Why Passguard turned down $30,000 in free hyperscaler credits

Passguard CEO and co-founder Tom Leijte joined Security Innovation Stories for a podcast interview about the company's growth, its ambition to become a European alternative for infostealer monitoring, and why it deliberately turned down tens of thousands of dollars in free hyperscaler credits.

Recorded during Cybersec Netherlands 2026, the conversation also covers Passguard's move to European infrastructure providers and its growing partner network.

Why Passguard turned down free hyperscaler credits

One of the topics discussed in the interview was Passguard's decision to turn down tens of thousands of dollars in free hyperscaler credits.

Following Passguard's investment round in September 2025, several major American cloud providers approached the company with attractive offers. While these credits could have significantly reduced infrastructure costs, Tom explains why Passguard deliberately decided not to accept them.

The decision was part of a broader strategy to reduce dependence on American technology providers. In March 2026, Passguard took that strategy a step further by migrating its core infrastructure away from Microsoft Azure to six European providers: 23M, Impossible Cloud, UpCloud, OVHcloud, Filen, and bunny.net.

The transition wasn't without costs. Passguard gave up substantial financial incentives and had to operate both infrastructures in parallel during the migration.

However, the new setup also offers greater flexibility. Rather than relying on a single hyperscaler, Passguard now works with multiple specialised European providers, making it easier to replace individual services without migrating its entire infrastructure.

For Tom, this decision reflects Passguard's broader ambition to become a European alternative for infostealer monitoring. As he explains in the interview, building a stronger European technology ecosystem also means being willing to choose European alternatives.

Growing through partnerships

Beyond infrastructure and digital sovereignty, Tom reflects on Passguard's commercial development since his previous interview with Security Innovation Stories. One of the biggest changes has been the company's increasing focus on partnerships.

Rather than approaching every organisation directly, Passguard works with cybersecurity companies and IT service providers that incorporate infostealer monitoring into their existing services.

Tom explains how this approach helps organisations adopt Passguard's technology through partners they already trust. One partner alone connected more than 200 companies to Passguard's monitoring services in just over a year.

The interview also highlights how organisations are finding new applications for Passguard's intelligence, including AFAS using it to help protect its users' accounts.

Read the full interview

Read the full article on Security Innovation Stories (in Dutch).

For more technical background, read Passguard's infrastructure migration article.