From new ventures to global scaleups, 107 innovators from across the UK have been chosen for the Cyber Runway accelerator Plexal is delivering.

Cyber Runway is the largest cyber startup accelerator in the UK and has one of the most diverse community of cyber founders in the country.

The cohorts are solving challenges like ransomware, cyber fraud, cyber-physical threats to critical national infrastructure, cloud security, improving threat intelligence and boosting education using emerging technologies such as AI, quantum and cloud security.

45% of Cyber Runway members are female-led startups and 52% are run by founders from Black and minority backgrounds.

The Cyber Runway members represent some of the most innovative and high-potential cyber startups currently operating in the UK. They include scaleups such as CyberHive who have grown quickly to over 2 dozen talented employees thanks to backing from 2 UK equity investors injecting £1.8M to continue their innovation and development of new cyber security solutions for the quantum era.

Backed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and delivered by Plexal in partnership with CyLon, Deloitte and CSIT (the Centre for Secure Information Technologies), Cyber Runway will be an intensive six-month programme.

Saj Huq, director of innovation at Plexal, said:

“This is a golden age for the UK cyber startup ecosystem. Cyber startups are attracting record levels of investment and both the government and global tech giants are coming to British cyber companies to adopt emerging cyber technologies. The scale of Cyber Runway is testament to the enormous potential within the cyber startup community and will help stimulate the supply of innovative cyber solutions that will be needed by the economy and society.

“However, Cyber Runway is also specifically designed to address some of the challenges facing cyber startups as they scale. Our three programmes will connect cyber founders to the mentors, investors and corporates they need to accelerate their growth and access diverse talent. This is a significant moment for UK cyber and I have every confidence that the collaboration between the government and the private sector to create Cyber Runway will make the cyber ecosystem more successful, innovative and inclusive.”