cumbersome legacy VPNs with a simple, open-source alternative, the company is establishing a new standard for secure remote connectivity. As it scales, NetBird remains committed to fostering its global community while championing European technological independence.