Roisin McCarthy

Roisin McCarthy is the founder of Verifoxx, a pioneering tech company specialising in privacy-enhancing solutions. With 13 years experience managing multi-million consumer brands across Europe and Africa, she identified the challenge of sharing sensitive consumer data in marketing, and recognising this existed across sectors, took the leap to start her own company.

Financial crime and fraud cost the UK economy over £100 billion annually, largely due to limitations in how organisations share intelligence about threats. Verifoxx’s innovative technology enables companies to exchange sensitive intelligence without exposing underlying data, helping prevent scams and improve consumer protection.

“At Verifoxx, our mission is to help companies share the value behind their data, instead of sharing the data itself, without compromising privacy or security,” says Roisin.

Her achievements include winning TechUK’s CyberInnovator 2023 award and securing over £1 million in grant funding from the Digital Security by Design programme to help make the UK more cyber resilient. Roisin was also listed on the Innovate Finance Women in Fintech Powerlist 2023.

“I feel incredibly proud and grateful to be a Women in Innovation Award winner,” says Roisin. “To be in the top 3% of female innovators is incredible and testament to the impact of our technology.” Through the Women in Innovation Award, Roisin aims to expand Verifoxx’s data format capabilities by 60%, enabling more comprehensive fraud prevention across sectors.

“The biggest barrier has been a lack of understanding from the buyers for privacy enhancing technologies,” Roisin reflects. “We’re finding that speaking opportunities, working with the right partners with technical expertise, and leaning on industry work has helped promote adoption.”

Her advice to aspiring women innovators? “Think about the possibilities and don’t spend all your time worrying about the risks. Recruit the skills you don’t have – what you need to have is resilience, grit and belief.”

For more information on Women in Innovation

Find out more about the Women in Innovation Award and other support available across the Innovate UK ecosystem on the Women in Innovation programme page.