Code Intelligence, a spin-off from the University of Bonn, has won the AI Award of the de:hub initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). At the Pitch Night entitled “prompting tomorrow” in Karlsruhe, the team presented its innovative solutions in the field of IT security to a renowned jury. The prize was presented by Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Robert Habeck. The BMWK's Pitch Night is considered one of the most important digitalization and networking events in Germany.
The winners prevailed against other German start-ups in the pitch competition. Code Intelligence optimizes software security with automated fuzz testing solutions. The start-up offers a platform for companies to detect critical errors at an early stage and without manual intervention. CEO Dr. Eric Brüggemann is delighted with the success: “This reinforces our recent focus on the use of AI to make cybersecurity testing more accessible. To this end, we have just developed an AI test agent 'Spark' that finds critical vulnerabilities independently and without manual control.”
About Code Intelligence
The start-up was founded in 2018 by Sergej Dechand, Khaled Yakdan and Prof. Dr. Matthew Smith from the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Bonn, while the scientists were researching IT security and data protection in their Departement Security and Networked Systems. Code Intelligence initially received EXIST funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics. In 2020, it was then able to raise over two million euros under the leadership of LBBW Venture Capital and in 2022 the company completed financing of 12 million US dollars under the leadership of Tola Capital. Code Intelligence's customers include Google, Deutsche Telekom, Continental, Bosch and CARIAD.
About the AI Award
The AI innovation prize AI Award is regularly awarded alongside the de:hub Award, which honors contributions to digital transformation, by the de:hub initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). The de:hub comprises 25 digital hubs across Germany that connect SMEs and corporates with new innovation partners from science and the start-up scene, thereby strengthening the digital ecosystem.