Seven Tech Trailblazers alumni making news across fintech, chiplets, quantum security, AI infrastructure and cyber resilience

Here at Tech Trailblazers, we’re proud to champion the enterprise technology startups and scaleups that keep blazing a trail long after their Awards moment.

This week, the team here at Tech Trailblazers Towers has been cheering on seven alumni whose latest news spans investment infrastructure, semiconductor design, security data pipelines, supply chain cyber security, XDR, post-quantum security and AI data infrastructure. From major market expansion to analyst recognition, founder-led technical momentum and category leadership in quantum-safe and AI-ready infrastructure, these stories are a brilliant reminder of why the Tech Trailblazers Awards exist: to spot ambitious innovators early, then celebrate them as they continue to scale their impact.

Alpaca expands regulated investment infrastructure across Europe

First up, a huge Trailblazers congratulations to Alpaca, a 2025 Financial Technology Trailblazers runner-up.

Alpaca has announced that it has completed EEA passporting to 29 countries, expanding access to its regulated and localised investment services across Europe through its Spain-based EEA hub. As reported by Global FinTech Series, this gives fintechs, financial institutions and enterprise partners access to Alpaca’s API-driven investment infrastructure through a single European entity, supporting account infrastructure, custody and trading capabilities across the region.

The news follows another international milestone: Seoul Economic Daily reports that Daishin Securities has signed a cross-border business memorandum of understanding with Alpaca to support expanded investment services for domestic and international investors, including improved access to South Korean equities and cooperation around US stock brokerage services.

For a FinTech Trailblazers alumnus, this is exactly the kind of infrastructure innovation we love to see. Alpaca is not simply building at the edge of financial services; it is helping provide the regulated, developer-friendly rails that enable fintechs and financial institutions to launch and scale investment products across borders.

Alpaca’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Financial Technology Trailblazers runner-up.

Baya Systems brings chiplet observability into focus

Congratulations also to Baya Systems, represented in the 2025 Male CxO Trailblazers category by Sailesh Kumar, CEO, who was named a runner-up.

Baya Systems has been part of a timely Semiconductor Engineering expert discussion on why observability is becoming a missing layer in AI-era chiplet design. The article explores how next-generation silicon needs telemetry and visibility designed into the architecture so teams can correlate traffic, latency, congestion and fault behaviour across increasingly complex chiplet-based systems.

Baya’s participation in this conversation is a strong example of market leadership in a sector that is becoming increasingly important as AI workloads push infrastructure, silicon design and data movement to new limits. Chiplets, interconnects and on-chip visibility may sound highly specialised, but they sit right at the heart of the next wave of intelligent compute.

Baya Systems’ Tech Trailblazers recognition: Sailesh Kumar, CEO of Baya Systems, was a 2025 Male CxO Trailblazers runner-up.

Axoflow shows founder-led momentum in security data pipelines

A big Trailblazers congratulations to Axoflow, whose CEO Balázs Scheidler was named the 2025 Male CxO Trailblazers winner. Axoflow was also a 2025 Firestarter Trailblazers runner-up.

In AxoSyslog Year 2: Progress Comparison vs. syslog-ng, Axoflow shares a detailed technical review of AxoSyslog’s development progress over the past twelve months. The piece highlights release cadence, FilterX development, performance, scaling and security data pipeline capabilities.

For us, this is a very Tech Trailblazers story: deep technical credibility, founder-led execution and a clear focus on solving operational pain points for security and observability teams. As organisations look to make security data more usable, cost-effective and actionable, companies like Axoflow are helping to shape the data layer that modern security operations increasingly depend on.

Axoflow’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: Balázs Scheidler, CEO of Axoflow, was the 2025 Male CxO Trailblazers winner, and Axoflow was a 2025 Firestarter Trailblazers runner-up.

Risk Ledger publishes new guidance for higher education supply chain cyber security

Congratulations to Risk Ledger, our 2024 Security Trailblazers winner, and to Emily Hodges, who was recognised as a 2024 Female CxO Trailblazers runner-up.

Risk Ledger has published The Higher Education Guide to Supply Chain Cyber Security, focused on helping UK universities address third-party risk, academic continuity and UK GDPR compliance through a network-first supply chain security model. The company has also published a 2026 buyer’s guide to third-party risk management software, looking at operating models, evidence quality, supplier participation, workflow fit and supply chain visibility.

Supply chain cyber security continues to be one of the most urgent challenges for organisations across sectors, and higher education is a particularly complex environment: open, collaborative, decentralised and highly dependent on third-party digital services. Risk Ledger’s continued focus on collaborative, live assurance shows why the company stood out to the Tech Trailblazers judges.

