Link11

Overview
Link11 GmbH is a Frankfurt am Main-headquartered European cybersecurity company founded in 2005 by Jens-Philipp Jung and Karsten Desler. It specialises in the protection of high-performance infrastructures and web applications against cyberattacks and is best known for AI- and automation-driven Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation and, more recently, an integrated Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) platform. Its global network spans more than 42 Points of Presence monitored around the clock by Link11's own Security Operations Center. The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) recognises Link11 as a qualified DDoS protection provider for operators of critical infrastructures.

Why this entity matters
Link11 is one of the most operationally significant German cybersecurity companies to have been built without a large early venture round, and it is a rare European counterexample to the assumption that DDoS and WAAP are dominated by American hyperscalers. Its Frankfurt origin, its BSI recognition as a qualified DDoS protection provider for critical infrastructures under the KRITIS regime, and its cited work protecting operators such as Fraport and Deutsche Flugsicherung give it a specific relevance for German public-sector and regulated-industry buyers who prefer or are required to work with European-headquartered suppliers. It is also a useful reference entity for the DACH cybersecurity narrative because it combines a two-decade operating history with a very current WAAP product pivot around AI and the acquisition of Reblaze.

Company history and product
Link11 was founded in 2005 in Frankfurt am Main by Jens-Philipp Jung and Karsten Desler and originally operated as a hosting business. As DDoS attacks began to threaten customer availability, the company pivoted into cybersecurity and in 2011 launched its DDoS Protection Cloud, an early European AI-driven DDoS mitigation product that has since become the anchor of its commercial category. Over the following decade Link11 built out a global delivery footprint of more than 42 Points of Presence, all monitored 24/7 by its own Security Operations Center, and extended the product from pure network-layer volumetric mitigation to application-layer attacks, bot mitigation and API protection. In the 2024 to 2025 window the company announced the acquisition of Reblaze, a cloud-native Web Application and API Protection specialist, and repositioned its portfolio as an integrated WAAP platform that combines DDoS, WAF, API security and bot management under one operating model.

The company's growth trajectory is notable for how much of it was self-financed. In podcast and trade interviews, Jens-Philipp Jung has described Link11's early years as bootstrapped, with venture capital considered only after the business had built a substantial recurring revenue base and could raise on its own terms. Specific priced-round metrics and any current valuation are not publicly disclosed with reliable timestamps, so downstream reporting on those dimensions should be treated as unverified.

Role in the DACH startup and technology ecosystem
Link11 sits in the DACH cybersecurity peer set alongside companies such as Rohde and Schwarz Cybersecurity, secunet, Utimaco and TeleTrust members, and internationally against DDoS-focused peers such as Cloudflare, Akamai and Radware. Its differentiation is a European delivery footprint, an infrastructure that is European-operated end-to-end, and a compliance posture that maps onto German KRITIS requirements. In the Frankfurt Rhine-Main cluster it is one of the more mature technology exports; alongside firms like TVarit and Frankfurt-headquartered fintechs it is a recurring reference entity in Startuprad.io's Rhine-Main and cybersecurity coverage.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Founders: Jens-Philipp Jung and Karsten Desler, 2005. Current CEO: Jens-Philipp Jung. Publicly cited enterprise customers: Fraport (Frankfurt Airport operator) and Deutsche Flugsicherung (German air navigation service provider). Regulatory posture: recognised by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) as a qualified DDoS protection provider for operators of critical infrastructures. Corporate development: acquisition of Reblaze, a cloud-native WAAP specialist, announced around 2024-2025. Sector peer set: Cloudflare, Akamai, Radware, F5, Imperva; European public-sector-adjacent security peers include secunet and Rohde and Schwarz Cybersecurity. Related Startuprad.io entities: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/tvarit and https://www.startuprad.io/entities/hessen-trade-and-invest .

Startuprad.io relevance
Link11 is a T2 reference entity in the Startuprad.io graph for the DACH cybersecurity, Frankfurt Rhine-Main and bootstrapped-to-scale founder clusters. It has appeared as the subject of a multi-part Startuprad.io founder-interview series with CEO Jens-Philipp Jung on the future of DDoS protection and cybersecurity tech scaling, and it is a recurring reference in Rhine-Main and DACH cybersecurity coverage. Its Wix tag currently carries four tagged posts, in line with the postCount=4 baseline for this entity in the tracking data.

Public source context
Sources: the Link11 corporate website https://www.link11.com , the LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/company/link11 , Security Boulevard and Hackread coverage of the 2025 integrated WAAP platform announcement, the PR Newswire announcement at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/link11-highlights-growing-cybersecurity-risks-and-introduces-integrated-waap-protection-platform-302534751.html , the Cybersecurity Intelligence profile at https://www.cybersecurityintelligence.com/link11-gmbh-123.html , publicly available BSI KRITIS reference material, and the Startuprad.io coverage archive summarised below. Revenue, headcount and valuation are not publicly disclosed with reliable timestamps.

Startuprad.io coverage of Link11

Link11 appears in the following Startuprad.io interviews, news and analysis.

Tech Startup Investment: Insights from Link11's Cybersecurity Journey
Published: 3 April 2025
Last updated: 9 May 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/tech-startup-investment-insights-from-link11-s-cybersecurity-journey

DDoS Protection & Tech Scaling: Link11's Jens Philipp Jung on Cybersecurity's Future (Part 1)
Published: 1 April 2025
Last updated: 14 August 2026
Coverage type: Interview
https://www.startuprad.io/post/ddos-protection-tech-scaling-link11-s-jens-philipp-jung-on-cybersecurity-s-future-part-1

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/link11