In collaboration with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Plexal recently held the 2025 NCSC For Startups Alumni Showcase at the organisation’s Nova South headquarters, assembling our community of graduates.
We worked with the NCSC on closing the gap between innovative startups and NCSC technical expertise during the NCSC For Startups programme run, aiming to solve some of the UK’s most important cyber challenges by identifying market needs for solutions.
Our NCSC For Startups Alumni Showcase was a chance to engage with the cyber community we’ve worked with over several years and celebrate their accomplishments, while hearing new insights about the cyber and national security landscapes.
Collaboration between our cyber innovators and NCSC has had a flywheel effect on the cyber sector and economy as a result, which we’re proud to have been part of, harnessing a UK-wide presence by leveraging sites across London, the North West, Milton Keynes and Cheltenham. Indeed, NCSC For Startups has just been named in the Cyber Security Sectoral Analysis 2025, recognised as a driver of sector growth.
Our NCSC For Startups alumni showcase adopted a Chatham House rules approach so, while we can’t disclose who said what during the session, we’ve got an unattributed rundown from this meeting of the minds from the public and private sectors for you below to give you the lay of the land.
On place…
Assessing the strengths from the likes of Manchester, Lancashire or Cheltenham, there’s an interesting opportunity ahead to look at the linking of locations in a way that complements, rather than competes against, one another.
On operational technology…
From a focus on government security, exploring opportunities to work with the NCSC informed us how the landscape is changing. This allowed us to recognise that critical national infrastructure has a massively exposed landscape that could get hit easily, prompting us to change direction to operational technology.
Our proposition was built around security of legacy systems which, broadly speaking, is what critical national infrastructure still runs on and that means security in the space isn’t built with security-by-design.
New forms of attack will appear, so we need new forms of detection, such as deep learning to identify what malware will look like.
On collaboration…
Understanding differences can only be done by spending time with varied organisations – government, startups, industry, academia, investors – to share challenges and frustrations, which can unlock opportunities through co-creation.
In the early days of NCSC For Startups, companies would go through the programme and see it as a competitive process. Now, cohorts see the value in collaboration because the size of problem is bigger than companies. Collaboration brings us together.
Corporates have the resources to take on problems and fund solutions but lack the speed to make them a reality, while SMEs are faster but not big enough to work solo. The sum of our parts is bigger than the whole – we teamed with another NCSC For Startups cohort member having understood the expanse of market challenges.
Startups sometimes struggle to open doors to larger organisations – being open to collaboration means bigger companies must leave their doors ajar if they want problems solved.
As a startup, you think everyone wants to buy your exciting new product. The reality is, there are often inhibitors to adoption, so those moments of dialogue with potential partners or customers are so important to grab understanding on real needs.
We need a greater variety of organisations and individuals to be part of the cyber conversation. There’s a blend of government departments, startups, corporates, academics and investors involved, but more need to be prepared to join us and understand what this community can provide.
On the future…
Saj Huq, CCO at Plexal, said: “Plexal will continue to bring this alumni group together, building on the collaboration we’ve enjoyed with you individually and as part of the wider UK cyber ecosystem, which we’ll do on behalf of the NCSC. That will be with view to enjoy benefits, including networking into government and with community peers.
“We believe there’s an enduring opportunity for you to co-create with government on critical national security challenges, which a quick look at the news will highlight is increasingly important. Now’s the time to step forward and work together on challenges, drive multi-stakeholder collaboration on these national issues.
“A massive thank you to the NCSC For Startups team for all their collaboration and the Plexal team, who have been heavily invested in this community, including Monika, Ruby, Rosie, Emily and Rob, as well as the whole team that sits behind this partnership. We look forward to working with you again.”
