Founder impact stories on commercialising cyber tech innovation – CyberASAP in focus

The cyber security threat and attack landscape is constantly evolving and growing. To counter this, there is an urgent need to innovate cyber products and services. Much of this important work originates in university research labs throughout the UK.

The Cyber Security Academic Startup Accelerator programme (CyberASAP) was launched in 2017 to change all that, enabling promising cyber security ideas to find their way to market and make an impact in the real world. To date, its alumni have raised over £40m in further funding. The current cohort will be showcasing their projects at the Demo Day on 26 February in London.

“If it hadn’t been for CyberASAP, I’d probably still be in academia,” said Daniel Lewis, Founder of Awen Collective, developers of software that identifies potential cyber threats in modern and legacy operational infrastructures.

Daniel was one of the original cohort to participate in the programme in 2017/18. His venture is just one of the many success stories from CyberASAP, the pre-seed accelerator programme, which has been instrumental in helping academic teams transition their cyber research into impactful innovations. Since its inception, the programme has proudly supported numerous academic researchers in bringing cutting-edge cyber solutions to market.

The newly updated CyberASAP Case Studies booklet highlights the diverse journeys of innovators involved in the programme, showcasing the pivotal impact of commercialising academic research and underscoring CyberASAP’s role in bridging the gap between academia and industry.

Cyber security founders demonstrate impact of commercialising academic research

Alumni of the programme have collectively raised over £40m so far, spanning innovations across a wide range of cyber security technologies, services and applications. Their achievements include outcomes such as licensing, open-source contributions and forming both start-ups and spin-outs – 32 of which have been established so far, including three that have been successfully acquired.

The current CyberASAP cohort of 14 selected teams will be showcasing their proof-of-concept projects at the programme’s flagship event aimed at investors, industry and associated stakeholders and government, CyberASAP Demo Day, held on 26 February 2025 in London. If you’d like to be among the first to preview the innovations of these early-stage companies and assess their commercial potential, register here.

Multiple routes to commercialisation for cyber innovations

The CyberASAP Case Study booklet presents 17 impactful stories and achievements, exploring multiple pathways to commercialisation, offering valuable insights into the varied approaches Alumni have taken to translate their cyber security offering into real-world applications. Among the featured case studies are FACT360 and CAPSLOCK, to name just a few, demonstrating how the CyberASAP programme supported their growth journey:

• FACT360, developed by a team at Goldsmith’s University of London, whose GDPR-compliant technology, which analyses human behaviour and turns information into intelligence, is now being used by a wide range of sectors, from legal to fintech and iGaming, and in multiple applications.
• CAPSLOCK, a revolutionary, digital tech training company delivering career-changing cyber security bootcamps and helping adults to reskill and land their dream job in cyber. 

Read the full CAPSLOCK and FACT360 Case Studies, along with many more, here.

CyberASAP is funded by the UK Department for Science Innovation and Technology and delivered by Innovate UK. If you’d like to be involved in the programme or receive programme updates, please get in touch.