Plexal, the innovation company founded by Delancey, has announced the 108 cyber entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs and scaleups joining the Cyber Runway accelerator – a programme designed to address some of the biggest challenges facing cybersecurity, such as diversity and inclusion and regional representation, and support the most promising innovators at various stages of growth.
Backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and delivered by Plexal in partnership with CyLon, Deloitte and CSIT (the Centre for Secure Information Technologies), Cyber Runway will be an intensive six-month programme. Three distinct streams will deliver dedicated curricula for cyber startups based on their growth phase: Launch, Grow and Scale.
- Launch: 20 entrepreneurs will get support with launching their business, building a minimum viable product and creating a network.
- Grow: 68 startups and SMEs will get business support to help them address their growing pains, access funding and achieve commercial success.
- Scale: 20 scaleups will access support (including 1:1 mentoring) to help them grow rapidly in the UK and around the world.
The full membership list confirms that Cyber Runway will not only be the largest cyber startup accelerator in the UK, but the most diverse community of cyber founders in the country. Members include scaleups such as CybSafe, SECQAI, Yorkshire-based Bob’s Business, Regulativ.ai, and Hack The Box. The cohorts are solving challenges like ransomware, cyber fraud, cyber-physical threats to critical national infrastructure, cloud security, improving threat intelligence and boosting education using emerging technologies such as AI, quantum and cloud security.
- 45% of Cyber Runway members are female-led startups
- 52% are run by founders from black, ethnic or minority backgrounds
- 50% of member companies are based outside of London and the South East of England
Saj Huq, director of innovation at Plexal, comments:
“This is a golden age for the UK cyber startup ecosystem. Cyber startups are attracting record levels of investment and both the government and global tech giants are coming to British cyber companies to adopt emerging cyber technologies. The scale of Cyber Runway is testament to the enormous potential within the cyber startup community
“This is a significant moment for UK cyber and I have every confidence that the collaboration between the government and the private sector to create Cyber Runway will make the cyber ecosystem more successful, innovative and inclusive.”
Seven Hills is proud to support Plexal on this milestone programme breaking down the biggest challenges facing cybersecurity.