Who Founded PureVPN? The Story of Uzair, Umair and Aaqib Gadit
PureVPN began as a small privacy project and grew into one of the older names in the consumer VPN market. The company credits three founders—Uzair, Umair and Aqib—with turning that early idea into a commercial service.
There is a simple answer to the headline, but the details are less tidy. The three-founder account is well supported. The exact division of work in the earliest days is not, and the public record also contains a one-year difference over when the project began.
Who founded PureVPN?
PureVPN’s official history names Uzair, Umair and Aqib as the people who launched the service. Current company and founder records connect those names to Uzair Gadit, Umair Gadit and Aaqib Gadit.
Uzair has publicly referred to Aaqib and Umair as his PureVPN co-founders. Disrupt.com, the wider venture group connected to the founders, also lists all three as founding partners.
PureVPN’s About page uses “Aqib”. Current professional and Disrupt profiles use “Aaqib Gadit”. The sources are referring to the same person.
How PureVPN got started
PureVPN describes its beginnings as a small, bootstrapped project. According to the company, the founders had built the original product in their spare time and decided to turn it into a commercial service after graduating.
The company says the first network had only two servers. It then expanded to 16 servers during 2007–2008, before launching desktop and mobile apps over the next few years.
That origin story comes mainly from PureVPN itself. There is very little independent reporting from the company’s first year, so the early milestones are best treated as the founders’ and company’s own account rather than a fully documented external history.
PureVPN uses 2007 as its official launch year. Aaqib’s professional profile and some business records use 2006. The public sources do not explain the difference, so 2007 is the clearest date for the commercial launch while 2006 may refer to an earlier company or project stage.
Meet the three founders
Uzair Gadit
Uzair is the founder most closely associated with PureVPN today. The company’s transparency page identifies him as co-founder and CEO, and he has often acted as the public voice of the business.
Umair Gadit
Disrupt’s current biography says Umair co-founded PureVPN and served as a director for more than 19 years. He later took founding and growth roles in other ventures.
Aaqib Gadit
Aaqib’s professional profile identifies him as a PureVPN co-founder and director. He later co-founded and led Cloudways, which DigitalOcean acquired in 2022.
What did each founder actually do?
The available records tell us more about later titles than they do about the first months of PureVPN. That matters, because it would be easy to turn a few modern biographies into a neat—but unsupported—story in which one founder handled engineering, another marketing and another finance.
| Founder | What is documented | What is still unclear |
|---|---|---|
| Uzair Gadit | Co-founder and current publicly identified CEO of PureVPN. | His exact share of the original product, engineering and commercial work. |
| Umair Gadit | Co-founder and director for more than 19 years, according to Disrupt. | His day-to-day responsibilities during the service’s first year. |
| Aaqib Gadit | Co-founder and director, according to his professional profile. | How much of the early infrastructure, product and business strategy he personally led. |
The honest answer is that the founders’ broad roles are documented, but the original division of labour is not. Any more detailed reconstruction would be guesswork.
What the founders did after PureVPN
The three founders went on to build a wider group of technology businesses. Gaditek later became Disrupt.com, which now lists Aaqib, Uzair and Umair as its founding partners.
Uzair remained the founder most closely tied to PureVPN and later became associated with PureSquare and Secure.com. Umair moved into wider strategy, growth and consumer ventures. Aaqib became especially well known through Cloudways.
DigitalOcean announced in 2022 that it would acquire Cloudways for $350 million in cash. Aaqib later joined DigitalOcean as chief revenue officer.
PureVPN, GZ Systems, PureSquare, Gaditek and Disrupt are connected parts of the wider founder story, but they are not interchangeable names for one legal entity.
For the wider company timeline—including the 2017 logging controversy, later audits and the move to the British Virgin Islands—read our complete PureVPN history.
Who owns and runs PureVPN today?
PureVPN’s current Terms of Service identify GZ Systems Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, as the legal owner and operator of the service.
That is separate from the founder question. Uzair, Umair and Aaqib are the people credited with creating the business. GZ Systems Limited is the company named in the customer contract today.
Uzair is still publicly identified as PureVPN’s co-founder and CEO. The current public material does not give the same level of detail about Umair’s or Aaqib’s day-to-day involvement in PureVPN.
The founders’ present personal ownership percentages are not published in the sources reviewed.
For a current assessment of the service itself rather than its founders, see our independent PureVPN review.
PureVPN founder timeline
The project moves toward a commercial launch
Some founder and business records use 2006. PureVPN’s official history uses 2007 as the launch year.
The early network grows
PureVPN says the service expanded from two servers to 16 global servers.
The founders take on broader roles
Uzair remained closely associated with PureVPN, while Umair and Aaqib became involved in a wider group of technology ventures.
DigitalOcean acquires Cloudways
Cloudways, co-founded and led by Aaqib, was acquired by DigitalOcean in a $350 million cash deal.
The founders remain connected through Disrupt
Disrupt’s current team page lists Aaqib, Uzair and Umair Gadit as founding partners.
Frequently asked questions
Who are the founders of PureVPN?
The strongest available evidence supports three founders: Uzair Gadit, Umair Gadit and Aaqib Gadit. PureVPN’s own page uses the first names Uzair, Umair and Aqib.
Was PureVPN founded in 2006 or 2007?
PureVPN uses 2007 as its official launch year. Some founder and business profiles use 2006. The public sources do not explain the difference.
Is Uzair Gadit still PureVPN’s CEO?
PureVPN’s current transparency page identifies Uzair Gadit as co-founder and CEO.
What was Umair Gadit’s role?
Disrupt’s current biography says Umair co-founded PureVPN and served as a director for more than 19 years.
What was Aaqib Gadit’s role?
Aaqib’s professional profile identifies him as a PureVPN co-founder and director. The first-year division of work is not publicly documented.
Who legally owns PureVPN?
PureVPN’s current Terms of Service identify GZ Systems Limited as the service owner and operator.
Are all three founders still involved?
All three are listed as founding partners at Disrupt. Only Uzair is clearly identified in current PureVPN material as holding a day-to-day leadership title.
Written by Martin Needs
Director at NeedSec LTD | Cybersecurity Expert | 10+ Years Experience
Founder stories often become more certain with every retelling. This page keeps the well-supported facts and leaves the undocumented parts as open questions.
Important sources
- PureVPN — Official founding story and company timeline.
- PureVPN — Current identification of Uzair Gadit as co-founder and CEO.
- PureVPN — Current Terms of Service naming GZ Systems Limited.
- Disrupt — Current team page listing Aaqib, Uzair and Umair as founding partners.
- Disrupt — Biography documenting Umair’s PureVPN role.
- Aaqib Gadit — Professional profile identifying his PureVPN co-founder and director role.
- DigitalOcean — Official Cloudways acquisition announcement.