Search your documents the way you would ask a colleague.

Knovas finds the right passage even when it uses different words than your question. Your documents and our AI models are hosted in Switzerland, and only you can read your data.

Our most important connections

Companies collaborating with or supporting Knovas GmbH

What is Knovas?

AI search for confidential documents

Knovas is a search service for your own documents. Your software sends us the text, and from then on you can search it by content. A search for “vacation days” also finds the policy that only talks about “paid leave”.

Search by content

Knovas understands what a question and a passage are about, even when the wording differs. It works in German, English and many other languages.

Only you have access

Our staff never access your documents, and no other customer can reach them.

Everything stays in Switzerland

Your documents are stored and processed in Switzerland. We run the AI models ourselves, so no outside AI provider ever sees your data.

Permissions per document

You decide who can find which documents. For example, only the HR team sees HR files.

Who is Knovas for?

Organisations whose documents have to stay confidential, for example:

Private banks and asset managers

Client files under banking secrecy.

Law firms and fiduciaries

Case files under professional secrecy.

Healthcare and pharma

Patient data and study documents.

Public administration

Records with rules on where data may be stored.

Industry and research

Engineering documents and trade secrets.

How it works

Three steps to your first search

1

Connect

We give you a digital certificate. Your software uses it to identify itself on every request, so there are no passwords.

2

Upload documents

Your software sends the text of your documents. They are usually searchable within a minute.

3

Search

Ask your question in full sentences and get the matching documents and passages back.

Built for Developers

We designed Knovas with developer experience in mind. Clean APIs, comprehensive documentation, and predictable behavior.

  • RESTful API-first design
  • Comprehensive documentation
  • HTTP/JSON — integrate in any language
  • mTLS & strict tenant isolation
Read the docs
search.py
import requests

# Search your documents (see the Quickstart in the docs)
response = requests.post(
    "https://api.knovas.ch:8443/secured/query",
    cert=("client_cert.pem", "client_key.pem"),
    verify="ca_root_cert.pem",
    json={"Input": "quarterly revenue reports"},
    timeout=60,
)
response.raise_for_status()
results = response.json()["results"]

How we protect your data

Only you can read your documents. Our staff never access them.

Accounts are strictly separated

Which data a request can reach depends only on your certificate, and we check it on every request. There is no parameter that would give access to someone else’s data. We have also modelled these rules formally in Alloy.

Hosted in Switzerland

Documents, search data and AI processing are in data centres in Switzerland: Microsoft Azure (Switzerland North region, Zurich) and cloudscale in Lupfig. Knovas GmbH is a Swiss company and subject to the Swiss Data Protection Act.

Our own AI models

All AI features run on models we operate ourselves on servers in Switzerland. Your documents never go to outside AI providers and are not used to train models.

Encryption

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.

More about security →

Trusted & Compliant

Swiss Engineered

Precision and quality from Zurich

Designed for GDPR

Built with EU data protection rules in mind

Designed for the Swiss DSG

Built with the Swiss Data Protection Act in mind

ETH Ecosystem

Part of ETH Zurich Innovation

Founding Team

Siran Seifeddini

Siran Seifeddini

Co-Founder & CEO

"I founded Knovas GmbH with a clear mission: to give developers powerful AI tools that don't compromise on privacy. In a world where data is increasingly valuable, we believe you shouldn't have to choose between intelligence and security."

Jiannis Sarlos

Jiannis Sarlos

Co-Founder & CFO

"As Co-Founder and CFO, I focus on finance, strategy, and partnerships to make sure Knovas GmbH grows with discipline, strong partnerships, and a clear long-term direction."

About us

Knovas GmbH is based in Zurich. We build Knovas for organisations that want to search their documents with AI without those documents ending up with an outside AI provider.

Try Knovas with your documents

Tell us which documents you want to search and what matters to you. We will show you how Knovas works on an example and are happy to answer your IT security team’s questions.

Olgastrasse 8, 8001 Zurich