News

TrustCerts is winner of the ATHENE Startup Award UP22@it-sa
The winner of this year's ATHENE Startup Award UP22@it-sa has been determined: The startup TrustCerts was able to prevail against nine other startups in yesterday's pitch and may take home the coveted trophy. The team convinced both the jury and the audience with their business idea of signing, creating and managing documents and proofs in a forgery-proof way, while ensuring neutral verifiability with blockchain technology.
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ATHENE Startup Award UP22@it-sa goes into the 5th round
It's that time again: The application phase for ATHENE Startup Award UP22@it-sa has started! Until July 4, young companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland can apply for the most important startup award for startups from the German-speaking IT security sector. After the preliminary decision of the expert jury and the online pitch on the digital dialog platform it-sa 365, the award ceremony will take place at the it-sa Expo&Congress in October.
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Forward-looking, innovative cybersecurity solutions and founding spirit convince at final pitch in Accelerator SpeedUpSecure
Ten particularly innovative startups from all over Germany qualified for the "SpeedUpSecure" accelerator program for cybersecurity startups. From the beginning of February to the end of March, they benefited from a targeted training program and were accompanied by mentors from the business world. At the final event, the ten startups presented their young company and technology in a five-minute pitch to a top-class jury and an audience of experts. The three winning teams received prize money totaling EUR 5,000.
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Ten innovative cybersecurity startups in next round of accelerator program
The accelerator program "SpeedUpSecure" promotes startups with innovative solutions in the field of cybersecurity. Ten startups qualified for the program and will undergo a two-month intensive and targeted training program starting in early February. They will have access to a strong network of experts from business and research, who will be involved in the accelerator as mentors, jurors, coaches or with keynote speeches. The start-up incubator StartUpSecure at the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE in Darmstadt launched the Accelerator. It is supported by the partner incubators for cybersecurity CISPA in Saarbrücken, Cube 5 in Bochum and StartUpSecure KASTEL in Karlsruhe.
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What are the risks of mobile apps?
With its platform, the start-up project Queryella enables in-depth checks of mobile apps for security vulnerabilities and data protection violations and contributes to the protection of users and companies. The promising project has been funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) since the beginning of July 2021 with €0.8 million as part of the StartUpSecure initiative and is supported by the StartUpSecure I ATHENE start-up incubator.
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Successful completion of the first round of Booster - the new funding program for cybersecurity founders
The winning teams of the first round of the booster have been determined. Applications for another round are now possible at sus-beratung@athene-center.de.
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Start-up project with StartUpSecure funding brings new product to market
Startup Trufflepig Forensics is launching its new product after two years of development. The software helps both companies and law enforcement agencies to react faster and more reliably than before to detected threats and to track down cyber criminals.
Since early January, a project proposal by Trufflepig Forensics has been funded by the StartUpSecure funding program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The start-up incubator StartUpSecure | ATHENE intensively supported and advised the founding team with their technical and economic expertise during the application process.

Booster: New funding program for cybersecurity founders
A new accelerator program called Booster is now promoting cybersecurity startups and supporting startups in the field. The Accelerator Booster was launched by the start-up incubator StartUpSecure of the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity. Start-up projects from StartUpSecure I ATHENE as well as from the partner incubators for cybersecurity CISPA in Saarbrücken, Cube5 in Bochum and StartUpSecure KASTEL in Karlsruhe can participate in boosters.The first six start-up projects have already qualified for booster and will go through a two-month targeted training program and accompanying mentoring by experts from business and research from the beginning of May.
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When the electric car pays for itself at the charging station
The newly founded startup PolyCrypt is rethinking blockchain technology and also enables transactions in the Internet of Things (IoT) without waiting times and at significantly reduced prices. For a successful transfer into the economy, the founding team with their Perun project is supported by the StartUpSecure funding program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and is now moving from funding phase I to funding phase II.
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Put an end to cyber crime
The startup Trufflepig Forensics is developing innovative technology for companies and law enforcement agencies to react quickly to cyber attacks on the Internet and to collect important evidence on the conviction of cyber criminals. The StartUpSecure funding program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports the analysis platform to support IT forensics with a total volume of around 0.77 million euros.
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