2022 UK Cyber Security Start-Up Radar

Introduction

In December 2021, the UK Government published the National Cyber Strategy, which outlines the UK's efforts to maintain its position as a Cyber Power through to 2030. To benchmark the UK's progress against the 2030 strategy, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) recently released its annual sectoral analysis.

Wavestone's UK Cyber Radar is back to provide its own perspective of the emerging themes and trends arising in the UK Cyber Sector and to take the pulse of the UK's Cyber Security ecosystem.

To ensure our analysis was comparable to our previous start-up radars, such as the recent France Cyber Security Start Up Radar, and the 2019 UK Radar, the criteria for cyber security companies to be included in the Radar was that they were established in the past 7 years, had a maximum of 35 FTE's (Full Time Employees), and were domiciled and operating in the UK.

With help from ScotlandIS, Northern Ireland's cyber security cluster and Plexal, we reached out to some of the most promising cybersecurity start-ups across the cyber innovation ecosystem. 57 start-up companies kindly dedicated their time to engage in first-hand interviews, which formed the basis of our analysis.

However, we know there are many more cyber start-ups in the UK ecosystem that we need to hear from! If you are interested in being involved in the next edition, please get in touch.

The 7 Key Takeaways from the 2022 UK Cyber Security Radar

1. 'Micro' start-ups secure less investment despite dominating the UK's cyber security sector
2. More start-ups are building their headquarters outside of London but investment is still concentrated in the capital
3. Start-ups require support translating their international relationships into international business
4. Incubators and accelerators need to help start-ups attract the right talent
5. The UK's cyber security sector could benefit from initiatives that increase female representation in cyber entrepreneurship
6. Start-ups are positioning themselves as role models of good security practice
7. UK start-ups are reinventing traditional security products and challenging the status quo
8. Now is the time to engage in 'a Whole of Society' Approach to a 'Wicked Problem'

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Originally published 7 July 2022

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