Eight startups selected for Cyber London security accelerator programme

Cyber security startup accelerator and incubator Cyber London (CyLon) has announced the participants in its second programme to support fledgling security companies.

The successful eight startups were selected from a shortlist of international applicants and include companies from the UK, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Brazil and South Africa.

CyLon was founded in January 2015 to address the lack of a specific project to support early-stage cyber security entrepreneurs trying to create commercially viable businesses.

The programme combines intensive collaboration, professional training and mentorship, drawing on the expertise of seasoned entrepreneurs, academic cyber security researchers, government officials and senior executives of customer organisations.

Cyber London accepts applications from entrepreneurial teams with innovative business ideas in the broad field of information and communications security.

The first programme aimed at fostering cyber security companies was run from April to July 2015 and involved six startups and two more mature companies.

The 14-week programme gives entrepreneurial teams access to professional training and guidance from a network of mentors and investors.

At the end of the programme, the companies present their businesses to potential customers, investors and partners.

CyLon partners and sponsors are Amadeus Capital Partners, Epsilon Advisory Partners, Winton Capital, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Fried Frank.

In addition, the teams selected to participate in the programme receive a £15,000 investment in return for 3% equity.

“The breadth of talent in the early stage cyber security sector continues to fill us and our partners with confidence in Cyber London’s value to both entrepreneurs and the wider economy,” said Kirsten Connell, managing director of Cyber London.

“I look forward to working with the teams over the coming months and helping them to go from strength to strength.”

Richard Wilding, director of new ventures at BAE Applied Intelligence, said: “Nurturing startups with Cyber London helps ensure a vibrant supply chain full of technologies that can keep the UK and Europe at the forefront of this industry.”

Cylon is designed to foster a community of cyber security companies in the heart of London. The business incubator is hosted in facilities provided by Winton capital in Hammersmith, West London, offering office space, breakout and meeting areas, a 130-seat auditorium and on-site catering.

Of the eight companies graduating from Cylon’s first programme, all but one has been fast-tracked onto the next stage of their growth path.

Andrius Sutas, co-founder of AimBrain – which took part in the first Cylon programme – said: "Cyber London helped us immensely by connecting us with highly relevant people in our industry, as well as the governmental and security sectors. We feel very grateful for the time that team and managing director spent mentoring us.”

The startups taking part in the second programme are:

• Aves Netsec, Finland. An adaptive cyber deception system for efficiently countering the advanced attacker.
• BitNinja, Hungary. The first integrated server defense network powered by a machine-learning system.
• Fabric, UK. Secure and private mobile communications.
• Mazor, Israel. Solution for detection of threats on network and security components.
• Simudyne, UK. Identifies and reduces the risk from cyber attacks.
• Torsion InfoSec, UK. Delivering accurate rules and classifications-driven security for SharePoint and Office 365: Simple, Precise and Robust.
• UkkoBox, UK and Brazil. An easy tool that safely encrypts and spreads user files to existing cloud providers worldwide.
• Verity, South Africa. Enables organisations to prevent document forgery through digital document certification.