Primary data from the source.
Chinese registries, procurement records, patent filings, research funding and government publications, gathered directly and not from secondary feeds.
Our Mission
To deliver intelligence on China that holds up when the stakes are highest.
Not more data. Not faster commentary. Intelligence that is traceable to source and verified at every layer.
What we build
An intelligence platform built on
data that
doesn't exist anywhere else.
databorder.io collects, structures, and analyses primary-source Chinese data at scale, combining AI-powered entity resolution, deep ownership analysis, and subject matter expertise to map the people, organisations, and networks that shape China's strategic landscape.
50M+ entities. One interconnected graph
AI-powered entity resolution links companies, individuals and research institutes across ownership depth, military-civil fusion indicators and procurement networks.
Intelligence-grade outputs. Every record traceable.
Structured for export control, investment screening, supply chain and defence decisions. Every data point traceable to its original source, built in from the start and not added afterwards.
Primary data from the source.
Chinese registries, procurement records, patent filings, research funding and government publications, gathered directly and not from secondary feeds.
50M+ entities. One interconnected graph
AI-powered entity resolution links companies, individuals and research institutes across ownership depth, military-civil fusion indicators and procurement networks.
Intelligence-grade outputs. Every record traceable.
Structured for export control, investment screening, supply chain and defence decisions. Every data point traceable to its original source, built in from the start and not added afterwards.
How We Think
Four beliefs that shape everything we build.
These aren't values written for a wall. They're the intellectual commitments that determine how we collect, how we build and how we deliver.
Belief 01
The source is everything.
We start with primary Chinese-language records: registries, filings, procurement databases, research outputs. If it isn't traceable to source, it doesn't go in.
Belief 02
Complexity is the point.
China's opacity isn't an obstacle. It's the problem databorder.io was built to solve. We go deeper where others stop.
Belief 03
Independence is non-negotiable.
No Chinese data vendors. No outbound traffic routed through China. European sovereignty by design.
Belief 04
Provenance or nothing.
Intelligence is only as good as its evidence chain. Every record, every data point, traceable to source.
Why It Matters
China's strategic ambitions are accelerating.
The intelligence gap is not.
Governments and strategic industries are making consequential decisions about China every day, on investment, procurement, export controls and defence. Most of them are making those decisions with incomplete information. The consequences are not hypothetical.
01
Defence &Intelligence
Military-civil fusion sits hidden inside commercial entities. Procurement relationships and research ties are invisible to standard screening tools until it is already too late.
02
Export Control
Entities reach restricted markets before designations can catch them. The damage is done before the list is updated. Standard tools were not built to see what databorder.io sees.
databorder.io exists to close that gap, by making China's landscape visible and the decisions built on it defensible.
03
Investment Screening
Beneficial ownership buried several layers deep. Military-civil fusion indicators absent from standard screening. The exposure is not visible until after the decision is made.
04
Supply Chain
Strategic dependencies sitting three or four tiers down, irrelevant to tier-one screening and critical to national security. Hidden until databorder.io makes them visible.
Leadership &Board
The people behind the platform.
Diplomatic experience, technical depth, commercial rigour, and financial discipline, backed by oversight from the highest levels of national security and intelligence.
Executive Team
Board Member
Darren Tebbitt
Chief Operating &Revenue Officer
View Profile
Edward Brinkmann
Co-founder &Chief Innovation Officer
View Profile
Board Member
Jaap van Etten
Co-founder &CEO
View Profile
Sander van de Ven
Chief Technology Officer
View Profile
Stijn Hurkmans
Chief Financial Officer
View Profile
Board &Advisors
Inge Bryan
Chairman of the Board
View Profile
Sir Alex Younger
Advisor
View Profile
Michael Lucassen
Board Member
View Profile
Andy Lürling
Advisor
View Profile
Roel Reijnen
Board Member
View Profile
Join the team
Build intelligence that stands up when decisions matter most.
Our chair is a former CEO of Fox-IT. Our advisors include a former Chief of MI6. The work is deployed by defence ministries and intelligence agencies. The bar here is genuinely high, and that is the point.
databorder.io is building long-term intelligence infrastructure for democratic institutions and strategic industries. Not optimising for a funding round. Not chasing growth metrics. Building something that will still matter in twenty years.
If that is what you are looking for, we would like to hear from you.
01
Work that matters
The decisions made with our data shape national security and strategic policy. That is not a marketing claim.
02
Rare expertise
Genuine China knowledge, technical depth, and people who came here because the problem is hard. Not found elsewhere.
03
Built to last
Infrastructure thinking, not startup thinking. The mission drives the roadmap, not the other way around.