Christopher W Klaus

Christopher W. Klaus (born 1973 in Sarasota, Florida) is one of Atlanta's best-known technology entrepreneurs. While a student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he founded Internet Security Systems (ISS) in 1994, building it into a pioneering network-security company. ISS went public in 1998, and in 2006 IBM acquired it for roughly $1.3 billion. Klaus served as founder and Chief Technology Officer, stepping down from the CTO role in 2004 while remaining a shareholder and Chief Security Advisor.

After ISS, Klaus co-founded Kaneva in 2004 with Greg Frame — an Atlanta-based company that operated a 3D virtual world supporting social networking, shared media, and in-world web browsing. He served as its CEO for many years, and the kaneva.com domain remains associated with his contact details.

Klaus is a major philanthropic supporter of Georgia Tech: his gift funded the Christopher W. Klaus Advanced Computing Building, a 400,000+ sq. ft. facility housing parts of the College of Computing and College of Engineering. He holds a Georgia Tech IE '96 background and was awarded a Ph.D. in 2024, delivered the university's 2025 commencement address, and received an honorary doctorate. He co-founded CREATE-X, Georgia Tech's flagship student-entrepreneurship program, which marked its 10th anniversary in 2024 having launched 500+ student startups, and serves on boards including the Georgia Tech Foundation and the College of Computing Advisory Board.

Today Klaus concentrates on early-stage investing. He founded and finances multiple accelerators — NeuroLaunch (neurotech, 2014) and CyberLaunch (cybersecurity and machine learning, 2015) — was a member of Atlanta Technology Angels, and in 2022 launched Fusen to back student founders worldwide.

• Backs technical founders very early — often the first check, financing incorporation and relocation costs so founders can get started; through the Fusen Fund he has been first investor in 100+ companies.
• Stages: pre-seed through Series A; check sizes roughly $100K–$5M with a ~$1.5M sweet spot (via CyberLaunch VC).
• Sectors: cybersecurity, AI/ML, gaming and e-sports, media/content, plus consumer and productivity software — mirroring his own operating background in security.
• University-founder pipeline: strong bias toward Georgia Tech and student entrepreneurs via CREATE-X and Fusen; he has publicly committed to personally funding startup incorporation costs for graduating Georgia Tech founders (announced May 2, 2025).
• In his words: *"This is about more than just covering fees — it's about lighting a spark. Every founder needs someone to believe in them early."*
• Co-invests alongside top-tier investors including Paul Graham, Benchmark's Eric Vishria, and Initialized Capital's Brett Gibson.