“We are looking forward to bringing this festival to the area and continuing to build on our close ties with The Smithsonian Institute.”

Gavin Poole
Chief Executive
Here East
  • Fifteen new companies join the Plexal-run programme to focus on industry critical issues like creating technology solutions that are secure by design and the need for proactive, intelligence-led security solutions
  • Government-backed centre will provide companies with a year of bespoke support to scale quickly

London, June 3rd : The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) today announces the 15 scaling cyber companies that will form its third cohort. With the programme growing from strength to strength, LORCA is fast establishing itself as the continent’s preeminent cybersecurity hub, supporting the most promising companies in the field.

The latest group of scaleups to join represents the most international cohort yet, with companies from Italy, Spain and South Korea entering the programme, along with many UK companies outside of London.

The third LORCA cohort has focussed particularly on solutions that will:

  1. Build cybersecurity into the underlying software or hardware of tech solutions
  2. Address cyber fundamentals
  3. Support innovative approaches that go beyond current offerings and provide proactive, intelligence-led security

These were the three challenge areas that informed LORCA’s latest search for cyber scaleups to support, which was informed by consulting with industry experts and leaders from across the cybersecurity and technology sectors.

The third cohort includes Elemendar, which has developed an AI analyst for cyber threat intelligence, and Threat Status, which has a solution designed to collect, analyse and alert on billions of breached credentials from the deep web, closed forums, paste sites and the dark web.

Further cohort members include D-RisQ, which develops and uses automatic highintegrity software verification tools, and cyber threat intelligence company Security Alliance, which is also a member of Plexal’s workspace.

The full list of members for cohort three are:

  • Elemendar
  • CounterCraft
  • CTO Technologies (CyberCentral)
  • D-RisQ Ltd
  • Hack The Box
  • HumanFirewall
  • Messagenius
  • Panaseer
  • Quant Network
  • SaltDNA
  • Security Alliance
  • Storage Made Easy
  • swIDch
  • Threat Status
  • Uleska Ltd

Chosen for their growth potential, including commercial application, the 15 scaleups will receive a year of bespoke, world-class support designed to help them scale at the government-backed programme which is delivered by innovation centre Plexal (based at tech and innovation campus Here East), Deloitte and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast.

The cohort will have unique access to leading experts, including one-to-one commercial and technical support from Deloitte’s Cyber Risk Service team and world-class academic and engineering support from the CSIT.

LORCA, which opened in June 2018 with £13.5m of funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), will support the 15 companies to scale their organisations at pace, access and grow into new markets, secure further investment and recruit and retain the best talent. This puts the cybersecurity centre well on track to support 72 scaling companies by 2021.

LORCA has had considerable success in its first year of operation. Highlights include companies doubling the investment they started with, increasing average value of contracts by 20%. LORCA cohort companies have been supported to rebrand to reach new markets and have utilised the dedicated engineering support provided to adapt their products for different industries and new markets. Companies which have been involved with LORCA to date include the Scottish cyber star ZoneFox, which was acquired by Fortinet whilst part of LORCA, Crypto Quantique, which has landed significant investment during its first six months at LORCA, and CyberOwl, which has landed a contract with Ministry of Defence as a result of programme involvement. 

Saj Huq, Programme Director of LORCA, said: “We’re delighted with the calibre of the new additions to our programme, with the latest cohort representing a host of new and exciting cyber solutions which we’ll be able to scale and help bring to market. We’re particularly pleased with the international flavour which the latest group of scaleups brings to LORCA, fortifying our position as a global cyber hub and the UK’s foremost destination for the most advanced technological solutions.”

Minister for Digital Margot James said: “We want the UK to be at the forefront of tackling cyber threats and encourage the best and brightest to come up with new and innovative solutions to combat the ever changing cyber risks. “Ahead of London Tech Week, it’s great to see that LORCA is now welcoming international companies to the capital, making this a truly global effort to ensure we have a Britain that’s fit for the future.”

Louise Cushnahan, Head of Innovation at CSIT, said: “Having 15 companies join this cohort highlights the breadth of innovative and emerging cyber security focused activity within the UK ecosystem. This augers well for the growth of the industry and its societal and economic impact for the nation.” 

For More Info Contact:

Matic Boh
Seven Hills
matic.boh@wearesevenhills.com
Tel: +44 (0)20 7199 6180

Georgina Bass
Communications Manager
Delancey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7448 1991

Katharine Walsh
Head of Communications
Delancey
Tel: +44 (0)20 7448 1461

Notes to Editors

About LORCA
LORCA is the UK’s dedicated space for industry-led cybersecurity innovation. It supports the most promising cybersecurity innovators in scaling and growing solutions to meet the most pressing industry challenges.

LORCA brings together innovators, corporates, investors, academics, and engineers to maximise the commercial potential of great cyber solutions, minimise the barriers to scale and increase speed to market. By 2021, it will have stimulated the growth of at least 72 high-potential companies, grown up to 2,000 jobs, and secured £40m in investment.

LORCA is a key pillar of the wider National Cyber Security Strategy 2016 to 2021, which aims to position the UK as a world leader in cybersecurity innovation and, ultimately, make the UK the safest place to be online. LORCA is being funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as part of the Government’s five year, £1.5bn investment to keep the UK safe online.

For more information on LORCA, visit lorca.co.uk

About Plexal
Plexal is an innovation centre and coworking space located in the fast-growing Here East technology and innovation campus in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Collaboration is at the heart of Plexal’s approach to innovation. Its innovation team delivers bespoke programmes for clients like Innovate UK and Transport for London, and specialises in forging connections between industry, academia, investors, startups and scaleups to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing society while getting ideas market-ready.

Plexal has been appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport to deliver the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA): a three year innovation programme aimed at scaling cybersecurity solutions that are needed most by industry.

It’s also launched the Social Inclusion Unit in partnership with My Life My Say (and with support from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan) to scale solutions that can make society and our economy more inclusive while addressing the challenges of underrepresented groups.

Designed as a ‘mini-city’ (it has its own indoor park, high street and prototyping workshop), startup and scaleup members of Plexal’s workspace benefit from a comprehensive programme of events and in-house professional services. Members work in areas like mobility, AI, healthtech, cybersecurity, fintech, the Internet of Things, VR and more.

Plexal was launched in 2017 and was founded by clients of specialist real estate investment advisory company Delancey. For more information visit: plexal.com

About Deloitte
Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NWE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK’s leading professional services firms. For more information, please visit deloitte.co.uk

About The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT)
The Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), Queen’s University Belfast, is the UK’s Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) for cyber security, and the UK’s largest cyber security focused university technology research, development and innovation centre. The theme of CSIT’s research roadmap is secure connected intelligence. CSIT‘s research roadmap features new developments in the area of:

• Practical privacy preserving technologies
• Supply chain security and hardware trojan detection
• Resilience in industrial control systems
• AI for cyber security
• Inconspicuous security through smart network technologies

CSIT brings a unique approach to academic engagement and delivering impact with industry in the UK and further afield. An Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) of companies and strategic government partners plays a key role in defining the research challenges undertaken by CSIT, whilst a cadre of industrially experienced engineers help accelerate innovation to market. This creates collaborative opportunities for researchers to work with start-ups, scale-ups and large corporations and on solving societal challenges. CSIT is involved in delivering three other national cyber security innovation programmes namely; CSIT Labs, HutZero and Cyber101. For more information, visit: qub.ac.uk/csit