Already, 10% of data breaches are caused by physical security compromise, according to IBM’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report. Founders Roy Jeunen and Frederik Keysers stated: “Our products are the interface between the cyber world and the real world, a door that is far too often left open for hackers. We want to close that door.”

Ghent-based SaaS- and access control hardware company Nine Engineering is ready to grow, thanks to a funding round of €1.1m.

Nine Engineering offers easy-to-use solutions that increase access security, site safety and privacy compliancy. The startup’s offerings include both a privacy-compliant SaaS platform for documentation that centralises user identification, certificates, and training courses - which makes documents easily available for audits, and the hardware devices needed for access management on site, which work with QR codes, smartphone scans or facial recognition.

Interface between cyber world and real world

With their products, Nine Engineering fills the security gap that exists between the cyber world and the real world. “We know from our own experience that there are hardly any modern-day access control solutions,” explained Roy Jeunen, Co-founder of Nine Engineering.

“The technology is out-dated, not privacy-compliant, and offers limited security and safety. On top of that, non-automated on-boardings and check-ins require a lot of manual labour and are often not user-friendly, which leads to administrative chaos.”

“We also noticed that many big industrial players are longing for an integrated software package that centralizes and automates identity and access management. With Nine Engineering, we are introducing a modern access control solution,” added Frederik Keysers, Co-founder of Nine Engineering.

Closing the door on hackers

With companies nowadays fully focusing on their cyber security, they sometimes forget the importance of physical identity- and access management. Many companies are still using RFID badges for access authentication to their facilities, but those badges are often passed on, copied, or stolen.

That way, hackers can easily access the company site and use any computer that has been left unattended. Physical breaches like these, or such as burglary and social engineering, lead to more than 10% of data breaches that are caused by physical security compromise, according to IBM’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach Report.

“That number proves that physical access management is often overlooked, which creates a weak spot in the overall security. We strongly believe cyber security must include physical protection,” said Roy Jeunen. “Our products are that interface between the cyber world and the real world, a door that is far too often left open for hackers. We want to close that door.”

On top of that, Nine Engineering’s 100% digital person-verification flow makes it possible to track who is present on site and easily send all of them safety communications in case of an emergency. Other possibilities are fighting fraudulent work time registrations by employees and social fraud – for example in the construction sector.

“Our technology is extremely scalable, which makes it ideal for complex sites like production sites, airports or maritime ports,” added Frederik. “Until now, those sites usually depend on limited spot checks, because of the high volumes of 3rd party visitors. Thanks to Nine Engineering, they can now be sure that anyone entering their site is 100% safety and security compliant.”

Future indispensable and international partner

Nine Engineering has the support of investors like Pitchdrive and Noël Keysers, loans from BNP Paribas and PMV, and clients like Corda Campus, LSB-Groep and Youston.

Wim Derkinderen, Managing Partner of Pitchdrive said: “We strongly believe in the vision, mission, and products of Nine Engineering. This startup is solving a huge issue for big industrial players. We are sure they will become an indispensable partner for any company that attaches value to identity- and access management and compliancy.”

Pieter Vansynghel, CEO at Youston, added: “As the European reference in archiving and digitalisation solutions, safety, security, and confidentiality are our core values. Nine Engineering helps us to protect the valuable assets of our customers.”

As of next year, Nine Engineering will be ready to take its business international. “We are now establishing our base in the Benelux, and as of 2023, we will expand to the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and potentially the US,” concluded Roy.