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by Debora Pape
Threema changes hands: Financial investor from Frankfurt takes over
14/1/2026
Translation: machine translated
The Swiss messenger Threema has a new owner: Frankfurt-based investment company Comitis Capital is taking over Threema Holding AG.
The Swiss messenger service Threema has a new owner. The company «Comitis Capital» from Frankfurt am Main. The company has concluded an agreement to acquire Threema Holding AG. The transaction is expected to be legally finalised in January 2026. No financial details of the purchase were disclosed.
Who is Threema?
The company behind the messenger was founded in Pfäffikon SZ in 2012 and is best known for its open-source encryption and strong privacy functions. According to «Swiss Whatsapp», it has more than twelve million active users.
Hessian owners take over from Bavarian owners
Threema was previously owned by its founders and the Munich-based company «Afinum Management», which invested in the company in 2020. In recent years, the latter had driven the expansion of the business customer segment, among other things. For example, employees of the Swiss Federal Administration also communicate via Threema. The new owner company Comitis Capital is active as a financial investor. According to the press release, the company intends to support Threema «in its next growth phase, building on its existing technology and established market position.»
Source: Threema
What is the legal situation?
Threema Holding AG and Comitis Capital GmbH emphasise that the technical infrastructure, including data centres, will remain in Switzerland. The services will also continue to be provided by Threema GmbH, which is why the data protection framework of Swiss law will also apply. German law would only apply if «instant messaging services were provided to users in Germany».
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Neither the corporate strategy nor the communication platform itself is to be adapted in the short term. The existing core values of the service are to be retained under the new owner.
What will change in practice?
According to official statements, there will be no fundamental changes for users or operations. The company emphasises that the takeover should not lead to any migration of the technical infrastructure. The data centres will remain in Switzerland, where the data protection framework of Swiss law will continue to apply. The service currently offers classic functions such as text and multimedia messages, voice and video calls and group chat functions. This will remain the case. The sending of files and location-based content will also remain unchanged.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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