Cylon and Nominet partner to deliver seventh London cohort for cyber security innovation

17th April 2018


CyLon, the world’s leading cyber security accelerator, today launched its seventh London programme – Cohort 7 – thanks to a new strategic partnership with Nominet, the profit with a purpose company responsible for the .UK internet infrastructure.  The alliance will help develop CyLon’s UK programme, supercharging the UK’s early-stage cyber security ecosystem, as well as enabling eight startups to follow in the footsteps of CyLon graduates like Tessian, VChain, and Immersive Labs.

With more than 20 years’ experience running the .UK domain, relied upon by millions of people every day, Nominet plays a key role across the digital economy, supporting individuals, business, education and government, tackling cyber threats at the network level. The importance of cyber security innovation for the digital economy lies as the heart of the new partnership which will run through to the end of 2020 and includes both financial and in-kind support for the CyLon programme from Nominet.

Russell Haworth, CEO, Nominet said: “We are focused on finding ways to make our world more connected, inclusive and secure, and a thriving cyber security sector is mission-critical, which means fostering innovation and helping businesses and talent fulfil their potential. Our partnership with CyLon will help deliver training programmes for some of our brightest minds to build fit-for-purpose cyber defence capability, which in turn supports safe use of the internet – it’s a win-win for everyone.”

Welcoming the news, Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Margot James, said: “It is great to see CyLon and Nominet joining forces to support the UK’s cyber security talent of the future. The CyLon programme plays an important role helping promising, innovative startups to become established cyber businesses that we hope will go on to big things.”

Over the course of an intensive 13-week schedule, participating entrepreneurs of Cohort 7 will receive invaluable support from mentors including domain experts from Nominet and CyLon’s other partners, in addition to taking part in the programme’s core modules delivered by CyLon’s in-house team. Each company also receives a £15,000 seed investment from CyLon.

Grace Cassy, co-Founder of CyLon, said: “2018 is an exciting year for CyLon. Our new partnerships will help us to identify and support even more cyber talent and to drive further innovation both at home and abroad. We are delighted to welcome Nominet, a vital enabler of the UK digital economy, to the CyLon team.”

Immersive Labs, who took part in CyLon’s fifth cohort, recently moved to new offices having expanded their team to more than 20 people.  CEO James Hadley said: “The CyLon programme was transformational for our company. It is a unique experience, and I would recommend it to any aspiring cyber security entrepreneur.”

Commenting on the new cohort, Jonathan Luff, co-Founder of CyLon, said: “With each programme we are blown away by the ambition and talent of the entrepreneurs taking part. From robot immune systems to real-time IoT defence, Cohort 7 promises to be our most impressive yet.”

The companies joining CyLon Cohort 7 are:

  • Alias Robotics, developing ”alias”, an artificial immune system for robots
  • AttackFlow, a security static analysis solution
  • Keepnet Labs, a phishing defence platform that provides a holistic approach to people, processes and technology
  • Risk Ledger, which helps companies secure their supply chains from cyber attacks
  • Sauron, a big data cyber surveillance system defending IoT devices against cyber attacks in real time
  • Secberus, a single “pane of glass” giving visibility & control of Cloud Infrastructure
  • Senseon, whose “Omniscient Intelligence Platform” for cyber defence uses pioneering AI and machine learning, providing threat detection and actionable cyber intelligence in real time
  • Sweepatic, which enables companies to see through the hacker’s eyes to their own digital footprint and its vulnerabilities

CyLon’s Cohort 7 will run through to June 2018, culminating in a Demo Day taking place on the 12th June hosted by programme partner Winton.

Enquiries: [email protected]

Notes for Editors

About CyLon

CyLon’s accelerator and investment programme combines seed investment with intensive collaboration, training and mentorship for early-stage cyber security companies, drawing upon the expertise of seasoned entrepreneurs, investors, academic cyber security researchers, government officials and senior executives of customer organisations.

CyLon accepts applications from entrepreneurial teams with innovative business ideas in the broad field of information and communications, aka ‘cyber’, security.  Graduates from the London programme have included Tessian, AimBrain, RipJar, VChain, and Immersive Labs.

CyLon was established in January 2015, and has to date run 6 programmes comprising 45 companies.  CyLon recently announced an expansion to Singapore, where the first programme will take place later this year. Details can be found at https://cylonlab.com

The overall valuation of CyLon’s 45-strong alumni group recently passed £100m, an impressive return from its first three years of operation.