I just touched down back in the Bay Area after an extended UK trip. Great to see everyone at InfoSec, at LSE for the Cyber Superheroes event and also at my own GBx Fireside chat.
Progress in the UK Cyber Ecosystem: 2011 to Now
I must say, I’m hugely encouraged by the progress in the UK cyber ecosystem. When I co-founded Digital Shadows back in 2011 with James Chappell, we were one of the only UK cyber startups at that time, if not the only one. We were swiftly joined by a bunch of impressive companies of that generation including Immersive Labs, Tessian, Garrison, Panaseer and, of course, Darktrace – amongst others.
The exciting thing now, though, is that the fly wheel is starting to be created in the UK. Successful founders of the last generation are investing in and advising the next generation, and helping to build bridges to the US.
US/UK cyber collaboration as critical allies is well established on a governmental level, but I have always felt it was also critical to build bridges in the startup tech ecosystem, where there is great talent in the UK but the US market is king. If you want to win a category, you need to win the US market. If you want to win the US, you need to be in the US.
I started my journey to Silicon Valley in 2015. At that time I knew no-one in the US and had to build out my network from scratch. A decade on, I’m now a proud dual-national and intent on building more bridges between the two, hence joining the board at GBx and doing what I can to help.
Will the next Wiz be British?
In cybersecurity, it’s easy to recognize that Israel has done an outstanding job of building those bridges and creating that flywheel. It feels like the UK is finally doing the same.
Where will the Wiz equivalent come from for the UK? I’m of course aiming for Harmonic to be the next Wiz, but on this trip I met many great founders and startups that could be in with a shot at it. Apologies to those I miss, but some of the most exciting seed and pre-seed stage companies include:
- Maze - GenAI for vulnerability prioritization
- Tracebit - next-gen deception tech
- RevEng.ai - LLMs for binaries
- MindGard - AI security testing
- Henry Comfort (Stealth) - security for agents
- AutocomplyAI - GenAI virtual DPO
Beyond that, there are also some great scale-ups including Push, Cybsafe, Cydea and Risk Ledger.
The UK now has many of the top US Cyber VCs locally including TenEleven, Forgepoint, Paladin and Evolution Equity. Alongside some great domestic options like Amadeus, Osney, and Episode1. It’s the home of GCHQ and Google Deep Mind. It also has a supportive government and significantly cheaper talent than the Bay Area. In many ways, it’s the ideal place to begin a cyber startup, before scaling up in the US where the market and talent for that next stage is unique.
I’m not the only one who noticed that this week -some great posts on the same topic from Andy Gamble, Harry Wetherald and my co-founder Bryan at Harmonic.
Remaining Challenges in the UK Cyber Ecosystem
So what challenges remain in the UK cyber ecosystem?
- UK flag-carrier companies and institutions are not startup friendly: With some notable exceptions, it’s a lot harder for our startups to get early-adopters and design partnerships in the UK than in the US. One of the startups I listed above is entirely based in the UK but has all 6 early customers in the US. It’s insane that it’s easier for a UK founder to get on a plane to the US for early customers than get them at home. We need to educate and improve engagement with the UK ecosystem.
- UK founder and investor ambition: In the US there is no question that all of us are playing to win. In the UK it still feels like many founders and investors are playing to build something big enough for a US firm to buy it. The UK needs to change this attitude, get its top founders over the US early on and focused on winning. Hanging out solely in the UK market for too long means you will be too late to the US. Ironically, UK startups can be hindered by having a medium sized domestic market.
- Time: Flywheels don’t appear overnight. It will take another generation or so of companies and founders exiting and advising and investing in the next generation for things to really take hold. But it will get there.
Much more to come from me on this topic in the coming months!
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