Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem do you solve?
Helmit: Helmit is the digital helmet for children on social media. We have a AI-powered app Developed to protect children from dangers such as cyberbullying, grooming, and inappropriate content, our app runs locally on the parent's device, connects to platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Discord, and uses AI to detect signs of dangerous interactions in real time. Parents receive an alert when a risk is detected.
The statistics clearly show why this is important: one in five children is affected by cyberbullying, and one in four experiences cyber grooming. Until now, parents have mostly had only two options: forbid it or look the other way. That's precisely why we developed Helmit.
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Helmit: Not really. Much of what's offered today as child protection primarily regulates screen time, blocks apps, or restricts websites. While this helps reduce unhealthy media use, it doesn't go far enough. The most critical dangers usually arise within chats on social media platforms. We fill precisely this gap.
There are some providers, primarily in the US, that also analyze chats. However, these providers process sensitive data entirely in the cloud and support only a limited number of platforms. In contrast, Helmit offers a simple, effective, and privacy-friendly solution that incorporates several technological breakthroughs. We are the first to enable local AI processing. No cloud, no third parties. We can detect threats in text, audio, images, and videos, and our setup takes only two minutes.
Frustration leads to a solution for digital child protection
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Helmit: Helmit was born out of frustration that digital violence against children on social media has been a known problem for years, yet platform operators rarely take responsibility. At the same time, we are convinced that a blanket ban on social media is counterproductive, as it ultimately only treats the symptoms and shifts the real problem.
That's why we wanted to create a different approach: to give parents the necessary tools to easily protect their children digitally. It's no coincidence that we're building Helmit together. We've known each other since childhood and both share the ambition to solve socially relevant problems through innovation. Helmit was born precisely from this drive.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Helmit: Our biggest challenge was reconciling two things that are often seen as contradictory: effective protection and genuine privacy. Protecting children online requires analyzing highly sensitive content, specifically the chats and messages where cyberbullying and grooming take place. Many people sacrifice either data privacy or effective protection at this point. Our goal was to address both simultaneously. To achieve this, we had to develop very small AI models that could run efficiently locally on parents' devices.
Integrating social media platforms is also complex. It involves a great deal of work, from developing technical interfaces to addressing compliance and certification issues, to ensure reliable operation of these platforms.
Goal: Global standard for child safety
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Helmit: In one year, we want Helmit to be a strong Child protection solution We have established ourselves as a leading provider of digital products for families in German-speaking countries. Our primary goal is to make a real difference in the everyday lives of many families and to noticeably reduce digital violence against children. If children are better protected by Helmit, then that is our most important benchmark.
In five years, Helmit will be the global security standard for every child's first smartphone. We will continue to develop Helmit: from a protection solution to a comprehensive all-in-one platform for digital education.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Helmit: For us, Munich is the ideal location to build a tech startup. Here, strong universities, excellent research, and ambitious talent converge. Especially with our focus on AI development, TUM serves as a crucial training ground for building a strong engineering team. In addition, there are funding programs and support services that truly help startups even in their very early stages. This combination of technical excellence and a well-developed ecosystem makes the location so valuable.
Munich Startup: Outsource or do it yourself?
Helmit: Everything that strategically differentiates us, we do ourselves. We have a very strong team of machine learning engineers, software developers, and marketing talent. Therefore, most things are created entirely in-house. Anything not part of our strategic core can be smartly outsourced to scale faster and accelerate our progress.
