Cyber accelerator breaks £150m investment milestone and creates 800 jobs

A government backed cybersecurity innovation programme will create 800 jobs by 2022 following a ‘record’ year of investment.

The London Office for Rapid Cybersecurity Advancement (LORCA), which is celebrating its second anniversary, has achieved 280 per cent of its investment target 12 months ahead of schedule. It revealed that its cohort companies have raised £153m since the programme launched two years ago.

The figures account for 76 per cent of the funds raised by all cyber security businesses participating in government scaleup programmes, and 69 per cent of all cyber investment raised in the UK since the country went into lockdown.

Additionally, businesses that have gone through LORCA’s accelerator programme have generated £26.5m in revenue over the last two years and are set to create 800 jobs in the next two years.

Investment into LORCA companies has primarily come from UK-based venture capital investment firms. The most active investors into LORCA cohort companies are IQ Capital Fund, 24Haymarket and Octopus Ventures.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), said: “Good cyber security is the bedrock of our digital economy, giving people the confidence to shop, work and play online and keeping businesses safe from cyber crime.

“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. 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.”