The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) has launched its open call for its fifth cohort of cyber scaleups. Delivered by Plexal, the innovation centre set up on the London 2012 Olympic Park by Delancey, the year-long programme will support selected companies to get investment, access new markets and expand their international presence. The aim; growing the British cybersecurity industry and making the internet safer.
Members of LORCA’s accelerator programme will receive business mentoring, connections to investors and get access to commercial and engineering expertise from LORCA’s delivery partners, audit and consultancy firm Deloitte, and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.
Queen’s incidentally has has become a UKDSC (UK Defence Solutions Centre) associate member.
LORCA connects its members with its dedicated corporate partners (including Lloyds Banking Group, Dell Technologies, Kx, Kudelski Security and the Global Cyber Alliance) as well as a cross-section of industry through events, forums and introductions. In light of COVID-19, LORCA is going digital-first; all course curriculum and some events being delivered virtually. The deadline for applying is May 4; details online at lorca.co.uk/apply.
LORCA says that it’s looking to support technology firms on the cusp of high-growth who can solve real-world cyber challenges. LORCA is especially keen to support technology that protects individuals from increasing cyber threats across the full spectrum of their digital lives. This can mean securing the virtual workforce, combating disinformation, and enhancing privacy in a world of hyper-connectivity.
LORCA launched in June 2018 (pictured; featured in the August 2018 print edition of Professional Security magazine) with funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Venture capital investment in LORCA companies stands at £86m. Most recently in February, OutThink received £1.2m in seed funding, after graduating from LORCA’s second cohort.
Saj Huq, programme director, LORCA, said: “As well as meeting the needs of industry today, LORCA catalyses innovation that caters to the cybersecurity challenges on the horizon that will intersect both society and business and require new models of collaboration to solve. We know there is cutting-edge technology available to meet these challenges, and we want to ensure those solutions get the support they need to scale, access the right funding and develop in direct response to what the market requires.
“Coupled with this, the current global pandemic has underlined and increased our reliance on technology. And with this, it has brought very real cybersecurity challenges to the fore. This is a time to support the cybersecurity innovations that our digital world needs most and we look forward to enabling this next wave of high- potential SMEs to scale and succeed.”
Louise Cushnahan, Head of Innovation, CSIT, said: “At this time of COVID-19 related international emergency we are seeing the online spread of disinformation aggravate the public health crisis, rapid adoption of remote working putting pressure on information security and malicious actors seeking to take advantage of weak links in cyber security and overburdened IT teams. Sometimes the most innovative, resilient and successful companies grow out of times of uncertainty and adversity. Our highly experienced academic and engineering teams are looking forward to engaging with and delivering impactful support for Cohort 5 in the months ahead.”
The fifth cohort will start the programme in July.
