UK cybersecurity start-ups get royal touch at Pitch@Palace
One is amused. Tech start-ups from in and around the south west of England will be able to pitch their ideas to a royal audience as Pitch@Palace On Tour comes to Cheltenham.
On 2 February, cybersecurity firms will share their dreams with CEOs, influencers, angels, mentors and business partners, and The Duke of York.
The event will be hosted in Cheltenham by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the GCHQ Cyber Accelerator, powered by Wayra UK. (Cheltenham is home to the Government Communications Headquarters – aka GCHQ.)
The winners will get a place at Pitch@Palace Boot Camp, where they receive support and guidance on how to develop and hone their pitch, and investment and introductions. The theme for Pitch@Palace 9.0 is “Data, Intelligence, and The Future of Security”.
It says: “Big data has created opportunity, but also risk. Generating, capturing, and analysing large datasets has given rise to artificial intelligence (AI) tools and machine learning, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and has given companies profound new scope to understand and serve their customers. However, the proliferation of powerful datasets raises critical concerns around the future of privacy, security, and defence.”
All the entrepreneurs selected for boot camp are invited to Pitch@Palace 9.0 at St. James’s Palace in London, and a selection of these businesses will pitch directly to an audience from the worlds of entrepreneurship, technology, media and investment.
Since it was launched in 2014, Pitch@Palace says it has supported over 490 companies. Alumni include Yoyo Wallet that recently raised $12m in Series B funding.
The GCHQ Cyber Accelerator is a partnership between GCHQ, the NCSC, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and Wayra UK, a corporate accelerator that is part of Telefónica.
It is part of the government’s £1.9 billion investment to improve the UK’s cybersecurity. The 2016-2021 National Cyber Security Strategy sets out how the UK government plans to cope in a dark and dangerous digital world.
As reported in December, FinTech Futures was in attendance when the NCSC unveiled its second wave of nine cybersecurity start-ups seeking to bolster the defence of the realm.
