Successful exit for HTGF, a business unit of Cloud Software Group Inc. Citrix acquires deviceTRUST

Successful exit for HTGF, a business unit of Cloud Software Group Inc., Citrix acquires deviceTRUST, an HTGF portfolio company and a pioneer in advanced contextual security solutions, to provide greater value for its customers by integrating their secure access technologies. Citrix provides a secure app and desktop delivery platform that companies of all sizes can use to enable secure, flexible work.

HTGF, one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, was the first institutional investor in deviceTRUST, leading the seed financing round in 2017. HTGF has closely supported the company’s successful development and has sold its shares as part of this acquisition.

Founded in 2016 in Darmstadt, Germany, deviceTRUST was established by experienced experts in contextual IT security to address the growing need for secure and flexible digital workspaces. Darmstadt, recognized as a significant IT hub, exemplifies Germany’s immense potential for global IT applications.

Meeting the Demands of Mobile Work and Strengthening Endpoint Security:

With the rise of mobile work, the importance of IT security has significantly increased, and deviceTRUST recognized the relevance of contextual security early on. The team’s expertise, strong relationships with suitable partners, and the founders’ long-standing industry experience in this specialized field have proven advantageous.

deviceTRUST enhances endpoint security and ensures compliance in virtual and cloud environments. Furthermore, by ensuring that only trusted devices with up-to-date context information can access digital workspaces, deviceTRUST adds a critical layer of protection to modern Zero Trust strategies. In addition, their innovative approach addresses the evolving security needs of businesses, providing robust protection and seamless integration across various platforms.

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Sascha Goeckel, former CEO at deviceTRUST: “Our current success is based not least on the healthy foundation that we have built up with HTGF as a reliable partner. The acquisition by Cloud Software Group makes us very proud and enables us to expand the leading Contextual Access technology further together and make it accessible to even more customers. We look forward to the future!”

Dr. Tanja Emmerling, Partner at HTGF: “We are delighted to have been the first institutional investor to back deviceTRUST. With a deep understanding of secure access, long before hybrid work environments became the norm, the team of deviceTRUST recognized the relevance of contextual security. The topic has rapidly gained momentum ever since and we are excited that their important security solution has now gained an even larger foundation with Citrix.”

About HTGF – High-Tech Gründerfonds:

HTGF is one of the leading and most active early-stage investors in Germany and Europe, financing start-ups in DeepTech, IndustrialTech, ClimateTech, DigitalTech, Life Sciences, and Chemistry. With its experienced investment team, HTGF supports start-ups in all phases of their development into international market leaders. HTGF invests in pre-seed and seed phases and can participate significantly in later-stage financing rounds. Across its funds, HTGF has over 2 billion euros under management. Since its inception in 2005, HTGF has financed more than 770 start-ups and achieved over 180 successful exits.
Fund investors in the public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, KfW Capital as well as 45 companies and family offices.

Image Credit: Citrix