Cyber start-ups pitch to the Palace

Twenty-two tech start-ups underwent royal scrutiny when Pitch@Palace, the Duke of York-led organisation, arrived in Cheltenham in February, as part of its tour around the UK.

Pitch@Palace gives entrepreneurs and early stage businesses the opportunity to present their ideas, meet with potential angels, mentors and business partners.

The campaign will culminate in a pitch at St James’s Palace in London in April, when the finalists from each round will pitch directly to an influential audience from the worlds of entrepreneurship, technology, media and investment. The theme for this round of Pitch@Palace was ‘Data, intelligence and The Future of Security’.

The Duke of York, who watched all 22 pitches at Cheltenham Racecourse, said: “I am delighted to be able to bring Pitch@Palace on tour to Cheltenham. It is designed to provide a platform for entrepreneurs and audiences to meet, network and hear the great ideas that are being commercialised and built by the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The event was supported by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, and Wayra UK, which helps to identify and scale up start-ups through using its parent organisation, Telefónica’s, global resources.

Chris Ensor, Deputy Director for Cyber Skills and Growth at the NCSC, said: “As the UK’s technical authority on cyber security, the NCSC is helping to develop agile and exciting tech start-ups. By using our insights into cyber risk and deep expertise, these new companies can provide new and novel solutions to the UK’s cyber security challenges.”

The event was moderated by Gary Stewart, Director of Wayra UK. He said: “Pitch@Palace is a game-changing initiative to help start-ups, not just in the UK, but throughout the world.”