Five Australian cyber security startups get better, faster

SYDNEY, Feb. 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CyRise, the cyber security accelerator, announced today five Australian cyber security startups have commenced its Accelerator program.

CyRise Accelerator participants. Founders of Onqlave, 6pillars, Ensignia, Nullify and InfoSecAssure. L-R Simon O'Keefe, Lorenzo Modesto, Lainie Vinikoor, Ivan Vanderbyl, Tony Mao, Tim Thacker, Shan Kulkarni, Fiona Long. Credit Maggie Langtry

CyRise Accelerator is backed by Deakin University, Investment NSW and others. It takes place over three months hybrid in-person at Tech Central in Sydney and remotely. In addition to learning sessions with industry experts, CyRise Accelerator facilitates introductions to venture capitalists, potential customers and startup coaches.

The selected cyber security technology companies address: governance, risk and compliance; DevSecOps; software supply chain security and more. Founders range from experienced operators to first-time entrepreneurs. Over half of the startups have already attracted additional seed investment or funding from VCs and angels.

Ensignia 

Ensignia makes it easy for companies to adopt Software Supply Chain Security end-to-end through code-to-production provenance, helping prevent supply chain attacks. Co-founder Sam "Frenchie" Stewart explains that the startup is new. "Our goal for the CyRise Accelerator is to get to initial revenue and ideally product-market fit. Having the mentor network is great for that."

InfoSecAssure

Founder Fiona Long describes InfoSecAssure as accessible security for SMEs. "I want them to put on their cybersecurity seatbelt," she says. InfoSecAssure helps turn non-experts into cyber security experts and assists SMEs to demonstrate their security controls to win more customers. During the assessment, users can collate evidence, add notes, and access education about each control.

Nullify

Nullify empowers engineering teams to quickly and easily use a suite of security testing tools on their codebase, allowing security responsibility to be shared across security and engineering teams. "With one click, Nullify allows you to go from zero to 100 with application security," explains CEO Shan Kulkarni.

Onqlave

Onqlave is a privacy by design suite of services available as an API. It takes an engineering approach to solving for the needs of sensitive data, to reduce the time and cost spent improving data protection. CEO Simon O'Keefe explains: "Onqlave simplifies the protection of sensitive data for organisations large and small."

6pillars

6pillars delivers continuous compliance and fully automated security remediation in AWS environments by leveraging AWS-Native security tools, combined with patent-pending technology and a control playbook library. "The vast majority of security issues in the cloud are a result of misconfiguration. 6pillars can easily and safely fix misconfiguration automatically and maintain continuous compliance with best practice," explains co-founder Lorenzo Modesto.

CyRise Accelerator

CyRise Accelerator has been running for six years, and has supported startups from Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore and the USA. CyRise Accelerator has made 39 investments in cyber security startups across seven cohorts.

Startups who have participated in previous CyRise Accelerator programs have:

• raised additional funding totalling $44 million
• created 130 Australian jobs
• a combined value of over $210 million

55% of startups that participate in CyRise Accelerator raise additional capital.

"Cyber security threats are growing in prevalence and complexity. It's more important than ever to ensure that cyber security innovators and professionals get the support they need to create solutions to defend against attackers. That's why we have programs for both startup founders and in-house cyber security professionals to get better, faster," says Scott Handsaker, CEO, CyRise.

"Deakin's partnership with CyRise enables Deakin to apply its commitment to cyber security research excellence and generate real economic growth," says Virginie Hoareau, Executive Director at Deakin Research and CyRise Board Member.

"I congratulate CyRise for successfully launching the NSW Cyber Accelerator in Residence Program and am delighted that four of the five companies selected to participate in the inaugural cohort are from NSW," says Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Alister Henskens.

CyRise

CyRise helps cyber security startups and in-house cyber security professionals get better, faster through its CyRise Bootcamp, Accelerator and Scaleup programs for founders and CyRise Elevate for in-house professionals.

CyRise CEO Scott Handsaker and CyRise Accelerator founders are available for interview.
Contact: Lou Pardi, Head of Marketing and Communications, CyRise. [email protected]
+61 (0) 418 659 721. Images are available here.