Sunhat Secures $10.8 Million to Automate Trust

Cologne-based startup Sunhat has raised $10,859,404 in a Series A round to scale its Collaborative Proof Platform, powered by Proof AI. The round included backing from CommerzVentures, Capnamic, xdeck, and EnBW New Ventures, signaling strong confidence in the future of compliance automation and proof management.

At its core, Sunhat eliminates the manual grind of building compliance reports, audit documentation, or sustainability disclosures. Instead of teams scrambling across fragmented systems, Sunhat’s platform connects policies, certificates, and reports at the source  - keeping them automatically updated and instantly ready for auditors, regulators, investors, and customers.

“Companies already do the work,” says co-founder Lukas Vogt. “We just make proving it effortless.”

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Why Proof Has Become a Business Bottleneck

Modern enterprises are under increasing pressure from customers, regulators, and investors to demonstrate compliance across security, sustainability, and governance. From SOC 2 certifications to ESG disclosures, the demand for verified proof has grown exponentially.

Yet the process remains deeply broken:

• Fragmentation: Policies, certificates, and reports sit in different systems.
  
• Lag: Teams chase down versions, manually consolidate, and lose weeks of productivity.
  
• Risk: Delays in proof delivery can cost revenue, investor confidence, or compliance standing.
  

Sunhat flips this model. By embedding proof creation directly into workflows, compliance shifts from a reactive scramble to a proactive advantage. Proof builds itself as work gets done  - meaning organizations can respond in minutes, not months.

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Building Proof as a Product

One of Sunhat’s biggest breakthroughs is in reframing proof not as an afterthought, but as a core product deliverable.

Traditionally, compliance reports are created only when demanded. But in an era where trust is currency, proof becomes part of the customer experience. Imagine closing enterprise deals faster because the security audit is already packaged and ready, or impressing investors with live, transparent ESG progress.

Sunhat’s AI-powered platform ensures that proof is not a painful checkpoint, but a strategic accelerator.

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A Founder’s Insight That Changes Everything

There’s a hidden truth most founders underestimate: proof is one of the few “trust assets” that compounds. Unlike marketing campaigns or feature releases, which decay in value over time, a well-built proof system becomes more efficient with each iteration.

The reason? Proof generates meta-trust. Once you’ve automated the connections between systems, every new policy, every new certification, and every audit request flows into a living infrastructure. Each cycle gets faster, sharper, and cheaper. What starts as a compliance tool evolves into a flywheel of credibility, where every stakeholder interaction (customer, auditor, regulator) reinforces the company’s position as a trustworthy partner.

For founders, this flips compliance from a cost center into a competitive moat. In sectors like enterprise SaaS, fintech, and climate tech, where diligence cycles often kill deals, speed-to-proof is not just operational efficiency  - it’s revenue protection. The companies that treat proof as a scalable product, not paperwork, will dominate the trust economy.

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The People Behind Sunhat

Sunhat was co-founded by Lukas Vogt, who has positioned the company at the intersection of AI, compliance, and collaboration. Vogt’s mission is to transform proof from a “necessary evil” into an enabler of meaningful results, particularly in areas like sustainability reporting and ESG impact.

Sunhat is not just building software  - it’s creating an infrastructure of trust for global enterprises.

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Investor Confidence in Proof AI

The investor roster behind this round says a lot about the opportunity:

• CommerzVentures – A major European fintech and SaaS investor.
  
• Capnamic – Cologne-based VC with a strong enterprise SaaS portfolio.
  
• xdeck – Accelerator and venture builder focused on fast-scaling B2B startups.
  
• EnBW New Ventures – Focused on energy and sustainability innovation.
  

Their collective bets highlight a market shift: compliance and proof management is no longer back-office overhead  - it’s becoming board-level strategy.

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Industry Outlook: Proof as the New Competitive Edge

The compliance technology space is expanding rapidly. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global compliance and risk management software market is projected to grow from $46.3 billion in 2024 to $88.9 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 13.6%.

In sustainability, demand is even stronger. The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is forcing 50,000+ companies to provide verifiable ESG proof starting in 2025. Gartner estimates that by 2026, 70% of large enterprises will use AI-driven tools to manage regulatory reporting.

Sunhat is positioned at the sweet spot of these trends:

• AI-driven automation reduces human error and speeds up workflows.
  
• Collaboration-first design ensures organizations aren’t siloed.
  
• Proof as infrastructure aligns with the rising “trust economy.”
  

As Vogt puts it: “You already do the work. Sunhat helps you prove it.”

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Final Take

Sunhat’s $10.8 million Series A is more than just a funding milestone. It’s a bet that in the next decade, proof will be as critical to enterprises as product and revenue. Those who can automate it, scale it, and turn it into a strategic asset will shape the future of trust in business.

And if the momentum in compliance automation and AI-driven reporting continues, Sunhat won’t just help companies prove their work  - it might redefine how enterprises build credibility in the first place.