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PRESS RELEASE: German Startup Ewigbyte Raises €1.6 Million to Rethink Long-Term Data Preservation
PRESS RELEASE
Glass Storage for Digital Sovereignty: German Startup Ewigbyte Raises €1.6 Million to Rethink Long-Term Data Preservation
Backed by Vanagon Ventures, Bayern Kapital, and business angels from the BayStartUP investor network, the Munich-based company aims to build a new class of photonic data storage infrastructure for the AI era.
Munich, January 22, 2026 — The world’s data infrastructure is approaching a paradox. Artificial intelligence is accelerating the creation and retention of information at unprecedented scale, while the physical systems storing that data remain rooted in technologies developed decades before the digital age truly began. Some data centers already consume as much electricity as cities of 100,000 people. Yet the vast majority of the world’s long-term information is still stored on media that degrade, require constant energy, and were never designed for centuries of preservation.
The Munich-based deep-tech startup Ewigbyte believes the problem is no longer simply one of storage capacity. It is a question of resilience, sovereignty, and the long-term custody of knowledge itself.
To address this challenge, Ewigbyte is developing a glass-based data storage technology that uses ultrashort laser pulses to engrave information directly into glass. The company has now secured €1.6 million in pre-seed financing led by Vanagon Ventures and Bayern Kapital, alongside experienced business angels from the BayStartUP investor network. The funding will support the development of an industrial prototype designed to move the technology from research into practical deployment.
At the same time, Ewigbyte has received a validation contract from Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), which formally classified the technology as a “breakthrough innovation.”
Beyond Magnetic Storage
Conventional data storage relies on magnetic or electrical states: hard drives, flash memory, tape. Ewigbyte takes a fundamentally different approach.
Using femtosecond lasers — ultrafast laser systems capable of emitting pulses lasting one quadrillionth of a second — the company writes microscopic structures directly into glass. Each pulse encodes more than one million data points in patterns resembling microscopic QR codes.
Once written, the information becomes physically embedded in the material itself.
The result is a storage medium designed to withstand heat, humidity, electromagnetic disruption, and the slow degradation that affects conventional systems. Unlike traditional storage infrastructure, the material requires no ongoing energy consumption after the writing process is complete.
For Ewigbyte, this is not merely a hardware innovation. It is an attempt to redesign how societies think about long-term information retention.
“The technologies underlying today’s storage infrastructure are, in many cases, older than the moon landing,” said Dr. Steffen Klewitz, co-founder and CEO of Ewigbyte. “They were never built for a world in which AI systems continuously increase the value of retained data.”
A Structural Problem Beneath the AI Boom
The company’s argument reflects a growing concern among infrastructure experts: while public attention remains focused on AI chips and computing power, the long-term storage layer is becoming a hidden bottleneck.
As more industrial, scientific, medical, and governmental systems become data-driven, organizations are being forced to preserve growing volumes of information for longer periods of time. At the same time, cyberattacks, power instability, and geopolitical dependencies have made the question of data custody increasingly strategic.
Europe, in particular, faces a growing dependence on external cloud infrastructure, often without full transparency regarding data location, access paths, or long-term archival guarantees.
Ewigbyte argues that the current storage ecosystem is structurally fragile: data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, storage media require continuous migration and replacement, and so-called “cold data” — information that must be preserved but is rarely accessed — remains one of the least resolved problems in digital infrastructure.
The stakes extend beyond economics.
For research institutions, public administration, financial systems, energy infrastructure, and healthcare organizations, the long-term preservation of critical data increasingly intersects with resilience and sovereignty.
Financing the Transition From Research to Industry
The newly raised funding will allow Ewigbyte to build an industrial writing, storage, and readout machine that will serve as the foundation for pilot deployments.
“The financing allows us to accelerate the transition from scientific development to an industrially usable system,” said Klewitz. “Several core components can now be implemented earlier than originally planned, enabling initial pilot applications beginning this year.”
