Contabo
Verified“German-built and German-run, but US-private-equity-owned.”
- Majority owner
- 🇺🇸 KKR
- Founded
- 2003
- Data centers
- 9 regions / 11 sites
- Customers
- 275,000+
66 = midpoint of Control 57 & Data 75
Sovereignty Quadrant
Control ↑ who owns & governs the company · Data → where your data lives. Every dot is a company — click to open it.
Every number below traces to 16 sourced facts across 10 independent sources, last verified 2026-06-12. 4 open questions hold confidence at 82% — they lower confidence, never the score.
Control ↑
Who legally and economically controls the company
Legal & Jurisdiction
82
Incorporated and operated as Contabo GmbH in Munich, Germany, with a full domestic GmbH holding chain (GmbH -> Midco -> Group -> Holding, all registered at AG Munich). The operating entity sits squarely in the EU and is fully reachable by German and EU law (GDPR/BDSG). The only deduction is that the ultimate controlling parent is a US fund, which can shape the entity's strategy even though the legal entity itself is German.
Why 82? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Operating/contracting entity is a German GmbH in Munich
Contabo Legal Notice (Impressum) · as of 2026-06-12
Registered in the German commercial register with VAT ID
Contabo Legal Notice (Impressum) · as of 2026-06-12
Domestic German holding chain confirmed in the registry
NorthData - Contabo GmbH · as of 2026-06-12
Services rendered under EU/German data-protection law
Contabo Privacy Policy · as of 2026-06-12
Control & Ownership
32
Voting control sits outside the EU. In June 2022 US buyout firm KKR acquired the majority stake (deal reported around USD 71m / GBP 61m); London-based Oakley Capital reinvested a minority via Fund V, alongside management and hosting-entrepreneur co-investors. Neither the majority owner (US) nor the largest minority (UK, post-Brexit non-EU) is EU-based, and KKR is NYSE-listed. Economic majority and voting control are therefore both non-EU, which is the company's weakest sovereignty dimension. The German entity is privately held, so exact percentages are not public.
Why 32? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
US firm KKR holds the majority stake (acquired 2022)
Private Equity Wire · as of 2026-06-12
Oakley Capital (London) retains only a minority via Fund V
Oakley Capital / unquote · as of 2026-06-12
Reported deal size for the KKR majority acquisition
MergerLinks · as of 2026-06-12
Management and hosting-entrepreneur co-investors also hold equity
Oakley Capital press release · as of 2026-06-12
Data →
Where your data lives and who can reach it
Data & Infrastructure
68
Unusually strong for the rubric: Contabo owns and operates its own data centers and server hardware rather than reselling a US hyperscaler. Its flagship facilities in Munich (2009) and Nuremberg (2014) are self-built with a unified in-house hardware platform, and the German data centers are EU-owned, EU-located infrastructure. The deduction is global reach: Contabo itself runs data-center regions in the US (NY, St. Louis, Seattle), UK, Singapore, Japan, Australia and India, and its privacy policy lists US sub-processors (Cloudflare, MaxMind) and references the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, so non-EU workloads and some peripheral processing leave EU jurisdiction.
Why 68? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
Owns and self-builds its own data centers and hardware
Contabo About Us · as of 2026-06-12
Global self-operated footprint spans 9 regions / 11 locations on 4 continents
Contabo About Us · as of 2026-06-12
Privacy policy acknowledges non-EU transfers and lists US sub-processors
Contabo Privacy Policy · as of 2026-06-12
EU-region data centers positioned as GDPR-conformant
Contabo Help Center · as of 2026-06-12
Operations & People
85
Operationally EU-centered. Headquartered in Munich since its 2003 founding, with German/EU offices in Munich, Cologne, Nuremberg and Prague and roughly 300 employees. Leadership is German: Group CEO Stephan Wolfram (since July 2025), who is also a registered managing director alongside Mario Wilhelm. Customer base is global (275,000+ customers in 190 countries) but the company's center of gravity — people, leadership and headquarters — is firmly in Germany.
Why 85? 4 sourced facts · click to expand
German leadership; CEO and managing directors are EU-based
Contabo Blog / Impressum · as of 2026-06-12
Workforce and offices concentrated in the EU
Contabo About Us · as of 2026-06-12
Large but globally distributed customer base
Contabo About Us · as of 2026-06-12
Aligned to the EU Commission’s official Cloud Sovereignty Framework (SEAL, Jun 2026) →
What we don’t know
4 open questions — they lower confidence, never the score
- ?
Exact KKR vs Oakley vs management ownership percentages
Contabo is privately held; only 'majority/minority' is public, so the precise depth of US voting/economic control cannot be pinned down.
- ?
What share of customer data physically resides in EU vs non-EU (US/UK/APAC) data centers
Contabo runs its own US/APAC regions; the EU-vs-foreign data split determines real CLOUD Act / foreign-law exposure for any given customer.
- ?
Whether any group financing, IP or contracting entity sits outside Germany
A non-EU financing or IP-holding layer under KKR could move economic substance abroad even though the operating GmbH is German.
- ?
Reporting currency and consolidated financials of the group
Not publicly disclosed; affects assessment of where economic reporting and value accrue.
EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework lens
SEAL was designed to assess cloud providers; here it is applied as an analogous sovereignty mapping, not a formal certification.
Strategic
Ultimate strategic control rests with US majority owner KKR; long-term direction is set by a non-EU sponsor.
Legal & jurisdictional
Operating entity is a German GmbH (HRB 180722) fully subject to GDPR and German law.
Data & AI
EU data centers are EU-owned and GDPR-positioned, but Contabo also runs US/APAC regions and uses some US sub-processors (Cloudflare, MaxMind).
Operational
HQ, leadership and most staff are in Germany/EU; CEO and managing directors are EU-based.
Supply chain
Self-built unified hardware platform reduces dependence on external operators, but server components and upstream chips are globally sourced (not assessed in detail).
Technological
Owns and operates its own infrastructure and tooling rather than reselling a US hyperscaler.
Security & compliance
Offers GDPR data-processing agreements and EU data residency, but cross-border transfers rely on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
Environmental sustainability
No verified data on energy sourcing or PUE found in this pass.
EU alternatives
German-owned and German-run VPS/dedicated-server provider operating its own EU data centers; founder-controlled, no US PE majority.
Euronext-listed French cloud provider, family/founder-controlled, builds its own servers and data centers; a sovereignty-positioned EU peer.
German hosting/cloud provider with EU data centers; majority-controlled by United Internet but has had US PE (Warburg Pincus) and public-listing exposure — EU-run but check current ownership.
How the method works
Methodology v2 (provisional): the score is the midpoint of two axes — Control (who owns and governs the company) and Data (where your data lives and who can reach it). Each axis is scored only on verified evidence; unknowns reduce confidence, never the score. Every input below is sourced; the weights and judgments are open to challenge.
Spotted an error? Every claim is sourced — challenge it and we correct the record.
- 2026-06-12 — Initial golden profile, authored from primary sources (human + AI review).
Report Incorrect Data
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Verified 2026-06-12 · Human + AI joint review (sources independently checked) · Methodology