This is the kind of story investors can only dream of. Technological and entrepreneurial talent came together—the perfect match for a startup. That’s exactly how it went at OT-InfraSec:
Patrick Bär studied Entrepreneurial Cybersecurity at Saarland University until 2025. Starting a business is already an important part of the program, where students practice pitching their ideas, for example.
CISPA-Faculty Dr. Andreas Zeller and Dr. Sven Bugiel supported Patrick as advisors and mentors. His master’s thesis, supervised by CISPA-Faculty Dr. Nils Ole Tippenhauer, was titled “How I Can Use LLMs to Conduct Risk Analyses of Industrial Facilities” and thus foreshadowed the future path.
It was clear to Patrick that he did not want to pursue an academic career, and he ultimately made the decision to start his own company and take matters into his own hands. To find a co-founder, he posted an ad online at hochschuljobboerse.de: “Seeking Co-Founder for Cybersecurity Startup”
He didn’t have to wait long before Tobias Kreidler got in touch: an industrial engineer with a degree in market-oriented business management. He had already taken on entrepreneurial responsibility nearly seven years ago in the family business, which he helped shape significantly. Tobias had also always wanted to start his own startup, and Patrick’s ad came at just the right time. After a phone call, it was clear that the two would start the company together.
Less than half a year later, the two are sitting in the CISPA coworking space in St. Ingbert alongside other founder teams, working on their first pilot projects. Their funding application was approved, and nothing now stands in the way of receiving the 800,000-euro StartUpSecure funding. Now they need to analyze target markets, use cases, and potential customer groups, and further develop the technology. And that’s exactly why they have the space and time at CISPA Technology Transfer. The team not only helps with the initial evaluation of the project but also actively supports the founders all the way through to the spin-off with workshops, pitch training, and networking events.
But what exactly are the two founders doing with their startup project, OT-InfraSec?
The goal is to provide automated risk analysis for production facilities and industrial process chains. This typically involves highly sensitive corporate data. Their solution focuses on network security and is designed to identify the most significant vulnerabilities and provide recommendations on how companies can secure their networks. Tobias Kreidler comments: “Our target audience is micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and they have little time, little specific security expertise, and are just beginning their journey in cybersecurity.” This creates significant vulnerabilities, and entrepreneurs often feel a great deal of uncertainty: “How is my network even set up? And am I sufficiently protected against today’s threats?” Furthermore, previous solutions have focused on large corporations and neglected micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.
A job posting quickly gave rise to a well-coordinated founding team that combines technical expertise with entrepreneurial acumen. It will be fascinating to see what the two of them will accomplish with OT-InfraSec in the future.
More information about OT-InfraSec: https://www.ot-infra-sec.de
