As ICQ becomes the connection among teenagers worldwide, Christopher Bick – CEO of stashcat GmbH – develops a taste for the wider world and for a secure Internet connection. Growing up in Schmarrie, a village of around 200 people in Lower Saxony, Christopher Bick has made it to the top of the German tech companies with stashcat Messenger.
In 2012, Bick and his school friend Felix Ferchland founded the privacy-compliant messenger service stashcat. Hannoverimpuls and the Madsack Media Group take notice of the startup and support the young cybersecurity experts. Today, stashcat’s customers include more than 10,000 organizations and companies from the field of critical infrastructure, including the Lower Saxony State Police, THW and numerous federal authorities. In addition, with the onset of the pandemic, thousands of schools throughout Germany and Europe are using the end-to-end encrypted messenger, which, similar to WhatsApp, Slack or Teams, also enables video telephony, chat groups and data exchange – but in a GDPR-compliant and extremely safe.
Today – in December 2022 – stashcat now employs a 40-strong team of computer scientists, crypto experts and digital natives at its location in downtown Hanover. Since 2022, the company has been part of the secunet Security Networks AG with more than 1000 employees.
Now Christopher Bick was allowed to travel through Namibia and South Africa alongside Economics Minister Dr. Robert Habeck. In the African countries – so the hope – green hydrogen will soon be produced in large quantities. This will be produced with the help of solar and wind energy.
But what does the stashcat CEO have to do with it?
Bick: “As part of the delegation, I get the opportunity to talk to the local Namibian companies from the energy industry and the local authorities. The need for secure communication is also high here. Very impressive was the meeting with Namibia’s President Hage Geingob and Energy Minister Tom Alwendo during the visit to State House Windhoek.*”
Bick is joined on board by other board members and managing directors from the energy industry, as well as representatives from the IT segment and even from the space sector. The perfect advisors for Habeck’s big plans below the equator.
Bick: “In my conversations, I learn that when it comes to messenger services, people here mainly rely on WhatsApp & co. With stashcat we offer the possibility to change this and to set up the authorities independently in critical communication.*”
On Wednesday, 07.12.22, Habeck and his companions visited the German-African Business Summit in Johannesburg. On Thursday, the business delegation returned to cooler temperatures in Berlin. For stashcat, however, the continent of Africa is far from passé and the Middle East has already expressed interest in the high-security messenger service from Lower Saxony. This is where the company’s next major project is being developed.
* Translated from German.