From data room pioneer to key player
Back in the early 2000s, letters and faxes were still commonly used as means of communication. Especially in the context of M&A transactions and due diligence audits, this practice was laborious and time-consuming. Faced with such constraints, Thomas Krempl came up with the idea of creating a digital room for the simple and secure exchange of files.
From its earliest days, netfiles was determined to make this virtual data room very easy to use – but also to deliver top performance, despite the limited Internet bandwidth available at the time. The idea was also for companies to be able to use netfiles as a service, with no need to run their own dedicated servers.
I wanted to give corporate customers the chance to share and exchange data and documents over the Internet: faster than the channels commonly used at the time, with absolute security and as easily as possible
2001
Founding
After studying computer science and spending time with major IT companies, Thomas Krempl set up netfiles GmbH as one of the first providers of virtual data rooms.
2003
Versioning and customization
Numerous functions such as automated versioning and a document check-in/check-out feature made working with netfiles even more efficient. On request, the data room could be incorporated in customers’ own websites and adapted to each one’s corporate identity.
2006
Enterprise version
An enterprise version allowed any number of data rooms to be managed conveniently via a single, central interface.
2008
Security
Encryption, biometric login features and audit trails set new standards in security.
2011
Access rights
“Read only” rights broadened the spectrum of access rights to files – an important function for customers in the M&A market.
2013
2FA and Q&As
2-factor authentication added an extra layer of data protection.
The Q&A function enabled questions to be posed and answered in the data room itself.
2014
Mobility
A mobile app for iPads gave users even easier access to documents when they were on the move.
For the first time, netfiles was successfully certified in accordance with ISO 27001.
2017
Office
Office documents could now be edited conveniently in the data room.
2018
Auto-indexing
Folders and documents were indexed automatically as they were uploaded, ensuring fast and unique identification of each one.
2021
BSI C5 and netfiles Board Room
netfiles was granted C5 certification by Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
The launch of netfiles Board Room facilitated the efficient, secure and legally compliant preparation, holding and documentation of board meetings.
Video conferences could be held in the data room in full compliance with the EU's GDPR.
2022
Annotations
The ability to add annotations to documents directly simplified collaboration.
2024
Passkeys
Passkeys made logging in even more secure and convenient.
2025
Online data room archive and netfiles Data Vault
The launch of the netfiles online data room archive enabled customers to "freeze" closed data rooms and archive them with secure audit trails.
The launch of netfiles Data Vault protected files with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and operated based on the zero knowledge principle.
2026
Additional Managing Director, netfiles Send and Microsoft Teams plug-in
Patrick Reininger reinforced the netfiles management, assuming responsibility for marketing and sales activities.
The launch of netfiles Send as a business filesharing solution allowed sensitive documents – and even large files and whole folders – to be transmitted and received securely.
The launch of a plug-in for Microsoft Team gave users direct access to Microsoft Teams from their netfiles data room, allowing documents to be shared securely and in compliance with data protection legislation.
Outlook
Using AI responsibly as a tool, not as an end in itself
netfiles is working hard to incorporate AI functionality. But it has no intention of compromising its high standards: Every new function must be absolutely reliable, accurate and easy to use. At netfiles, that is true for everything – and especially for AI.
Our solutions are used for transactions that may take place under severe time pressure and where mistakes can have serious consequences. AI functionality can accelerate these processes. But it has to live up to our quality standards. So, we will never pass content from our customers’ data rooms on to American AI providers to train or work with AI models
netfiles 2001 – 2026
A quarter of a century of experience with secure transactions, confidential collaboration and digital data sovereignty.