The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) has announced the 11 cyber companies that will form its second cohort. Selected by industry, LORCA says these businesses represent the most promising solutions to the two biggest cybersecurity challenges identified at LORCA last year.
The second cohort is focused on user-centric security and securing supply chains. The businesses will develop solutions that make it easier for employees to keep cyber-aware and safe, and technologies that enable better management of the cybersecurity risk in increasingly complex supply chains.
The cohort includes Xanadata, which allows customers to rapidly hunt for millions of cyber threats on any network both for live traffic, in real time and faster than real time to enable rapid historic assessment, processing several months of activity in a matter of minutes; and Crypto Quantique Ltd, which has developed a quantum driven secure chip and created a security platform to make end-to-end security seamless for connected devices.
The second cohort members include:
CyNation, RazorSecure, Bob’s Business, Crypto Quantique, OutThink, Distributed Management Systems, ObjectTech, Xanadata and CyberSmart.
Chosen for their growth potential, including commercial application, the 11 scale-ups will receive a year of support at the government-backed programme which is delivered by Plexal, based at tech campus Here East in London E20. The cohort will have unique access to one-to-one commercial and technical support from Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Service team and academic and engineering support from the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.
LORCA, which opened in June 2018 with £13.5m of funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), will support the 11 companies to scale their organisations, access new markets, secure further investment and recruit and retain talent. The first cohort of nine cyber-security firms included ZoneFox, which was recently acquired by US cyber firm Fortinet; and ioetec, which connects users to their Internet of Things devices securely.
Lydia Ragoonanan, director of LORCA, is pictured speaking at the centre launch last summer. She said: “We’re thrilled to welcome these high-potential UK companies that have genuinely promising solutions to the biggest industry challenges in cybersecurity. The engagement from industry in the development and selection process ensures that the cohort has clear markets to scale into and is addressing the cyber challenges that will make the most difference to industry. Following on from the success of first cohort, we look forward to seeing these 11 companies grow and thrive.”
Minister for Digital Margot James said: “This latest round of companies selected by LORCA highlights how the UK continues to be at the forefront of cyber innovation. Supporting these businesses through all stages of their growth will help make the UK the safest place to be online and ensure that through the government’s modern Industrial Strategy the UK maintains its position as a world leader in cybersecurity.”
Stephen Meredith, Stephen Meredith, Head of Outbound Marketing, Xandata said: “Xanadata is very excited to be part of the second cohort focussing on protecting supply chains from cybersecurity breaches. LORCA gives us a great opportunity to collaborate with other innovative UK scaleups and gives fantastic access to cutting-edge engineering facilities and commercial coaching from industry leaders at the cutting edge of the fight against cyber threats.”
And Caroline Thomas, strategy director, ObjectTech said “We are a UK cyber organisation entering a phase of exponential growth, and see LORCA an ideal partner to support us to scale in a sustainable way, setting ObjectTech up for long term global success.”
About LORCA
It’s based at Plexal, the workspace on the Here East digital and creative campus at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Visit lorca.co.uk.
