“We are backing businesses on the frontline defending the UK against cyber threats.”

Julia Lopez
Cyber Minister
  • Plexal has announced the 36 cyber startups joining the Cyber Runway accelerator
  • Cyber Runway is the UK’s largest and most diverse community of cyber founders and entrepreneurs

Plexal, the innovation company founded by Delancey, has today revealed details of the 36 cyber startups, SMEs and scaleups joining the Cyber Runway accelerator programme.

Cyber Runway has been designed to address some of the biggest challenges facing cyber security, such as diversity and inclusion and regional representation, and supports the most promising innovators at various stages of growth.

Now in its second year, Cyber Runway is the largest government-backed cyber startup accelerator in the UK. Delivered by Plexal in partnership with Deloitte and CSIT (the Centre for Secure Information Technologies), it’s funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The accelerator is part of the government’s mission of making the UK a responsible and democratic cyber power, as laid out in its National Cyber Strategy 2022.

The 2022 Cyber Runway cohort includes some of the most innovative and high-potential cyber startups in the UK. They’re solving challenges like ransomware, zero-day attacks, secure authentication, incident response and improving cyber awareness. Members include CyberMind, which uses AI to help under-pressure cyber professionals manage their mental health, Quantum Dice, which is developing the world’s first compact source-device independent quantum random number generator, and Worldr, which secures employee data using zero-trust architectures.

45% of Cyber Runway members are based outside of London and the South East of England, 65% of members have women in their leadership teams and 28% are run by founders from black, ethnic or minority backgrounds. Cyber Runway will be delivered in person and virtually to maximise its nationwide reach.

The full list of Cyber Runway members is available at plexal.com/cyber-runway 

Cyber Runway: member benefits
Startups will benefit from:

  • Business masterclasses (both virtual and in person)
  • Mentoring, engineering support from CSIT and access to CSIT’s data and testing centre
  • Technical product development support
  • Opportunities to connect with international cyber hubs 
  • Regional events 
  • Connections to investors and corporates to fuel growth

Members will also receive support to help them build more inclusive, socially responsible and environmentally-friendly businesses. 

Saj Huq, CCO and head of innovation at Plexal, comments: “Our health sector, telecoms network, food system and businesses are being bombarded by increasingly sophisticated cyber security threats. To become a global science and technology superpower and harness the potential of emerging technologies, we need to nurture the very best homegrown cyber security innovations. Cyber Runway is designed to help companies start, grow and scale businesses capable of addressing these challenges, and our new cohort represents some of the most exciting startups with massive growth potential.” 

Cyber minister Julia Lopez said: “We are backing businesses on the frontline defending the UK against cyber threats. Our investment in these innovative British startups helps create skilled jobs and a more diverse workforce, which strengthens our national security as well as our booming tech industry.”

For More Info Contact:

Matic Boh
Seven Hills
07746 346 084
maticboh@wearesevenhills.com

Notes to Editors

Plexal is the National Cyber Security Centre’s innovation partner and delivers NCSC For Startups, which connects cyber startups to technical experts within the government to make the UK safer online. It’s delivering the DiSH Accelerator for Manchester-based cyber startups and delivered the LORCA and LORCA Ignite cyber accelerators, which helped members raise more than £270m in investment and generate over £42m in revenue in just over three years. 

About Plexal 

Plexal is the innovation company that supercharges collaboration. 

It combines open, collaborative innovation with a community of fast-growth startups to help enterprises and the government unlock the potential of technology. 

Plexal works with some of the most influential government departments and global tech companies to deliver innovation projects. These include the cross-border Rapid Innovation Accelerator, which connected entrepreneurs in the UK and Oman, and London RoadLab, which helped Transport for London fast-track innovation. 

Plexal’s cyber innovation team is also building the UK’s most connected cybersecurity ecosystem. Plexal delivers the LORCA accelerator, is the National Cyber Security Centre’s partner for NCSC For Startups and is supporting 107 innovators through the Cyber Runway accelerator. Over the last three years, Plexal has helped cyber startups raise over £270m and earn over £42m in revenue through LORCA alone. 

Its workspace in London is home to over 800 innovators who are breaking new ground in cybersecurity, mobility, inclusive design, healthtech, AI and more. Members get access to community events, connections and 1:1 support designed to help them scale and Plexal regularly partners with members to pilot their solutions, bid for business together and enable them to build solutions with large organisations. The community includes Fiit, the online fitness startup, Quantum technology company M Squared and youth-led charity My Life My Say. 

Plexal was founded in 2017 by clients of specialist real estate investment advisory company Delancey. 

For more information visit: plexal.com