Post by Anatol Maier

Never imagined two years ago that I would make this post.   But here it is: 🚀 Neuramancer AI Solutions GmbH has raised €1.7M in Pre-Seed funding! It was a wild journey up to this point, and there is more to come.   To this day, I am really grateful to those who believed in my research before it had a solid foundation. My research journey at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and especially at the Multimedia Forensics Lab started off with some unconventional ideas about uncertainty in neural networks under adversarial conditions. Not everyone saw the potential in this approach, but especially Christian Riess and Benedikt L. supported me and helped me turn rough hypotheses into something meaningful.   Our detection approach differs from many current AI-based systems. Combining statistical traces from digital media content with probabilistic modelling and forensic analysis, this allows us to: • detect synthetic media at state-of-the-art performance • localize how and where manipulation occurred • remain robust against the next generation of AI models and out-of-distribution data The speed at which generative AI is evolving makes forensic detection technology increasingly critical for companies and institutions.   That's why two years ago, with the ever-growing threat potential of generative AI, together with Anika Gruner we founded Neuramancer as a counterbalance to AI-driven fraud and disinformation. With nothing more than a research prototype and a rough idea, we found in the Media Lab Bayern our first supporter who challenged us and helped us do the very first baby steps as a startup.   2024 was a hell of a roller coaster ride with highs and lows. Being backed by the SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen in late 2024 through 2025 helped us grow as a company and team and shape a research prototype into a full commercial product. Today we reached our current peak and are proud to announce the closing of our pre-seed investment round!   Alongside our investors Vanagon, Bayern Kapital, ZOHO.VC, and Lightfield Equity, plus our business angels, we've built a strong consortium backing our next steps in this startup journey.   This is a huge milestone and would've never been possible without our team and our supporters. Big shoutout especially to Aron Homberg, Lukas Wurm, Tanja Grimm, Joanna W., Dominik Sinzinger, Kiarash Mohsenian, Marie Fitsch, and Jürgen Seiler.   Now I'm ready to push forward with full force on our vision: becoming Europe's trusted brand for quality reporting, affordable insurance, and the fight against disinformation and fraud.   Alongside our newest team member and Chief Commercial Officer Martin Sondenheimer, this marks the beginning of a new chapter of Neuramancer.   Happy to be here today! Take a look at our journey in the pictures below! Incredible what can happen in 2 years!!!     #DeepfakeDetection #AIEngineering #Cybersecurity #StartupFunding