19 November 2025
On the 6th October Harmonic Security hosted the inaugural UK Cyberwheel Event at the National Theatre. This brought together more than 30 founders, 25 cyber VCs and 20 CISOs alongside other top players in the ecosystem to have a conversation about the UK cybersecurity startup ecosystem and how we turn this into global leadership.
Today, we’re sending an open letter to the Government, signed by 65 of those that attended the event calling for it to use its power and influence to ‘open doors’ and bridge the gap between early stage companies and leading public sector organisations / large enterprises via the four steps below.
Britain builds brilliant technology. It’s time our Government became its best customer.
On the 9th October 2025 at the National Theatre, Harmonic Security hosted the inaugural ‘Building the UK Cyber Flywheel’ event. It brought together 150 founders, investors, CISOs, government leaders to start an honest conversation about what it will take for the UK to lead in cybersecurity globally.
Participants agreed that the UK has the raw material: Exceptional technical talent, academic strength, and a growing number of startups tackling real problems. But we need to translate technical excellence into global ambition. The UK Government has a crucial role to play via UK-first security procurement and helping to stimulate the market for early stage companies. Specifically, we, the undersigned members of the UK technology and cybersecurity community, urge the Government to do the following:
1. Become a better customer and market-maker
- Act as a convener. Bring together CISOs, boards, and government buyers to meet and trial UK innovators. The FTSE 100 remains inaccessible to most early stage companies and the Government can act as a crucial bridge between them and the UK’s largest companies.
- Procure from startups. DSIT and other departments should actively buy from emerging UK companies, not just large incumbents. It should look to learn lessons from the Israeli government backing startups which have emerged from the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA)
- Reform the existing Government Digital Marketplace which is currently too orientated towards cloud services so it becomes open to AI and cyber companies to make procurement faster and safer.
- Allow reference use of contracts and logos so startups can win export deals and private-sector work.
- Open up networks such as NCSC’s i100 to vetted early-stage companies to build trust and standards alignment.
- Open up the annual Cyber UK event to startups as it’s currently dominated by large vendors. The ‘Cyber Den’ startup pitching session does attract 12 months of NCSC support to the winner, but the £1200 per ticket makes it inaccessible and deters attendance. Making it free for qualifying startups, and promoting it more widely, could add kudos to any winners and stimulate the wider ecosystem.
2. Targeted tax credits for those backing British technology
- Use the forthcoming budget to create a co-fund or tax rebate for FTSE 250 and critical-sector organisations that pilot UK-made AI or cybersecurity technologies.
- Increase Entrepreneur's lifetime relief back to £10m (which was reduced to £1m in the 2020 budget) to bring it inline with the US Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS). This will provide a capital gains tax exclusion to encourage more founders to start their companies in the UK.
Extend the Government R&D tax credits system so that it rewards British enterprises that buy sovereign, verified technology, not just those that develop it as is the case currently.
3. Help us build a culture that celebrates commercial success
Promote a culture that actively celebrates commercial success and entrepreneurship.
- Encourage entrepreneurial universities through bursaries and spin-off incentives.
Celebrate founders by funding highly-selective trade missions for only the best startups and ambassador programmes for already successful UK entrepreneurs. - Sponsor founders to attend major global events to build confidence and exposure.
4. Strengthen the ecosystem and global reach
- Create the UK's answer to Israel's Unit 8200 through building upon recommendations in the Strategic Defence Review to spend 10% on novel technology and expand the existing Joint Cyber Reserve Force.
- Harness proven talent. Establish initiatives that channel the experience and capital of exited UK cyber founders and senior engineers into supporting early-stage innovation, investment, and skills development.
- Allow companies to leverage UK's secure government 'brand' where those organisations work successfully with MoD and NCSC to encourage global reach of capabilities and programmes.
To conclude, the UK cyber sector is genuinely world class and there is funding available for companies ready to scale globally and ‘dream big’. We are not seeking ‘handouts’ from the Government, more that it uses its power and influence to ‘open doors’ and bridge the gap between early stage companies and leading public sector organisations / large enterprises.
Those receiving the letter include, the Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Lord Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear, Ian Murray MP, Minister of State for Digital Government and Data, Baroness Lloyd of Effra CBE, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
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