Cyber Runway is funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and delivered by Plexal and we’ve welcomed six forward-thinking founders to our Cyber Runway Ignite leadership programme.
Part of the UK Government’s Cyber Growth Action Plan to grow a thriving cyber security sector that enables the UK to be the safest country online while improving the UK’s cyber culture and mindset, Cyber Runway is designed to drive innovation, create high-quality jobs and secure long-term economic resilience.
Complementing this, Ignite is built for founders and CEOs to develop as leaders, scale their businesses and make a positive impact on the cyber ecosystem. This directly aligns with the Cyber Growth Action Plan’s call for “connecting supply and demand for sector growth… elevating cyber leadership… and commercial strength to drive and support growth outcomes.”
Ignite will formally kick off in Helsinki on Wednesday 19th November at Slush, described as the most founder-focused event on the planet – making it the ideal backdrop for programme commencement.
The cohort features six founders from high-growth cyber and AI security startups solving cyber challenges from a range of perspectives – from delivering storytelling-rich cyber awareness training to defending organisations against deepfakes. The Ignite programme will help them develop as leaders as their businesses scale up, while also enabling them to play a greater role in the UK’s cyber sector.
The Slush Startup Struggle Survey 2025 found that the top business concern for 58.1% of European founders is fundraising, followed by revenue growth and customer acquisition. Extending over five months, the Ignite programme will tackle these challenges and more as the chosen founders will benefit from a tailored package of mentorship, professional services, leadership coaching and connections to industry and investors.
With a view to raising investment in the future, the cyber leaders will have a chance to connect with investors during their time at the world-renowned event in Finland’s capital.
Diane Gilbert, Senior Innovation Lead for Programmes at Plexal, says: “Knowing that founders and CEOs have an immense amount of pressure when businesses are scaling, it’s imperative they have the right kind of support, frameworks and connections to help them evolve as leaders at the helm of these fast-growth companies. At the same time, given the intensity of cyber threat landscape and the pressures faced by organisations, the UK’s cyber sector needs its leaders to step up.
“The Ignite cohort is made up six ambitious leaders who want to do exactly this, and whose startups represent the best of British cyber. Plexal is thrilled to be working with them over the next five months and connecting them to investors at Slush.
“By providing a safe, intimate space that lets leaders bond with us, and one another, we can truly be of service to help them grow personally and professionally – effectively enabling them to take their businesses to the next stage.”
Get to know our Ignite leaders below:
Dr Anna Vartapetiance is the CEO and co-founder of Securium, which uses AI to enhance national security and protect businesses and vulnerable people from online harms. Anna is committed to using her leadership role at Securium to counter online harms and make the internet a safer place. Funding stage – pre-seed.
Ashima Chopra is the CEO and co-founder of Datambit, which uses AI to detect deepfakes across audio, video and image content – including live calls or digital meetings. Ashima is using her three decades of international experience in research in technology and innovation to protect businesses from digital fraud, identity manipulation and synthetic media threats. Funding stage – pre-seed.
Benedict Jones is the CEO and co-founder of Traced. Its flagship product is Trustd MTD, which offers AI-powered mobile threat defence that combats against threats like malware and phishing attack. Traced provides trusted security to over 300,000 devices globally. Funding stage – Series A.
Julia O’Toole is the CEO and co-founder of MyCena, an AI security company on a mission to change the way organisations manage passwords. By issuing encrypted, invisible credentials users never see, like keys, employees don’t need to use passwords – reducing the likelihood that they become the victim of phishing and credential theft. Funding stage – Seed.
Rachael Greaves is the CEO and co-founder of Castlepoint Systems, an AI-powered command and control platform for your data that provides complete visibility and risk management across every system, format and location – anywhere and at any time. She‘s previously been awarded the Female RegTech Entrepreneur of the Year and Australia’s Most Outstanding Woman in IT Security. Funding stage – Series A.
Simeon Quarrie is the CEO and founder of VIVIDA, which works to make learning unforgettable. It uses the power of immersive, visual storytelling to deliver compliance, learning and awareness in a way that sticks and drives behaviour change. He has previously been named the UK Creative Entrepreneur of the Year and was the National Diversity CEO of the Year Finalist. Funding stage – pre-seed.
