Emproof

Emproof is a European deep-tech spinout — originating out of Ruhr University Bochum, the Max Planck Institute, and the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security — that applies binary-level analysis and hardening to embedded software. The core pitch is narrow and technical: most embedded and legacy devices in the field can’t be re-audited or re-compiled by their original vendor, so traditional application security tooling (which typically needs source access) doesn’t reach them. Emproof’s platform, Emproof Nyx, works directly on compiled binaries to identify exploitable weaknesses and apply hardening — control-flow protections, anti-tamper measures, obfuscation against reverse engineering — without requiring the source code or a hardware redesign.

The company targets three distinct buyer groups: automotive and medical-device manufacturers building new embedded products, operators of legacy industrial and IoT devices that can no longer be patched conventionally, and defence/aerospace programs where source code for third-party or older components is often unavailable. This legacy-device angle is one of the more genuinely differentiated parts of the pitch, since most embedded security vendors focus on securing new development rather than hardening what’s already deployed and unpatchable.

Emproof is early-stage: founded in 2019, it raised a €2M seed round in 2022 from TIIN Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds and Cyber Impact, and closed a follow-on round in early 2026 with new investor Auriga Cyber Ventures and SecFund joining alongside expanded commitments from existing backers. That same round brought in Marc Schieder as CEO specifically to move the company from a research-driven academic spinout toward a repeatable enterprise SaaS business — a transition still in progress rather than complete. No named enterprise customers or independent third-party evaluations of Nyx’s protection claims are publicly available yet.