The startups AlpenShield, Devity, Infrafon, Nenna.ai and Onekey have made it to the final round of the coveted Start-up Award. The five newcomers will compete against each other in a pitch at it-sa Expo&Congress on 8 October 2025 to determine the top three winners, who will receive attractive prize money totalling 15,000 EUR.
An independent jury of experts has selected five promising companies to take part in the live pitch at it-sa Expo&Congress. Europe's leading trade fair for IT security is thus offering a platform for the eighth time to recognise the outstanding achievements of young companies in the industry.
“With the live pitch, we give young companies a stage to present their innovative solutions to an expert audience and make valuable contacts,” says Thimo Holst, Exhibition Director of it-sa Expo&Congress. “The response shows how important it is to specifically promote start-ups and give them visibility in a dynamic market.”
These start-ups are pitching for the ATHENE Startup Award UP25@it-sa:
AlpenShield
AlpenShield from Vienna makes it easier for companies to use the powerful features of Microsoft Sentinel – without any expert knowledge. With AlpenShield's user-friendly app, companies have an overview of security-related information and can respond quickly to cyber incidents. This allows system houses to build their own SOC service based on Microsoft Sentinel – quickly and without additional staff.
Devity
The Paderborn-based start-up Devity is transforming the industrial IoT landscape with fully automated commissioning and identity management. With its proprietary KEYNOA software, each IoT device receives a unique digital identity for secure authentication and configuration. The innovative solution is designed to reduce operating costs by up to 90 per cent, significantly increase IT security and ensure compliance with NIS-2 and CRA regulations. Through open interfaces and modular software architecture, Devity also strengthens the digital sovereignty of industrial companies.
Infrafon
In hospitals and other highly regulated or particularly security-sensitive contexts, smartphones are not always welcome. For such applications, the Freiburg-based start-up Infrafon from Breisgau offers credit card-sized smart badges that support access control with ID functions and help to improve and accelerate professional workflows through digitalisation. The smart badges have an ePaper touchscreen and support messaging and location tracking via Wi-Fi, BLE or LoRa.
Nenna.ai
Work securely with any AI: Whether ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, with Nenna.ai from Berlin, companies can reap the benefits of AI systems while protecting their sensitive data. Nenna.ai's AI privacy infrastructure recognises company secrets and personal data in prompts, documents and agentic use cases, anonymises and masks this data, and thus ensures legal compliance.
Onekey GmbH
As a Düsseldorf-based specialist in product cybersecurity, Onekey automates compliance management and cybersecurity analyses for various networked devices. With the help of AI, the Onekey platform identifies firmware vulnerabilities and compliance issues within minutes and supports product security throughout the entire lifecycle. This makes the Onekey solution suitable for production, for example, but also for IoT and IIoT devices.
Startups also presented on the it-sa 365 digital platform
The pitch candidates will be presenting themselves virtually on 23 September as part of Digital Preview Day. Two weeks before the start of the trade fair, this free digital format offers a preview of important programme items such as the ATHENE Startup Award UP25@it-sa.
About the ATHENE Startup Award UP@it-sa
The ATHENE Startup Award UP@it-sa honours promising startups and young companies that develop innovative solutions in the field of IT security and data protection. The focus is on pioneering products as well as sustainable and scalable business models. The award is an initiative of the national research centre for applied cyber security ATHENE, IT-Sicherheitscluster e. V. and it-sa. Since 2018, the award has been presented as part of it-sa Expo&Congress – Europe's leading trade fair for IT security.
About the trade fair it-sa Expo&Congress
it-sa supports IT security managers with comprehensive offers for the secure organisation of the digital transformation. As the “Home of IT Security”, it offers a central platform for information, networking and knowledge transfer on all aspects of IT security and data protection – both on site and digitally. it-sa Expo&Congress in Nuremberg is the leading European trade fair for the industry. In addition, the digital platform it-sa 365 provides IT security professionals with continuous access to expertise, the latest developments and networking opportunities – at any time and from any location.
