Cybersecurity startup and scaleup companies which have progressed through the London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA) innovation program have collectively raised over £150m in investment in just two years.
This is already 280% above the original target of achieving £40m in funding in three years set at LORCA’s inception in 2018, highlighting the program’s success as well as the recent rapid growth of the UK cybersecurity sector.
LORCA is a government-backed program that aims to act as a launchpad for cyber-companies through innovation and commercialization consultancy, product development and access to industry and more. In July, LORCA announced the 17 scaleups selected to join its fifth cohort of cyber-innovators.
The £153m in investment secured by LORCA cohort companies accounts for 76% of all funds raised by all cybersecurity businesses participating in government scale-up programs, as well as 69% of all cyber-investment in the UK since COVID-19 lockdown measures were introduced in the country in March.
LORCA said that the 72 startups and scaleups it has supported over the past two years have gone on to generate £26.5m in revenue, and are projected to create 800 jobs by 2022.
Speaking whilst visiting LORCA’s London HQ yesterday to mark the program’s two-year anniversary, secretary of state for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Oliver Dowden, commented: “Good cybersecurity is the bedrock of our digital economy – giving people the confidence to shop, work and play online and keeping businesses safe from cybercrime.
“London Tech Week is a fitting time to mark the government’s investment in LORCA, as its network of cutting-edge UK startups smashes investment targets and creates jobs across the country.”
Saj Huq, director of LORCA, added: “Never before has cybersecurity been of such economic and strategic national importance. In the context of the global health pandemic, the UK’s cyber-entrepreneurs have continued to drive job creation, attract investment and consolidate the country’s position as a global hub for cybersecurity innovation. Breaking the milestone of raising £153m in just two years is testament to the quality and potential of the cyber-startup ecosystem that exists across the UK and the centrality of it to the UK’s long-term prosperity.”
The growth of the UK’s cybersecurity sector during COVID-19 was outlined in The LORCA Report 2020 published in July, which showed UK cyber-startups raised £496m in funding during the first half of 2020.