\Fintech Analysis/ Four British startups graduate from GCHQ’s “secret” spy school First ever cohort of GCHQ's Manchester startup programme tackle social isolation, recruitment, shopping behaviour and gadget automation. By Carly Minsky 4 April 2019 Credit: GCHQ Wayra accelerator demo day (credit: Wayra) Credit: GCHQ Wayra accelerator demo day (credit: Wayra) \Deeptech Digitising insurance – the risks and the rewards By Sifted 21 September 2020 \Fintech Analysis/ Four British startups graduate from GCHQ’s “secret” spy school First ever cohort of GCHQ's Manchester startup programme tackle social isolation, recruitment, shopping behaviour and gadget automation. By Carly Minsky 4 April 2019 Four UK startups have just graduated from GCHQ’s first ever engineering accelerator, with one closing a six-figure deal during the programme. The UK’s national intelligence agency incubated the startups at “an undisclosed location” in Manchester, providing them with rare access to top-secret security expertise and technological resources. None of the four startups in the accelerator, run jointly with telecommunications company O2’s innovation arm Wayra, work specifically on security or intelligence, instead covering recruitment, consumer gadgets, shopper behaviour and social isolation. Advertisement “This accelerator has brought new thinking to our engineering team and new minds into our national security community.” GCHQ director general for technology, who cannot be named for security reasons, said that the intelligence agency’s software engineers had hugely benefited from working alongside Jobseekrs, Locometric, PlaceDashboard and Y?Not. “This accelerator has brought new thinking to our engineering team and new minds into our national security community. And it has shown that we can deliver more for our mission if we work this way.” “[The startups] have helped us tap into a new seam of ingenuity. There is a thriving ecosystem around us here and it is great to be a growing part of it. We will see more of that in action as GCHQ starts to expand here this year.” Big data startup PlaceDashboard raised significant investment during the three-month programme and aims to increase the number of city councils using its retail behaviour insight platform from 20 to 50 by the end of the year. Technical director Paul Sanders said: “Working with GCHQ experts has enabled us to transform the relationships we have with our clients and unlocked endless possibilities in how we can apply new technologies including AI and machine learning, which will lead to the roll out of a new product range in the next 12 months.” Jobseekrs, which claims to be “the world’s first video interactive job-site using psychometric culture-fit”, onboarded 10 new strategic partners, boosted its valuation to £1m and launched a beta product with more than 15 companies in Manchester. Home gadget automation startup Locometric, whose founder Max Christian previously created a successful home-scanning floorplan generator app, tightened its relationship with Apple and launched its 3D home gadget control app Cabin in the US. Cofounder of meetup app Y?Not, Richard Tate, said the accelerator helped the team validate their concept for a secure service helping people make new social connections in person. “During the Wayra UK & GCHQ programme we had some absolutely wonderful support and advice from some of the very best in the industry,” he said. “We were introduced to a number of strategic partners that we are building relationships with, some of which may lead to long-term collaborations that will benefit the Y?Not business and our future customers.” Since partnering with Wayra and security company Cisco, GCHQ has expanded the focus of its startup programmes from security problems to commercial products across many more applications. The Manchester engineering accelerator is GCHQ’s second startup programme, following the cybersecurity accelerator, split between the London-based National Cyber Security Centre and and GCHQ’s headquarters in Cheltenham. Advertisement Help Sifted get bigger and better (and get a sneak peak at our future plans). Please take our reader survey. Take the survey Terms of Use Related Articles Only 21% of tech unicorns are led by women, report shows By Freya Pratty Click here to read more Black entrepreneurs receive just 0.24% of capital in the UK By Freya Pratty Click here to read more Systemic barriers for minority business owners persist, report shows By Freya Pratty Click here to read more Time to stop using the term BAME By Erika Brodnock and Johannes Lenhard Click here to read more Get the best of Sifted in your inbox By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Sign up to \Future Proof Sifted’s weekly \Corporate Innovation roundup email By entering your email you agree to Sifted’s Terms of Use Most Read 1 \Fintech Starling Bank wants to buy a lender 2 \Startup Life Chief of staff: the ‘must-have hire’ for startup CEOs? 3 \Fintech The 10 fastest fintechs to reach billion dollar valuations 4 \Venture Capital Rich Europeans need to invest 10% of their money into tech and stop buying stupid stuff like hotels 5 \Public and Academic European Commission makes its first equity investments into startups
Systemic barriers for minority business owners persist, report shows By Freya Pratty Click here to read more