StartUpSecure KASTEL successfully brought together partners, startups and the ecosystem

05.10.2023 Daniela Musial-Lemberg Events

Last week, on the occasion of the 116th Gründergrillen meets StartUpSecure KASTEL, there was an extensive pre-program for the community. Numerous IT security start-ups, researchers, interested companies, politicians, and investors came together to establish new business contacts and to exchange their knowledge and experiences. The StartUpSecure KASTEL team of KIT-Gründerschmiede is looking forward to the numerous positive feedbacks of the community regarding the successful organization of the even

Shortly before the start of the preliminary program of the 116th Gründergrillen meets StartUpSecure, final preparations were made in the new location of KIT (Kaiserstraße 26), where a modern space for innovations and start-ups will be created very soon. On this day, the place was transformed into a colorful ambience with a podium for speakers and pitches, an auditorium for more than 60 guests, and a scientific photo vernissage.

Punctually at 5 p.m., the room was well filled with numerous start-ups from StartUpSecure KASTEL and from the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, as well as company representatives from Siemens AG, EnBW, IONOS SE, WIBU Systems, among others. Also present were investors, including DQuadrat, and political players, including Jonathan Weiter, digitalization officer for the state parliamentary group of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg. Other relevant players, such as representatives from startup incubators, including Startup Hub for Cybersecurity ATHENE from Darmstadt and Futury GmbH from Frankfurt, were also on hand to present their specific offerings for startups.

Last in the presentations, InnoSec BW – Cybersecurity for Innovative SMEs from Baden-Württemberg from the FZI Research Center for Information Technology and the Cybersecurity Agency Baden-Württemberg provided further relevant impetus for the startups in attendance. It was emphasized that cybercrime is one of the “top risks” for CEOs – an important reminder that was addressed to all stakeholders at the event. The answer to this message was provided by 14 startups that pitched their business ideas to the audience.

Among them were the following teams:

Roman Tabachnikov, CEO & Founder of Bitahoy Ltd.
Salko Korac, CEO & Founder of Botiguard GmbH
Johannes Noll, CEO & Founder of CodeShield GmbH
Anne Weyland, Community Marketing Manager of DeepSign Security GmbH (with the new start-up name INVISID GmbH)
Uwe Stoll, Founder of Hyde GmbH
Alexander Prams, CTO & Founder Kertos GmbH
Jürgen Vollmer, CEO & Founder of Primary Target GmbH
Sophie Wenning, CEO & Founder of Timelords,
Philipp Dewald, Founder of Trustlens,
Michael Fipper, CEO of uCORE Systems GmbH
Yunus Bulut, CEO/CTO & Founder of Validaitor
Maximilian von Lonski, CEO & Founder of VISS | Virtual Information Secure System
Markus Henning, CEO & Founder of Xplicit Trust GmbH

The two-hour event ended with a successful networking session. Especially our startups were able to benefit from the exchange and networking with relevant stakeholders. The full range of stakeholders included possible follow-up financing, insights from industry and politics, exciting impulses from experts from the sales sector and from IT security research, among others. The exchange was especially enriched by IT security researchers from the KIT KASTEL Institute: Niki Qi Lei, Gustavo Sánchez, Yilin Ji. Their research in the areas of: Explainable AI, Leakage Locating, Usage of Artificial Intelligence, smart grid security, Intersection of machine learning and IT-Security, model stealing the researchers presented by means of scientific posters and artistic photographs, which stimulated a lively exchange.

Afterwards, the guests had the opportunity to deepen their conversations at the 116th Gründergrillen meets StartUpSecure KASTEL on the Kronenplatz in front of TRIANGEL. There they could also make further contacts with the numerous participants in a relaxed atmosphere.