Capital cyber companies look to Cheltenham as its cyber credentials rise

Published by

Nicky Godding

Hub 8, the purpose-built Cheltenham workspace opened last year to provide space and networking for the town's growing cyber community, has announced a new partnership as the town's cyber ambitions are being increasingly recognised across the UK.

London-based Plexal, which delivers the LORCA cybersecurity programme, has partnered with Hub8 – a purpose-built workspace dedicated to supporting Cheltenham’s flourishing cyber community.

Plexal members, including the members of its cyber accelerator, will be able to work from Hub8 while Hub8’s members can do the same at Plexal, which will act as their London base.

Hub8, together with its partner CyNam, offers its members the chance to network and learn through hackathons and major events featuring industry leaders.

Plexal has a growing community of cyber members and delivers the government-backed LORCA programme. LORCA convenes startups, scaleups, academia, industry leaders, security professionals, investors and policymakers with the aim of growing the country’s cyber sector, supporting innovators with their scaling ambitions and making the internet safer for everyone. It’s delivered by Plexal with support from Deloitte and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies, and counts Dell Technologies, Lloyds Banking Group, Kudelski Security, Kx and the Global Cyber Alliance as partners.

So far, LORCA has supported 55 companies that have collectively raised more than £141 million in investment. Notable member success stories include ZoneFox being acquired by Fortinet, CyberOwl winning a contract with the Ministry of Defence as a result of being involved with the programme and VIVIDA piloting a security awareness product with LORCA partner Lloyds Banking Group.

The aim of the partnership between Plexal and LORCA is to further strengthen the links between London, Europe’s tech capital that’s also home to some of the country’s fastest-growing cyber startups, and Cheltenham’s cyber community.

Andrew Roughan, Plexal’s Managing Director, said: “The UK’s cybersecurity ecosystem is maturing and becoming ever more interconnected, so we’re thrilled to be partnering with Hub8 to bring Cheltenham and London’s cyber communities closer together.

“Cheltenham is a hotspot for cybersecurity innovation and research, while London remains Europe’s tech capital. We’re looking forward to introducing our members to the Cheltenham community while also acting as a landing pad for startups that want to engage with Plexal – in particular our LORCA programme.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.