Kicking off June with intent, Plexal attended Infosecurity Europe at the Excel London. We supported the event’s Cyber Startups Zone – where a wealth of companies from across the ecosystem occupied stands – which is representative of a H1 that saw Plexal consistently plugged into an array of cyber security moments, including:
We’ve also celebrated our graduating UK-Gulf Women in Cybersecurity Fellowship, profiled the Plexal programme alumnus who provides personal cyber security at a level previously reserved for royalty and conducted a roundtable on AI security resilience and commercial potential featuring the director of GCHQ.
All of this reinforces our commitment to drive national security and economic growth, so we were in our element to further this mission at Infosecurity Europe, which was teeming with over 13,000 cyber security professionals across three days.
Having supported the Cyber Startups Zone, we delivered two sessions for attendees. The first leant into our work on CyberBoost Catalyse for international growth in Singapore, the UK and beyond, as we discussed International Expansion as a Growth Hack. We were joined by Kyra Rauschenbach from Reality Defender and Drazen Orescanin from Legit, both of whom are currently participating in the second CyberBoost Catalyse programme.
US-based Reality Defender detects AI-generated audio, video, image and text at scale. Expanding in Singapore and the UK, Kyra noted the Singapore government is very supportive of startup testing and tech procurement. Possessing Singapore customers spanning government and media, Kyra sees lots of potential for further growth but recommends starting small before mass investment.
Croatian company Legit, which specialises in privacy and personal data protection, is currently present in 40 countries. Drazen explained that with Croatia so small, it was essential to focus on international growth early to achieve scale. Gaining traction in the Middle East and Singapore while looking to grow further in the UK, Drazen and his co-founder focus on remaining lean in the process, which he says gives them agility to test and adapt their international growth planning strategy.
If you want to be involved with future international scaling opportunities, applications are open for our third CyberBoost Catalyse programme – submit your entry before the deadline on Tuesday 1st July to be a part of this.
Our next session took the form of our Investor Panel and Cyber Startup Pitch-Off. The panel portion was chaired by Plexal Innovation Consultant, Alan Every, with speakers including Joshua Walter, Partner at Osney Capital, Dave Palmer, General Partner at Ten Eleven Ventures and️ Richard Yorke, cyber tech entrepreneur, investor and advisor.
Incidentally, all three VCs are from the West Country and as a result, perhaps to the shock of some founders, they meet regularly. Dave detailed: “VCs talk more than startups think and often build consortiums together. Maybe one is investing in an area and I’m looking at a new company in that space, so I’d be interested in how it’s going. Or occasionally we encounter a founder who tells different stories to everyone they meet, which could arguably be a form of A-B testing, but it ultimately ruins credibility and creates confusion and uncertainty, so be consistent when talking to VCs.”
Offering perspective on building a collaborative ecosystem, Richard said this was key in Cheltenham where he was previously MD at CyNam (Cyber Cheltenham). “Collaboration has always been at the heart of Cheltenham which has an important cyber cluster located next to GCHQ and NCSC,” Richard explained. “But when setting up the angel network, it was always our intention to not just collaborate with VCs that can co-invest but to find partners in the ecosystem that can support the founders we back to give them every chance of success – whether that be for specific cyber sector knowledge or professional services.”
Quizzed by Alan on what key themes VCs wants to see from companies that are raising, Josh said: “We spend a lot of time looking for evidence of company velocity. How quickly are they moving? Can they continue that trajectory in the 12 months after we’ve invested? Ensuring the customer demand signals and the needs are the centre of gravity can set companies apart.”
Following the panel, we welcomed a handful of cyber founders to each deliver a product pitch, with the winner selected by the VCs to then secure a speaking opportunity at the Channel Stream theatre. Those competing included:
- Mayur Upadhyaya, CEO at API resilience and compliance company APIContext
- Drazen, CEO at Legit
- Adam Micek, CEO at AI agent security platform VouchSec
- Stewart Boutcher, Group CTO at AI-powered bot detection technology service Veracity Trust Network
Each leader received up to ten minutes to explain their business and why it has the all-important solution to a problem that matters, which saw Mayur named the winner for his APIContext presentation.
“We’re proud to have convened the UK cyber ecosystem at Infosecurity Europe for our Investor Panel and Cyber Startup Pitch-Off, bringing together leading UK investors and startup leaders,” said Alan.
“Big thanks to Joshua from Osney Capital, Dave from Ten Eleven Ventures and angel investor and startup advisor Richard for sharing insights with our audience and listening in to pitches from cyber founders.
“And of course, congratulations to Mayur Upadhyaya, CEO at APIContext, for being crowned winner of the pitch-off. With Mayur previously participating in our Cyber Runway programme with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, we’re delighted to stay engaged with our alumni community through ongoing opportunities.”
Infosecurity Europe 2026 will run from Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th June and those interested can register interest now.
