Publish announcement

_publications/2024-12-03-a-new-chapter-begins.md

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+---
+# possible values: blog video podcast
+category: blog
+layout:   blog
+title: "Safing Joins Forces with IVPN: A New Chapter Begins"
+date: 2024-12-03
+author: Raphael
+summary:  
+custom_thumbnail_name: safing-plus-ivpn
+portmaster_plug: false
+portmaster_update: false
+---
+
+We're excited to announce that Safing is being acquired by IVPN, marking the beginning of a new era for our company and our products. This decision comes after months of collaboration and careful consideration, and we believe it will bring significant benefits to our users and the privacy community as a whole.
+
+### Meeting an Ally
+
+About six months ago, we noticed something unusual: high-quality pull requests were coming in for our Portmaster code. Upon investigation, we discovered that IVPN, a respected ally in the fight for privacy, was behind these contributions. Their meaningful improvements demonstrated their commitment to privacy and mission focus.
+Impressed by their dedication, we reached out to IVPN to explore potential collaboration. As our discussion progressed, it became clear that by combining our strengths, we could achieve far more than we could separately.
+
+### Better Together
+
+After careful deliberation, Daniel and I (Raphael) have decided that the clearest path forward is for IVPN to acquire Safing. This wasn't an outcome we initially sought, which allowed for an honest and open discussion about the best path forward for everyone involved.
+
+Here are just some of the reasons why IVPN is such a good fit:
+
+-	IVPN is well respected in the privacy community
+-	They have extensive experience in running a privacy-focused network,
+-	A larger team capable of integrating and improving Safing's technologies, and
+-	Expertise in mobile platforms, charting a path towards Portmaster on Android and iOS
+
+### No Unexpected Changes
+
+IVPN’s stewardship of Portmaster and SPN will bring no unexpected changes:
+
+-	Portmaster and SPN will remain open source.
+-	IVPN is committed to maintaining and improving the software and services you rely on.
+-	IVPN has no plans to change the business model, pricing, or policies in ways that would present a disadvantage.
+
+### Looking to the Future
+
+For Daniel and me, this transition comes at a crucial time. Developing Portmaster, maintaining our many systems and growing our community all at the same time has become more and more challenging. With IVPN’s help, Portmaster and SPN can now grow faster than ever. We're grateful for our supportive community, without which all of this would have never been possible, and we are confident that IVPN will continue to nurture and expand on everything that we have built together.
+
+While we will not be joining the IVPN Team, we will take on an advisory role and plan to stay connected with the community through Discord and may occasionally contribute to Portmaster's development. We believe this change will ultimately benefit the community, providing the necessary resources and expertise to drive the project and our vision forward.
+
+### Closing Thoughts
+
+We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to our users, supporters, and the entire Safing community. Your trust and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind our work.
+We're excited for you to get to know the fantastic team at IVPN as we have over the past few months. They share our values and commitment to privacy, and we're confident they'll take what we've built to new heights.
+
+Thank you for being part of the Safing journey. Here's to the next chapter in our mission to protect online privacy!
+
+---
+
+Watch the [joint announcement video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Maf2u4Z90) or read [IVPN’s announcement post](https://www.ivpn.net/blog/ivpn-acquires-safing-portmaster-spn-network/) for more details.