ECSO announces the winner of the 2021 European Cybersecurity STARtup Award
ECSO is proud to announce the winner of the 2021 European Cybersecurity STARtup Award: Passbolt. After competing against nine other cybersecurity start-ups selected across Europe, Passbolt convinced the jury of cybersecurity experts and investors with their solution and will now benefit from a mentorship programme and one year of the CYBERSECURITY MADE IN EUROPE Label.
The European Cybersecurity STARtup Award is an ECSO initiative that increases the awareness and visibility of state-of-the-art cybersecurity companies in Europe, both at European and global level, because a robust European cybersecurity industry means a better protected digital Europe.
European cybersecurity solution providers (particularly smaller companies) have often struggled for visibility in a fragmented European market, which is why ECSO aims with this award to increase the European cybersecurity posture across citizens, businesses, and society. The European Cybersecurity STARtup Award 2021 final competition represented in many ways a great opportunity for the competing start-ups.
“Obviously, the first and main outcome is the great visibility it brought to Passbolt”, commented Kevin Muller, Founder & CEO at Passbolt. “We have made many qualitative contacts with potential European partners and possible new investors. The finale event in itself was a gathering of all the main cybersecurity actors in Europe, where we’ve easily connected with decision makers and are currently exploring some partnerships.”, he continued.
With European cybersecurity companies delivering ground-breaking cybersecurity solutions, recognition and investment are fundamental for these businesses to scale up and make Europe more competitive globally. But what is the key to success?
“My advice is to focus extensively on the brand / product positioning and messaging. Cybersecurity solutions can be particularly tricky to understand, and explaining them in a few minutes to a jury of experts is definitely a challenge. Finding the right angle to communicate the differentiators will play a big role, both for the jury and the market.”, concluded Passbolt.
The European Cybersecurity STARtup Award will offer many more opportunities also in 2022. Access to this competition is granted to two selected start-ups participating either in one of ECSO’s Cyber Investor Days events, or in events organised in partnership with ECSO.
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