KIT Spin-off Validaitor Raises Funding from Key Industry Players to Ensure AI Trustworthiness
Karlsruhe, 04.02.2025 – KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) Spin-off Validaitor has successfully secured funding from key industry players Bitdefender Voyager Ventures, EnBW New Ventures, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and Start-up BW Seed Fonds of MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg. This investment will enable Validaitor to further develop its platform, which empowers companies with an all-in-one suite for AI governance, red-teaming, risk management, and compliance management following the requirements of regulations like EU AI Act and standards like ISO 42001. The investment will also help Validaitor’s market share in the tool-empowered Trustworthy AI space to grow further.
The investment consortium brings together a unique blend of expertise, ensuring a robust foundation for innovation and growth. KIT contributes excellent applied research capabilities, driving cutting-edge advancements as well as their support through the renowned incubator KIT Gründerschmiede. Bitdefender, a global leader in cybersecurity, provides unparalleled experience in safeguarding digital ecosystems. EnBW New Ventures, with its extensive knowledge of regulated markets and critical infrastructure, delivers deep insight and strategic oversight in managing complex, essential systems. Together, these investors form a powerful alliance poised to transform the industry and address the challenges of tomorrow.
Validaitor’s offering is a comprehensive platform, providing an all-in-one suite for AI GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance) and automated testing. Unlike others in the market, Validaitor boldly integrates testing with governance, streamlining compliance for enterprises navigating the complexities of regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act.
Validaitor helps organizations by verifying test and audit results, implementing the requirements of AI regulations and standards, and adhering to best practices in Trustworthy AI. In addition, Validaitor enables strategic control of AI use in organizations, enforces ethical standards and transparency, and helps managing risks in AI applications. Moreover, the platform includes red teaming capabilities, which simulate attacks to find system vulnerabilities, similar to penetration testing in cybersecurity. Validaitor supports an organizational culture around Responsible AI while ensuring compliance with the EU AI Act and ISO 42001, and covering internal guidelines.
“With this strong investor base, we’d like to accelerate our mission to make AI trustworthy while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards,” says Yunus Bulut, founder and CEO of Validaitor. “Our platform offers a rich set of ready-to-run tests to evaluate AI systems comprehensively, automating these tests to be run every time a new AI model is developed throughout its lifecycle. And this is all integrated with the risk management and the compliance processes. This helps customers across the board to save up to 80% of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for AI certification against the current standards.”
BVV
Bitdefender Voyager Ventures (BVV), established by Bitdefender, a global cybersecurity leader, is an early-stage investment initiative focused on startups in cybersecurity, automation, and data-driven technologies. Beyond financial backing, BVV draws on Bitdefender expertise and resources to help portfolio companies accelerate growth, expand their market presence, and deliver transformative technologies to the marketplace.
EnBW New Ventures
EnBW New Ventures supports entrepreneurs to develop new solutions for a sustainable future – people, planet, profit – by leveraging our financially driven VC setup with the reach and skills of our corporate investor EnBW. The startups that we invest in engage and scale with EnBW in its transformation towards becoming a sustainable and digital infrastructure operator.
MBG
Startup-BW Seed Fund is an early-stage tech-agnostic fund managed by MBG and is focused to support and accelerate the start-up environment in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The team is located in Stuttgart and is deeply rooted into the economic landscape of Baden-Württemberg, bringing together the strong economy of the region and its innovative powerhouse achieving long lasting positive impact for the future of BW.
KIT
As “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for society and the environment. The aim is to make significant contributions to global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility and information. To this end, around 10,000 employees work together on a broad disciplinary basis in the natural sciences, engineering, economics, humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, business and science through research-oriented university studies. Innovation activities at KIT bridge the gap between knowledge and application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity and the preservation of our natural resources. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
Validaitor
Validaitor is a pioneer for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI), ensuring quality and compliance in AI-driven products and services. Its unique all-in-one platform enables companies to govern and test their AI systems and to comply with today’s and tomorrow’s AI regulations and standards, most notably the EU AI Act. Validaitor was founded by AI researcher and serial entrepreneur Yunus Bulut in 2022 as a spin-off from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). It has received government grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and funding from Bitdefender Voyager Ventures, EnBW New Ventures, KIT and Start-up BW Seed Fonds of MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg. Find more information at validaitor.com.
Contact Validaitor
info@validaitor.com