From an Internship Idea to anymize
Some companies arise from market analysis. anymize was born during an internship. Nikolai Raitschew saw up close what happens every day in sensitive professions. Lawyers, tax advisors, doctors know exactly how much work…
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Some companies arise from market analysis. anymize was born during an internship.
Nikolai Raitschew saw up close what happens every day in sensitive professions. Lawyers, tax advisors, doctors know exactly how much work a language model could take off their hands: summarizing documents, comparing contracts, extracting deadlines from files. And yet they do not touch it, because every document contains names, addresses, and case numbers that they cannot share.
The question Nikolai took with him was simple: Why are the people who need support the most not allowed to use modern AI?
The solution that did not exist anywhere
The answer seemed obvious. If the problem is that sensitive data reaches the language model, then it must not reach it. A protective layer that anonymizes data before a model sees it. And then reinserts the real information so that the response carries the correct names.
As obvious as the idea was: it did not exist anywhere.
Today, this is how it looks at anymize: You upload a contract, anymize recognizes names, addresses, and numbers in it and replaces them with placeholders. The model only works with this version. When the response comes back, anymize reinserts the real information, with you and not with the AI. You read a finished text with the correct names. The model has never seen them.
Father and son build it themselves
Many would have handed such an idea to a development studio. Nikolai and his father Raitschin built it themselves, together.
Nikolai is the technical mind. He has developed large parts of the platform by hand and is still attending school in parallel. He wrote his first lines of code at eleven, inspired by his father. Over time, the hobby became a common language between the two.
Raitschin is an entrepreneur by conviction. He laid the operational foundation and supports the young team wherever he can. Nikolai learned early from him how to turn an idea into a product, take responsibility, and take customers seriously.
An 18-year-old building a platform for people with confidentiality obligations raises questions. The answer is this constellation: a son who builds the product and a father who has given him the trust to undertake such a project together. Raitschin puts it this way:
“The best software is created when practitioners solve their own problems.”
Close to the product, down-to-earth, North German
anymize is based in Kiel. This shapes how we work: close to the product, without much fuss, with a focus on the people who use it every day. Our customers are not in startup hubs. They are in law firms, tax offices, city administrations, and medium-sized companies.
We share a conviction that father and son hold: Data protection is not a brake. It is the prerequisite for AI to work where it has the most impact.
Where we stand today
Today, over 1,000 paying customers trust anymize, from law firms to tax consultancies to city administrations and medium-sized companies. With Tim Eisenreich and Nils Karow, additional shareholders are on board.
The core of the story has remained the same: a father and his son who turned an internship idea into a company. And a question from the internship that now has an answer.
Nikolai says where it is headed:
“AI will change everything. But only for those who can use it correctly.”
Get to know us
Who is behind anymize and how to reach us can be found on our About Us page.
Would you rather see what the idea has become right away? Try it for free for 14 days.