Our mission at Plexal is to bring organisations – of all sizes and locations – together and jointly collaborate on developing technologies to solve society’s challenges in a bid to deliver national security and create prosperity. Indeed, such work is demonstrable with our partner Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Our recent AWS Healthcare Accelerator welcomed ten incredible startups. It was designed to close the gap on healthcare workforce issues, such as training, retaining and deploying staff, using new technologies.
Now we move onward to our next project together: the AWS European Defence Accelerator. For the past few months, we’ve been receiving applications from startups keen to work with AWS and Plexal on tackling the many challenges impacting national security organisations across Europe.
These challenges faced by the defence sector include everything from increased cyber threats through to energy resilience, which has meant discovery of innovators equipped with mission-critical solutions for land, air, maritime, space and cyber domains.
The AWS European Defence Accelerator officially begins in September but we couldn’t wait any longer, so please meet the 13 startups selected for the programme below.
Ampliphae, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a cyber security company that deploys threat detection and analysis software to proactively identify vulnerabilities and fortify application and device connectivity. These solutions maintain the integrity of communications between cloud applications and internet of thing (IoT) devices.
Bazze, based in San Francisco, USA, is an AI powered data marketplace that enables customers to seamlessly integrate commercial data insights into their intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations
Blackshark.ai, based in Graz, Austria, is an artificial intelligence company that processes petabytes of satellite imagery to create a comprehensive semantic 3D digital representation of the world. Through the power of a cloud-based machine learning platform, the company enables high-frequency updates to global maps, effectively capturing the pulse of our evolving planet.
Enveil, based in Washington DC, USA, with additional teams in London, is a privacy enhancing technology company that protects data in use. Leveraging homomorphic encryption, its ZeroReveal® solution allows customers to securely search, share, and analyse data assets at scale.
Hala Systems, based in Lisbon, Portugal, is a resilience technology company and a pioneer of advanced monitoring and alerting for human security; open-source intelligence collection; and AI-driven situational awareness.
Kognitiv Spark, based in New Brunswick, Canada, is mixed reality (MR) spacial computing performance support company that combines both the physical and digital worlds using its RemoteSpark™ platform to allow operators to access 2D and 3D holographic assets in an independent and autonomous manner.
Kuro, based in Cheltenham, UK, is a cloud-based solutions company that provides instant, secure, and scalable access to persistent or disposable cloud infrastructure solutions via an intuitive interface for individuals, teams, and enterprise customers in order to simplify cloud-based software deployments.
Lupovis, based in Glasgow, UK, is an advanced cybersecurity solutions company that specializes in cyber-deception and threat intelligence. Its cloud-based Lupovis Snare and Prowl platforms allow customers to proactively defend against cyber threats and safeguard critical assets.
MindLink, based in London, UK, provides a cloud-based ultra-secure, chat messaging platform specifically designed for international and inter-agency mission operations for defence and intelligence customers.
PQShield, based in Oxford, UK, with additional teams in the USA, EU, and Japan, is a world-leading post-quantum cryptography company creating hardware and software-based
quantum-secure cryptographic solutions that protect customer data and infrastructure.
Quaisr, based in London, UK, provides software based building blocks for digital twins that allow engineers to seamlessly create and operate efficiently in simulation operations (SimOps) environments.
Second Front, based in Wilmington, USA, with teams in London, is a platform as a service (PaaS) company that uses an accredited cloud-based platform Game Warden to develop and accelerate the deployment of commercial software securely to Government customers.
Telicent, based in London, UK, is a secure data innovation platform company. Telicent CORE is a new data backbone platform that is secure by design. Powered by a state-of-the-art 4D ontology, CORE enables Telicent’s clients to exploit their most valuable data assets, unlock transformational business value and embrace modern innovation strategies.
Commenting on our chosen startups, Plexal CEO Andrew Roughan says: “The outstanding cohort we welcome today is an important milestone for both Plexal and AWS as we support our national security and defence customers across Europe. The diversity and inventiveness of startups for the AWS European Defence Accelerator is incredibly promising, with startups at different growth stages joining from Europe, Canada, and the US.
“We’re very excited to kick-off the programme and work with the cohort to explore how best to advance their solutions as part of a shared mission: to address the unmet needs of the expanding the European Defence market.”
Cameron Brooks, AWS Director (Europe), adds: “I congratulate all those selected to participate in the AWS European Defence Accelerator. With the tech sector’s support, there is an opportunity for defence ministries and multilateral organisations to build a unique level of engagement with commercial, non-traditional defence companies. The AWS European Defence Accelerator will help facilitate this type of connection and cooperation, enabling customers to solve problems using the power of technology.”
