The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) a sub-division of GCHQ (the ‘spy’ agency) wants to invest in start-ups and is creating, in collaboration with Wayra UK, an accelerator programme to help 10 lucky start-ups achieve business success.
The scheme, backed by £20 million in funding, will help entrepreneurs build brands that have strong market penetration due to the NCSC link to help drive a new culture of cyber security resilience in the UK information technology landscape.
“The NCSC is looking for hopeful start-ups with a focus on enhancing security, techniques for anticipating the early stages of a cyber attack, enabling action to be taken on real-time threats, vulnerability information and more.”
Chris Ensor, NCSC Deputy Director for Skills and Growth, said:
“This call will allow us to cast the widest net possible for attracting start-ups developing technologies that will better protect us now and in the future.
We’ve worked with 23 companies over the past few years, offering them unique technical insights that have helped them grow their ideas and business.
The Accelerator has already seen 16 start-ups graduate from the programme which runs for nine months and includes a robust acceleration package including, exclusive access to experts from the NCSC and GCHQ, a £25,000 grant, access to Wayra’s investor network and a potential pathway to security experts from Telefónica brands such as O2.”
To sign up, head to Wayra’s NCSC sign-up page found here.
