Cyber Runway 3.0 is a program that the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) arranged in partnership with Plexal to aid startups in launching, growing, and scaling their products and to also provide support for these companies in surmounting the key challenges facing the UK cybersecurity sector.
It was first launched in 2021 with its first edition held at Hackney in East London with the aim of increasing entrepreneurial representation within the innovation ecosystem and creating greater connectivity between regional, national, and international networks.
This has become a success as over 170 companies have been so far supported over the past two years according to reports. The ratio of the companies reported that 52% of the companies are outside of the South East UK, while 50% are also led by women, and 43% are led by Blacks and minority ethnic founders, according to a Plexal press statement
The method has yielded successes as seen by the emergence of the likes of DarkTrace, PQShield, Tessian, Anyk, and many others which are a few examples of the significant contribution of cybersecurity companies to the UK cybersecurity ecosystem.
Cyber Runway 3.0 seeks to address these streams
These four areas are the core areas the Cyber Runway 3.0 was instituted to provide entrepreneurs and startups with support:
- A boot camp to help budding entrepreneurs, graduates, and spinouts get their businesses off the ground and build connections.
- A program for cyber startups and SMEs to achieve product-market fit, get commercialization support, and lay the foundation for growth.
- A program helping scale-ups and high-growth startups remove barriers to growth nationally and around the world.
- A program for exceptional founders of cybersecurity startups to help them develop as leaders and scale their businesses
Lastly, the program will also see connecting entrepreneurs with investors, security professionals, and the government to expose them and foster collaboration and support in creating technologies that will address a broad commercial need to have and have the potential to scale and help them achieve a closer product-market fit, Plexal, and DSIT said