ANOZR WAY and Uncovery fly to the European Cybersecurity STARtup Award finals
ECSO’s STARtup Award selection took place last week during the European Cyber Week in Rennes, France, with many startups competing to access to the final competition that will take place in The Hague in February 2022. ECSO had a talk with the two winners of the Rennes chapter, ANORZ WAY and Uncovery to find out more about their activities in the European startup cybersecurity ecosystem.
Why is it important to invest in cybersecurity startups?
ANOZR WAY: “To answer to cyber-threats, you need to adapt and innovate at least as quick as your attackers. From the beginning of the kill-chain, cybercriminals are constantly improving their modus operandi, their battle plans. They have the capacity to gather and process more and more information about organisations and their people, to prepare and execute the most accurate attack. We need to catch them off-guard. Having an effective defense strategy involves mastering your information. These strategies involve Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligences applied to Cybersecurity to identify and process all these data on Cyberspace. To this date, due to strong investments in R&D, only startups have the agility and ability to quickly provide answers with advanced technology solutions”.
Uncovery: “To become a world leader in cybersecurity, it is necessary to have a strong international presence and therefore to address the big markets as early as possible in the life of the startup. However, this phase of commercial aggressiveness and then hypergrowth requires significant capital to recruit a sales team capable of targeting a lot of big companies. It also requires massive and very early investment in its product and its infrastructure in order to quickly meet the scaling challenges”.
What makes French startups special?
ANOZR WAY: “The rise of “Scale-Up” startups is, in Europe, mainly driven by four countries: UK, France, Germany and Sweden. France is strongly challenging the UK as a key investment destination. The French government has made major efforts to bring out and bolster French digital startups. The so-called “French Flair” is really an asset to make the difference and find new ways, particularly in the field of cybersecurity. It symbolises the determination to continue when others would have “tapped out” to get rid of the ball. This mindset applied to the field of cybersecurity is essential, as it brings an ability to constantly adapt to attackers, to find new solutions and be more resilient.”
Uncovery: “French startups have specific strengths: a real know-how in cybersecurity, a significant number of engineers with a high technical level graduate each year, ecosystems dedicated to innovation and development (Cyber Campus), as well as the reputation and actions of the ANSSI”.
What opportunity does the European Cybersecurity STARTup Award provide startups with?
ANOZR WAY: “The European Cybersecurity STARTup Award provides key elements to feed the ambitions of becoming a European label: creating new partnerships, recruiting multicultural talents, bringing R&D at the European level and adapting to the expectations of different European markets”.
Uncovery: “The high-level award jury brings real credibility to the winner and the other finalists, and therefore visibility to end users, partners and investors”.
ECSO’s European Cybersecurity STARtup Award aims to increase the awareness and visibility of state-of-the-art cybersecurity companies in Europe, both at European and global level. Join us for the last and final step in Helsinki, on 1 and 2 December. Find out more here.
