The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) has announced its fifth cohort of cyber security scale-ups.
The latest group of companies will focus on identity, cloud security, autonomous cyber defence, privacy and the internet of things (IoT).
LORCA is the UK government’s cybersecurity innovation programme, funded by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). It aims to support the most promising scale-ups to develop and commercialise products, with the aim of growing the British cyber sector.
“The pandemic has accelerated many emerging digital trends, as well as the inevitable risks that accompany them,” said LORCA director Saj Huq. “Cybersecurity challenges that were previously on the horizon have been brought forward as society and our economy become more connected, and security more critical than ever.
“The arrival of our fifth cohort highlights that there is world-leading talent and cutting-edge technology available to address these challenges and enable secure, societal-wide digital transformation. LORCA intends to support these companies by helping them scale in the UK and international markets and achieve a closer product-market fit.”
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LORCA this time encouraged applications from under-represented groups, with 18 percent of the 17 firms having female founders or CEOs and 18 percent with leaders from BAME backgrounds.
“We have members from across the UK and international cyber hubs, while several of the members in our fifth cohort are led by women and BAME founders,” said Huq. “But there is still much more for the UK’s cyber community to do to ensure solutions are being created by diverse innovators.”
LORCA’s next 12-month accelerator will support members from across the UK’s cyber ecosystem, including ZeroGuard from Stratford-upon-Avon, RedHunt Labs from Royston in Hertfordshire, InsurTechnix from Cambridge, Cyberhive from Newbury and Academy of Cyber Security from Manchester.
LORCA is also supporting four market entrants that are headquartered overseas in Israel (ITsMineand ContextSpace Solutions), The Netherlands (BreachLock) and Argentina (VU Security) and want to enter the UK as part of their international expansion.
Delivered by the Plexal innovation centre, based at the 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford, East London, the firms will receive technical and commercial support from Deloitte, and engineering and testing support from the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.
