TrustNXT secures €1.6 million pre-seed

The Hamburg-based startup TrustNXT, a spin-off of the image processing specialist Basler AG, has raised €1.6 million in capital in a pre-seed round. The financing is provided by the early-stage investors D11Z.Ventures and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The money will be used to further develop and scale a security platform that reliably protects images and videos in critical B2B applications from AI-based manipulation and cyber attacks.

With the rise of generative AI that can create deceptively real images or videos, the risk for insurance companies, industry and public safety is also increasing. TrustNXT addresses this market with a solution designed to bring trust and integrity back into digital media.

Cryptography meets computer vision

TrustNXT is developing a software platform for tamper protection that combines cryptography, computer vision and patented trust technology. This allows visual data to be reliably checked for authenticity and protected against alteration.

In a world where AI creates deceptively real images in seconds, trust and data integrity are crucial. Our mission is to ensure this integrity for companies.

Ariane Scheer-Danielsson, Co-Founder & Managing Director of TrustNXT

Insurance as a pioneer market

The solution is first being used in the insurance sector. Manipulated damage photos are one of the biggest challenges there. With TrustNXT, insurers can prevent image fraud, automate claims and underwriting processes and significantly reduce costs and processing time.

The technology used by TrustNXT creates a technically unique fingerprint of the sensor data directly at the point of origin of a medium. explains. This proof is physical, cannot be falsified and proves the origin of digital content beyond doubt.

Patrick Schmitt, Principal at D11Z.Ventures

For the industry, this means that the race between AI manipulation and recognition technologies will be defused. Manipulation will simply become obsolete.

Trust as an economic factor

HTGF also sees TrustNXT as a strategically important approach."Trust is the basis of a functioning economy. Today, important decisions are based on digital media such as photos and videos," says Tizian Hoppen, Senior Investment Manager at HTGF."TrustNXT convinced us with their deep-tech solution for digital trust."

Looking to the future

The fresh capital will be used to drive forward the expansion of the technology. The focus is particularly on real-time protection for video data in industrial applications. The first pilot projects in this area are planned for 2026.

TrustNXT was founded in Hamburg in 2024. The spin-off brings together the expertise of parent company Basler AG in visual data processing with a founding team that combines technological expertise with business and market knowledge. In addition to insurance, the start-up plans to tap into other vertical markets such as industry, logistics and public safety in the medium term.

TrustNXT's solution addresses the area where generative AI leads to new risks: trust in images and videos. The start-up shows how deep tech from Europe not only addresses current problems, but can also secure entire industries in a new way.