There is also a Founders on Fire connection here: Rose Ross previously sat down with Emily Hodges and Haydn Brooks of Risk Ledger to discuss the company’s journey, its mission to transform supply chain cyber security and its plans for future growth. You can revisit the episode here: Founders on Fire with Emily Hodges & Haydn Brooks, Risk Ledger.

Risk Ledger’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2024 Security Trailblazers winner, with Emily Hodges named a 2024 Female CxO Trailblazers runner-up.

Stellar Cyber earns XDR recognition from EMA

Finally, congratulations to Stellar Cyber, connected to the Tech Trailblazers alumni community through Aimei Wei, Founder and CTO, who was a 2022 Female CxO Trailblazers runner-up.

Stellar Cyber has been named a Top 3 XDR solution in EMA’s 2026 Buyer’s Guide for Extended Detection and Response. Softprom’s coverage highlights Stellar Cyber’s Full Cycle AI Native SecOps Platform, its open architecture, broad telemetry ingestion and its ability to help security teams turn high-volume alerts into more actionable incidents.

As security teams continue to face tool sprawl, skills shortages and alert fatigue, independent recognition in the XDR market is a meaningful milestone. It is also another reminder that Tech Trailblazers alumni continue to play a role in some of the most important categories in enterprise cyber security.

Stellar Cyber’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: Aimei Wei, Founder and CTO of Stellar Cyber, was a 2022 Female CxO Trailblazers runner-up.

QuSecure strengthens federal post-quantum security leadership

A warm Trailblazers congratulations to QuSecure, our 2025 Quantum Trailblazers winner.

QuSecure has announced that U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (Ret.) Doug Small has joined its Federal Advisory Board as agencies accelerate quantum security migration plans. The announcement, carried by Business Wire and covered by Homeland Security Today, positions QuSecure’s work in post-quantum cryptography and cryptographic agility within a fast-moving federal security context.

For a Quantum Trailblazers alumnus, this is a timely example of category leadership. Post-quantum security is moving from specialist discussion to board-level and national-security priority, and QuSecure continues to help make cryptographic agility a practical enterprise and government concern.

QuSecure’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Quantum Trailblazers winner.

Hammerspace showcases AI data efficiency at RAISE Summit 2026

Congratulations also to Hammerspace, a 2024 Storage Trailblazers runner-up.

Hammerspace has announced that its senior executive team is participating in RAISE Summit 2026 in Paris, where it will demonstrate how enterprises can improve AI infrastructure efficiency by addressing one of the biggest hidden constraints in AI deployments: data. As reported by StorageNewsletter and in the company’s own Hammerspace announcement, the focus is on reducing time to first token, improving GPU utilisation and avoiding large-scale data movement or new storage procurement.

This is exactly the kind of storage and data infrastructure story we love to see from a Storage Trailblazers alumnus. As AI moves further into production, the companies helping enterprises make existing data usable, mobile and cost-effective are becoming just as important as the model and compute layers themselves.

Hammerspace’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2024 Storage Trailblazers runner-up.

Celebrating alumni momentum — and the next generation of Trailblazers

We congratulate all of our previous Tech Trailblazer Awards winners and runners-up who continue to build, launch, scale and lead in some of the most dynamic areas of enterprise technology.

From Alpaca’s European fintech infrastructure expansion to Baya Systems’ role in the chiplet observability conversation, Axoflow’s security data pipeline momentum, Risk Ledger’s supply chain cyber security guidance, Stellar Cyber’s XDR recognition, QuSecure’s post-quantum security leadership and Hammerspace’s AI data infrastructure showcase, this week’s alumni news is a fantastic snapshot of the innovation, leadership and persistence that define the Tech Trailblazers community.

As Founder and Chief Trail Blazer, it is always rewarding to see former winners and runners-up continue to make an impact — whether through market expansion, technical excellence, category leadership or practical guidance for industries facing real-world challenges.

Could your company be next?

Entries for the Tech Trailblazers Awards 2026 are open, and we would love to hear from eligible startups and scaleups working in fintech, cyber security, AI, cloud, developer technology, semiconductor infrastructure, networking, storage, sustainable tech and other enterprise technology categories.

Eligible entrants should be privately held technology startups or scaleups, generally at C-series funding or below, less than six years old at the time of entry, and operating in or relevant to one of the Tech Trailblazers Awards categories. Please check the latest eligibility details before entering.

Find out more and enter here: https://techtrailblazers.com/

Rose Ross
Chief Trail Blazer and Founder
Tech Trailblazers Awards

If your company has previously been named as either a Tech Trailblazers Awards winner or runner-up and you would like to share any recent or upcoming news with us, please drop us an email at innovate@techtrailblazers.com

Rose Ross
Chief Trail Blazer and Founder
Tech Trailblazers Awards