Cerabyte is a deep-tech company developing a new ecosystem for sustainable low-cost long-term data storage at the verified prototype system level (TRL6). Pulse 2.0 interviewed Cerabyte co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Martin Kunze to learn more about the company.
Martin Kunze’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Kunze said:
“I am one of the three co-founders of Cerabyte, which I co-founded alongside Christian and Alex Pflaum. The concept of using ceramics for data storage was my contribution, while Christian brought his expertise in engineering and business development and Alex his expertise in finance and mechatronics. Together, we developed Cerabyte’s groundbreaking technology, merging our skills and vision to create something truly innovative.”
“Our team is driven by a shared passion for creativity and scientific curiosity. As a graduate of the Art Academy Linz in Austria, where I specialized in ceramics, I’ve always been inspired by the intersection of art and science. This inspiration led to the creation of Memory of Mankind (MoM) a project designed to preserve a snapshot of our era. Using ceramic tiles with text and images printed using ceramic toner and fired under a layer of transparent glaze, MoM ensures these records can endure for thousands of years. Today, these tiles are safely stored in the salt mines of Hallstatt, Austria, serving as a timeless archive for future generations.”
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Kunze shared:
“The genesis of Cerabyte emerged from a shared vision and complementary expertise. The MoM project spurred me to recognize the challenges of preserving digital data over millennia and I began exploring the use of ceramics for digital data storage.”
“I lectured extensively on behalf of MoM where I highlighted the urgent challenge of preserving digital heritage. These talks also presented a technical solution – the development of a storage medium capable of withstanding the ravages of time while meeting the rising demands of the digital storage age. During one of these events, I met Christian Pflaum, a skilled engineer and business development expert.”
“Together, we patented revolutionary technology, materials, and methods that could rapidly write data into hard ceramic surfaces with unprecedented density. We envisioned a solution that could not only preserve information for eternity but also handle the vast and growing data storage needs of the modern world sustainably and cost-efficiently. This breakthrough in ceramic-based data storage laid the foundation for Cerabyte, a company dedicated to solving the future of digital preservation.”
“Our collaboration led to a successful public funding application where we secured more than €1 million to develop a proof of concept in partnership with the Technical University of Vienna. This project focused on using femtosecond lasers to write data onto thin glass-ceramic materials, proving the feasibility of a groundbreaking idea. With this successful proof of concept, Cerabyte secured €10 million in seed funding in 2022 to 2023 and unveiled an end-to-end prototype at the end of 2023, marking a major milestone on the path to revolutionizing data storage.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Kunze reflected:
“One of the most significant moments for the Cerabyte team has been meeting our first investor—a milestone that not only validated our technology but also solidified the future potential of Cerabyte as a going concern. This connection enabled us to continue pushing the boundaries of digital data storage innovation, ensuring that our vision will be realized on a global scale.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Kunze explained:
“Keeping digital data permanently, even under extreme conditions, is a challenge no company has solved yet. Our pioneering transformative solution for permanent, energy-free data storage is sustainable for a virtually unlimited time. Data is written and read at high speed onto Cerabyte ceramic and can be accessed within seconds, even under extreme environmental conditions.”
“Today, mainstream data storage technologies, such as HDDs, SSDs, and tape, are approaching their potential of improvement with the scaling curves flattening which could stall the development of new technologies with their need for vast amounts of storage space. Cerabyte addresses these issues by providing a data storage solution that builds on a newly scalable technology introducing a new technology scaling S-curve.”
“Unlike existing media that require constant power and are often inefficient for long-term storage, Cerabyte’s technology ensures that data can be stored indefinitely without the need for permanent power supply and air conditioning. This opens up a future where vast amounts of data, much of which is rarely used but must be kept indefinitely, can be stored efficiently and sustainably.”
“Moreover, as the IT sector faces an impending bottleneck in storage capacity due to the explosive growth of data—especially with emerging technologies such as AI—Cerabyte’s solution promises to meet the data density and scaling challenges of the next decade.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have you faced in building the company? Kunze acknowledged:
“Navigating early-stage development has been a learning process—one that has involved trial and error and continuous innovation. Every obstacle has been an opportunity to improve, refine, and strengthen the company’s technology and approach.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Kunze noted:
“Cerabyte’s technology has seen impressive evolution since its inception. Data density continues to increase as the team works to refine methods and minimize dot sizes for storage.”
“In our initial end-to-end prototype, we achieved the storage of 1GB of data on a 9×9 cm glass sheet – modest by today’s standards, but a significant breakthrough in the context of early-stage memory technology. When compared to the infancy of flash memory in the 1990s, where the first commercially available memory card had just 4MB, this progress points to immense future potential.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Kunze cited:
“Cerabyte has reached several key milestones that are paving the way for the future of digital storage. One of the most notable achievements was the successful use of a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) for writing with a matrix of up to 2 million “beamlets,” instead of one single laser spot, which dramatically increases writing speed and efficiency. This innovation was pivotal in proving the scalability and viability of Cerabyte’s technology.”
“A few significant milestones, to date, have been our partnership with CERN openlab, and Pure Storage’s investment in Cerabyte. The CERN collaboration demonstrates the cutting-edge potential of Cerabyte’s storage solutions in scientific research and beyond.”
“In addition, Pure Storage’s investment in Cerabyte accelerates the realization of our shared vision – to redefine the future of data storage with unmatched speed, efficiency, and scalability. This strategic partnership will drive innovation, fuel our growth, and empower industries worldwide to harness the full potential of data in ways never before possible.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Kunze affirmed:
“While companies such as Microsoft Silica, the DNA Storage Alliance, Folio Photonics, and Holomem are developing innovative solutions, none of them have reached the stage where they can provide customer engagements or explain how they plan to scale to meet the exponentially increasing demand for data storage.”
“Cerabyte’s scalable technology has already achieved Technical Readiness Level 6 (TRL6), a critical milestone that signals it is close to fully market-ready.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Kunze emphasized:
“Cerabyte aims to establish itself as the global standard for long-term data storage. In a world facing an ever-growing demand for data and the challenges posed by current storage technologies, our mission is to deliver a transformative solution that stands the test of time.”
Funding
When asking Kunze about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“Cerabyte is currently preparing for a Series A funding round, further solidifying our position in the market and enabling the company to continue advancing its groundbreaking storage technology.”
“To date we have participated in the Intel Ignite accelerator program. We have received investments from Pure Storage and most recently were awarded a highly sought-after grant from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. The European Commission focuses on the development of new technologies in the semiconductor and IT sector, aligned with the European Chips Act. The award supports the development of Ceramic Data Storage technology, and highlights the need for, and EIC’s commitment to, new scalable and sustainable data storage solutions.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) is the company pursuing? Kunze assessed:
“Cerabyte is targeting a vast and growing market, with the total addressable market (TAM) potentially reaching tens of billions of dollars. The increasing need for sustainable, long-term data storage solutions in industries such as AI, scientific research, healthcare, cybersecurity, life sciences and others – presents an incredible opportunity for growth.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Kunze concluded:
“Cerabyte is not just a company – it is the missing link in the future of data storage.”
“As the demand for storage accelerates, current solutions are struggling to keep pace with the vast amounts of data being created. Our groundbreaking approach to permanent, energy-free data storage offers a sustainable solution that addresses the secondary storage gap – unlocking the potential for a future where data can be securely preserved for generations without the environmental cost.”
“By providing a scalable, long-term solution, we are reshaping the storage landscape, ensuring that our collective knowledge is preserved in a way that’s both sustainable and future-proof. We are uniquely poised to revolutionize how data is stored and preserved in an era of explosive digital growth.”