BayStartUP supported the company throughout the financing process, from pitch coaching and strategic sparring to introductions within its investor network.
“The support from BayStartUP was critical for us,” said Dr. Ina von Haeften, Head of Operations at Ewigbyte. “The network did not just open doors. It actively accompanied us through the financing process.”
Investors describe the technology as part of a broader transformation in digital infrastructure.
“Storage infrastructure is the foundation beneath everything else — AI, energy systems, compute,” said Sandro Stark, General Partner at Vanagon Ventures. “It is one of the central layers of the future digital economy. Ewigbyte has the potential to become a company of generational importance in this space.”
Hans Schorsch, business angel from the BayStartUP network and the largest individual investor in the round, described his first reaction to the company’s pitch deck as immediate conviction.
“I was instantly captivated,” he said. “Beyond the technology itself and the challenge of opening entirely new markets, there is something special about being part of ewigbyte and helping create something genuinely new.”
A Growing Market for Long-Term Data Preservation
The market for next-generation data storage is expected to expand rapidly over the coming decade. By 2030, the European market alone is projected to reach approximately €28 billion.
Particularly strong growth is expected in long-term archival data — the vast and growing layer of information that organizations are legally, operationally, or strategically required to preserve over decades.
Globally, the volume of such long-term retained data could exceed 500 zettabytes by the end of the decade.
Potential customers include archives, research institutions, banks, insurers, energy providers, healthcare systems, and public-sector organizations.
An Interdisciplinary Founding Team
Ewigbyte was founded by an interdisciplinary team combining expertise in physics, systems engineering, operations, and infrastructure development.
CEO Dr. Steffen Klewitz leads the technological foundations of the company’s photonic storage systems and brings experience in building technology-driven ventures. Phil Wittwer, Head of Technology, specializes in system architecture, electronics, and complex data infrastructure. Dr. Ina von Haeften, Head of Operations, oversees organizational development, operational processes, and strategic partnerships.
The company was recently awarded “Best IT Startup 2025” by the German IT Security Congress.
PRESS Contacts
BayStartUp GmbH
Thyra Andresen
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Ewigbyte GmbH
Dr. Ina von Haeften
Co-Founder & Head of Operations
www.linkedin.com/company/ewigbyte
About Ewigbyte
Ewigbyte is a German deep-tech startup developing a new class of photonic data storage systems and building long-term data preservation as a service. Using femtosecond lasers and digital light modulation, the company writes data permanently into glass — without ongoing energy consumption, resistant to alteration except through physical destruction, and independent of conventional cloud infrastructure.
Founded by an interdisciplinary team spanning physics, psychology, and technology, Ewigbyte is currently developing an industrial-scale machine that will begin writing data onto glass for pilot customers starting in 2026. The company has received a validation contract from Germany’s Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), formally classifying the technology as a breakthrough innovation.
About BayStartUP
BayStartUP is Bavaria’s startup network for founders, investors, and corporations, and a partner of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs’ “Gründerland Bayern” initiative. Through the Bavarian Business Plan Competitions, extensive coaching programs, and Europe’s largest investor network, BayStartUP supports startups in refining strategy, building scalable companies, and securing early-stage and growth financing.
For private and institutional investors, BayStartUP provides access to qualified deal flow and startup insights through exclusive business angel meetings and investor conferences. The organization also advises established companies on developing effective startup collaboration strategies through nationwide startup-industry matchmaking programs and innovation initiatives.
Through BayStartUP, founders gain access to more than 400 active business angels and over 200 institutional investors. Since 2014, BayStartUP has facilitated approximately €650 million in funding across 578 actively supported financing rounds spanning pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages.
Notable BayStartUP success stories include FlixBus, EGYM, Magazino, Exasol, Voxeljet, numares, Transporeon, va-Q-tec, VIA Optronics, and many others.
In the Financial Times ranking “Europe’s Leading Startup Hubs 2025,” BayStartUP ranked fourth in Germany and eleventh across Europe.
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