Meet the Finalists of the Cyber Startup Challenge 2025
The Cyber-Defence Campus of armasuisse Science and Technology, launched the Cyber Startup Challenge 2025 to scout and evaluate innovative solutions from young technology companies. The annual challenge bridges startups and the Swiss Armed Forces, providing a platform for entrepreneurs to showcase pioneering technologies that could strengthen Switzerland’s cyber defence capabilities.
Andrea Thäler, Division Cyberdefence, competence sector armasuisse Science and Technology
Out of many strong applications from around the world, three finalists have been selected for this year’s edition. They will pitch their solutions live at the Cyber-Defence (CYD) Campus Conference on 29 October 2025 in Bern, where one winner will be chosen.
Meet the Finalists of the Cyber Startup Challenge 2025
The Cyber Startup Challenge seeks to discover pioneering technologies with potential impact on Switzerland’s cyber defence. Each year, the focus is set on a particular technological field. This year, it is graph databases and graph analytics.
We were looking for innovative solutions that enhance the value and utility of graph databases. The goal: to leverage graph analytics in novel ways that enable more insightful analysis, faster data retrieval, and improved decision making.
FalkorDB
Open-source graph intelligence for cloud security
FalkorDB is an open-source, multi-tenant graph database management system that maps attack surfaces and threat relationships across CNAPP, CSPM and CIEM deployments. By structuring security data as interconnected nodes and edges, FalkorDB enables security teams to query complex threat patterns and access paths in milliseconds.
Its core value lies in helping engineers correlate disparate security events across cloud infrastructures in real-time. By accelerating queries across security telemetry, configuration data, and threat intelligence, FalkorDB provides faster incident response, precise risk scoring, and direct visibility into multi-cloud security posture.
Dtangle
AI-assisted knowledge graphs for intuitive data exploration
Born as a spin-off from CERN research, the Swiss startup Dtangle pioneers next-generation visual analytics for complex and interconnected datasets. Its no-code, AI-assisted platform transforms raw, multi-source information into dynamic knowledge graphs, enabling analysts to visualize relationships, detect patterns, and support decision-making, without writing a single line of code.
At the intersection of AI and graph technologies, Dtangle’s intelligent assistant automates the retrieval and visualization of data across multiple sources such as publications, patents, company profiles, and internal repositories. Analysts can thus identify emerging trends, detect dual-use technologies, and spot strategic gaps or opportunities faster and more intuitively.
Pometry
Real-time temporal graph analytics
Pometry Ltd, based in London, is a pioneer in real-time graph analytics with the world’s first natively temporal graph platform. Unlike traditional approaches, Pometry’s technology is designed to analyze large-scale, evolving graph data instantly, capturing not just static connections but also how data changes and interacts over time.
Its platform finds applications in finance, insurance, and social networks, where dynamic relationships and hidden patterns matter. By combining high-speed performance with temporal depth, Pometry enables organizations to detect fraud, understand complex behaviors, and build next-generation AI applications, turning constantly changing data into a strategic advantage.
What’s next?
All three startups will pitch their solutions at the CYD Campus Conference on 29 October 2025 in Bern. The jury will select the winner of the Cyber Startup Challenge 2025, who will receive the opportunity to further develop and validate their solution in collaboration with the CYD Campus and the Swiss Armed Forces.
Stay tuned to discover which of these promising companies will be crowned this year’s winner.
Further information