TechBoost program
About us
We make awareness people actually do.
Protectly comes from an e-learning company. We know how to build content employees don't click away. That shows in every course.
Mission
Imagine a world without crime. An internet that is a completely safe space for all of us.
Admittedly, that is a vision that borders on utopia. But this is exactly where our mission begins: we want to raise lasting awareness of cyber threats. Our goal is for our customers to act competently and protected online and to sidestep the devious traps of cybercriminals with ease. This is how we make an active contribution every day to making the digital world safer together.
Vision
It is considered impossible until someone comes along and does it.
What was a bold dream in the early days, helping tens of thousands of people move safely on the internet, is our lived reality today. But we see this as only the beginning.
Our vision for the future is to scale this success massively. We work continuously to keep our products technically leading and to make them accessible to a global audience. Our goal is clear: we want to make digital security a reality for everyone.
Our story
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At the University of Graz, Michael Rieger develops the idea for Smart-Study: students prepare knowledge for younger students. This becomes the Smart-Study Student App.
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Training sessions for corporate clients lead to the Smart-Study Corporate learning management system.
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With the start of the GDPR, the first GDPR training is released, developed with legal expertise.
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Daniel Gruber takes over overall technical responsibility as CTO.
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The phishing wave of the Covid period is the trigger. Development of Protectly begins, a platform for social engineering simulations and security awareness training.
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In February, Michael Rieger and Daniel Gruber found Smart-Study GmbH. Through the Deutsche Telekom TechBoost program, tens of thousands of users join in the first year.
Signing the founding documents, February 2021 -
Two research projects in the FFG Basic Programme bring AI modules to Smart-Study and Protectly.
On stage at Digital X 2021 -
Smart-Study wins the Telekom T-Challenge 2022, together with our project partner Golem Digital.
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The Hessian finance and tax administration adopts the platform for more than 17,000 users.
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Multi-tenancy, automatic training assignment after simulations, reporting and continuously new content follow.
Proven substance, not marketing.
60,000+
Users
since 2021
Phishing simulation
EU
Hosting
Telekom
TechBoost
TechBoost program
Public administration
Manufacturing
The team behind Protectly
Michael Rieger
CEO & Founder
Daniel Gruber
CTO & Founder
Sewa Golubkov
Full-stack developer
Markus Ramšak
Full-stack developer
Simon Wolfsteiner
Full-stack developer
Sophie Schönwälder-Rieder
Full-stack developer
Stefanie Saulauf
Customer success
Michaela Kahler
Content & marketing
Erasmia Laschalt
Scripting
Steven Woodrow
Strategy consulting
Burak Kalyan
Strategy consulting
Emin Erovic
Strategy consulting
What we stand for
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Human
We talk straight, no scare tactics.
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European
Hosting and data protection under EU law.
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Effective
Instructional design that changes behavior instead of just ticking boxes.