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Wow, where do we start?
Since we founded in 2017, we have looked and explored different cyber uk start-up accelerator programmes. We have always been been sceptical due to the focus that these programmes place on looking for external investment. For years, we have fended off external investment for RoboShadow as this would rock our mission statement to the core. Investors aren't interested in the 'World's Best Free Tier' vulnerability management solution, they are looking for 10x returns.
Thankfully, this is not the case with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) & the GCHQ's UK Cyber Start Up Accelerator Programme. RoboShadow is proud to have been selected as one of 4 cutting edge Cyber Security start-ups in the private sector. The programme is designed to help us achieve our goals and level the UK's cyber playing field; changing the way the world does vulnerability assessment, and vulnerability scanning to audit their security posture.
What is the NCSC Cyber Accelerator Programme?
The NCSC programme, endorsed by the UK government, is an exclusive group of companies who have been chosen to join this game-changing initiative. This programme will provide us with access to the NCSC’s world-leading Cyber Security experts, as well as mentorship and support from GCHQ in order to grow our business. Since the programme began, it has supported over 40 companies and raised nearly £90 million to support their projects.
What does the programme mean for RoboShadow?
We have been completely blown away by the level of assistance we have received in order to perfect our product. At the moment, there are only so many things we can say publicly but effectively:
- We get to travel to Cheltenham for 3 days per week for 3 months.
- We get to work with the brightest and the best of the National Cyber Security Centre and the GCHQ.
- We are being supported with everything from product development, security approach, right through to how to pitch and attract the right investors for us.
Although only 4 weeks into the programme, we have been seriously impressed with the support. The programme is a non-stop roller coaster of experts being called in; from Venture Capital, product placement, marketing experts, pitching advice - just about everything a Start-up focusing on effective vulnerability management needs!
The programme is like a Y-Combinator for UK Cyber Tech businesses. We have been with everyone from GCHQ security experts with "no names” (Not kidding!) to IBM, Deloitte and a whole house of wonderful people helping us build our cyber offerings. The dedicated mentors are outstanding and we even had an entire afternoon with a particularly interesting public speaking session with specialist Amy from Wholehearted AF.
What are RoboShadow hoping to achieve?
The list feels endless, however we have 3 main goals we are hoping to achieve:
- Achieving market access to businesses and NFPs all over the UK
- Ensuring we can pitch perfectly in every situation we come across (so we can nail global events)
- Industry recognised technical and Security validation for our product
We are even hoping to get RoboShadow as far as to becoming one of the main products you can use for achieving Cyber Essentials Plus Assessment!
One of the core benefits we are already reaping is that we are now part of the NCSC's Cheltenham Cyber Hub. This is effectively the main Cyber Security centre for the whole of the UK. The hub brings together both government and business in one powerful national security eco-system.
How did RoboShadow manage to get into the programme?
If your interested the pitch that we won entry to the programme with went something like this....
Hi everyone, my name is Terry Lewis from RoboShadow and our mission is to level the cyber security playing field by democratising the way people approach internal and external vulnerability assessments:
- Considering the very little compute overhead that internal and external vulnerability assessments are, they make up 70% of a Penetration Test that can cost anywhere from £10,000-£20,000
- I spent 15 years in Global Investment Banking engineering, and the last 10 years building a successful nationwide mid-market MSP tech business. Through my career into the present day, getting access to internal and external vulnerability assessment data is either costly, complex, or just downright annoying.
- Given that all vulnerability assessment data does is effectively reconciles local attributes against free global vulnerability databases in the US, we wanted to become the DuoLingo for Cyber security. We want to give any legal entity the ability to perform internal and external vulnerability assessments on any platform, for their whole attack surface, completely free of charge.
- To cover our costs and make revenue, we provide additional management tools and cyber healing capabilities to the users. We also offer to white label the whole product offering for MSPs to help them make more money from Cyber Security.
Who else is taking part in the programme?
We are super privileged to be doing this with 3 other amazing start ups:
Headquartered: Birmingham
Founded: 2020
Lexverify uses artificial intelligence to monitor communications for potential legal and compliance issues.
Headquartered: Bristol
Founded: 2017
Rowden Technologies has a range of cyber security tools and is "working on the digital fingerprinting of devices to help secure networks”. Its users include government customers.
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Headquartered: Cambridge
Founded: 2017
ZORB provides cybersecurity software designed for remote employees and a physical device that acts as a defence for a home’s internet network.
More Information
Some of the press for the programme so far:
- NCSC reveals latest startups on cyber accelerator
- Cybersecurity startups innovating with NCSC | TechMarketView
- NCSC for Startups inducts four companies into programme | Computer Weekly
- AI Assisting National Security | London Daily News
Wrap Up
At the time of writing this blog we are halfway through a complete polishing exercise of the whole product set. We are getting ready for the due-diligence which is happening on a daily basis by a team of experts, mentors and generally fab people. We can't wait to share our progress with you!
Our mission is to make cyber security accessible to everyone, so that's why we are excited about being part of this programme. We hope to use it as an opportunity to learn from some of the best minds in the industry and to also help bring some much needed innovation into the national security.
I’m lucky to have worked in technology all over the world for large multi-national organisations, in recent years I have built technology brands and developed products to help make technology that bit easier for people to grasp and manage. By day I run tech businesses, by night (as soon as the kids have gone to bed) I write code and I love building Cyber Security technology.
