XplicitTrust
building products you
love!
Threats don't care how big or small your business is. That's why we build enterprise-class products for the many small and midsize businesses out there. Products that are fast to deploy, easy to manage, and cost effective, making state-of-the-art security technology affordable and manageable for businesses of all sizes.
For us, cybersecurity is not a technical issue, but all about people: Frustration-free user experiences. Intuitive user interfaces. Immediate support that solves your problem. We strive to get better at meeting your needs every day.
We believe a best-of-breed approach is the best way to keep up with the pace of innovation required to combat the growing variety of attacks our customers face. That's why we follow a "do one thing and do it well" philosophy and keep our products interoperable.
Our leadership team
XplicitTrust GmbH was founded in September 2021 in Karlsruhe by Daniel Stutz, Markus Hennig, and Emanuel Taube. The three founders share a common professional history in the network security industry: they worked together at Astaro AG, a German pioneer in network security, and continued their collaboration after the acquisition of Astaro AG by Sophos Ltd. in 2011.
Daniel Stutz Co-Founder & CEO
Daniel Stutz is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of XplicitTrust GmbH and has been leading the company since its founding in September 2021. He began his career in the network security industry in 2000 as a working student at Astaro AG, initially as a backend developer, later as a team lead, and eventually as head of the development department. When Astaro launched its Astaro Security Gateway product line, Daniel took over as Technical Product Manager and led the market introduction of several product families. Following the acquisition of Astaro AG by Sophos Ltd. in 2011, he moved into the role of Software Architect and Technology Strategist, where until 2021 he was responsible for the medium-term technology roadmap in the network security domain and advised the management team on technical strategy questions.
Daniel Stutz holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). During his tenure at Sophos Ltd., he served as co-inventor on numerous granted US patents filed by Sophos in the field of network security, covering areas such as application firewalls, endpoint coordination in security incidents, phishing and malware detection, and rogue device detection.
Markus Hennig Co-Founder & CFO
Markus Hennig is Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of XplicitTrust GmbH and has been responsible for the company's financial and administrative leadership since its founding in September 2021. He began his professional career in 1997 at an Internet Service Provider developing Linux kernel modules, iptables components, and build systems. In 2000 he co-founded Astaro AG, a German pioneer in network security, where he served in the roles of COO and CFO. Following the acquisition of Astaro AG by Sophos Ltd. in 2011, he took on the role of CTO of Network Security. He subsequently co-founded OCEDO GmbH in 2013, a provider of software-defined WAN solutions, where he served as CFO responsible for financial and administrative leadership. OCEDO GmbH was acquired by Riverbed Technology, Inc. in 2016.
Markus Hennig holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Emanuel Taube Co-Founder & CTO
Emanuel Taube is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of XplicitTrust GmbH and has been responsible for the company's technological direction and software architecture since its founding in September 2021. After completing his studies, he joined Astaro AG as an Embedded Software Developer, where he developed the firmware for Astaro's wireless access point product line. Following the acquisition of Astaro AG by Sophos Ltd. in 2011, he moved to the Cloud Products division, where he played a key role in the development of the cloud-managed wireless security products. He most recently held the position of Senior Software Engineer.
Emanuel Taube is a recognized expert in system-level software development, particularly under Linux, and is also familiar with the internals of Windows and macOS. He holds a Master's degree in Mathematics from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
Secure digitalization is a Team Sport!
Today's problems are complex, and a sophisticated threat landscape requires individuals and organizations to connect and collaborate. XplicitTrust is committed to the community and joins forces with others who are striving to provide solutions.
Rooted in the Karlsruhe cybersecurity cluster
XplicitTrust GmbH emerged from the Karlsruhe cybersecurity ecosystem. During the first years after our founding, we benefited from the network of the Cyberforum, the CyberLab Accelerator, and the KASTEL StartUpSecure community at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The KIT Gründerschmiede also supported us during this early phase. This grounding in the southern German innovation cluster continues to shape us today.
Digitalizing and securing society
Europe's and Germany's digitalization efforts require coordinated cooperation. Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility that depends on transparency as the basis for trust. At XplicitTrust, we see ourselves as part of this shared responsibility and received research funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under its StartUpSecure programme for the development of security-critical software.
Privacy and informational self-determination
At XplicitTrust privacy is not just a compliance issue. We support the privacy rights of customers, partners, employees and others. We only collect information that is necessary for the function for which it is collected, and we're transparent about it. We don't collect data that we don't process or on the basis that it might be valuable in the future. We regularly delete data and don't keep it longer than necessary.
New work enables social transformation
We encourage new ways of working and are committed to making significant efforts to evolve our organization and processes to support the necessary structures. This includes, but is not limited to, flexible employment models, remote work, part-time work models, and generally balancing a healthy and fulfilling personal life with a career.
Sustainability in mind
At XplicitTrust, we strive to reduce the environmental impact of our operations and products. We use green hosting and green energy to reduce the CO2 emissions of our operations and aim to achieve a net zero carbon footprint. We also support our customers in their Green IT efforts by reducing energy and environmental impact and e-waste, providing software-only products designed with sustainability in mind, and using green coding practices.
Equal opportunities
XplicitTrust is an equal opportunity employer. We pledge to not discriminate against (potential) employees based on protected demographics like, for example, age, sex, disability, national origin, race, religion, color, sexual orientation. We work actively to create an open and inclusive work culture.