ELEVEN FINALISTS ARE CHOSEN FROM OVER 160 APPLICANTS REPRESENTING 18 COUNTRIES
August 15th, New York City – Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Israel’s leading venture capital firm, in partnership with the NYC Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO) and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), today announced finalists in the NYCx Cybersecurity Moonshot Challenge, a competition for an over $1 million investment prize from JVP. Finalists will also be eligible to take part in New York City’s first cybersecurity scalarator, operated by JVP. The NYCx challenge attracted over 160 submissions from 18 countries around the world, focused on helping businesses protect themselves against cyber-attacks.
“At JVP, we’ve seen the benefits of how tech and innovation can deliver solutions to global challenges,” said Dr. Erel Margalit, Founder and Executive Chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners. “We’re thrilled at the response we’ve seen to this competition and believe it will help lay the foundation for the growing and vibrant cyber ecosystem that we’re proud to help build with our partners at NYCEDC and MOCTO.”
Ranging from Australia to Argentina and Israel, from Japan to India and the US, the strong field of applicants addressed cyber needs such as Application Security, Authentication, Cloud Security, End-Point and Network Security, Privacy and IoT security.
“We’ve been investing in cybersecurity for more than 20 years, and have been instrumental in building some of Israel’s leading cyber security companies,” stated Yoav Tzruya, General Partner at JVP. “ We are looking to apply our expertise to assist the next wave of cyber innovators, assisting startups from all over the world, connecting them to the business opportunities in New York and beyond, assisting in strategy formation, business development, marketing, executive search, and, of course, funding.”
Hailing from seven countries, JVP’s finalists have all pledged to expand to New York City, and are well-positioned to address market needs across a number of industries in NYC:
- Akeyless (Israel) – Zero-trust, cloud-based solution to manage secrets and keys, allowing easier migration to cloud services, while preserving security levels and compliance.
- Alpha Strike Labs (Germany) – Provides security assessment and penetration testing across different verticals and business sizes.
- Cyglass (United States) – Dark threat detection allows users to uncover, pinpoint, and respond to advanced cyber threats that have evaded traditional security controls.
- NeuraLegion (Israel) – Machine learning-based vulnerability detection that mirrors a human’s critical thinking when looking for vulnerabilities.
- Nimesa Technology Pvt Ltd (India) – Rapid backup and recovery of critical applications, servers or databases after catastrophic events such as a ransomware attack.
- Perimeter 81 (Israel) – Zero-trust, network as a service, providing perimeter-based security at the end-point level.
- Seald (France) – Complete solution to secure, track and control sensitive emails and documents exchanged inside and outside an organization using end-2-end encryption.
- Security Platform Inc (South Korea) – Next-generation cybersecurity protection embedded into IoT devices.
- Todyl (U.S.) – providing holistic cyber security solutions for SMBs, including zero-trust network connectivity, , security orchestration and response.
- VU (Argentina) – Fraud prevention and identity protection with a seamless and friendly user experience.
JVP will evaluate the ten winners and select one grand prize winner for the over $1M investment. All finalists will be offered a position in JVP’s cybersecurity scalarator.
“We recognize that making New York City a strong and fair city means ensuring technology is designed and delivered to meet the needs of all New Yorkers, including our sizable small business community,” said John Paul Farmer, City of New York Chief Technology Officer. “The NYCx Cybersecurity Moonshot Challenge is a great example of global partnership and innovation, and using technology for good.”
In addition to JVP’s finalists, the City of New York selected seven finalists to receive an award of $10,000 to test their proposals in New York City, and the opportunity to partner with the City to deliver solutions to local small businesses, structured support to provide solutions into international markets:
- Think Cyber (United Kingdom) – RedFlags™ software product applies behavioral and learning science theory to provide context-sensitive, just-in-time guidance – delivering secure behavioral change for their customers.
- Cynch (Australia) – Cyber fitness platform provides business owners with continuous cyber risk prioritization, plain language guidance and support when reducing risks, and bundled products and services to create a one-stop-shop for small business cybersecurity.
- Inky (United States) – Email protection gateway uses sophisticated AI, machine learning and computer vision algorithms to block nefarious phishing attacks.
- Paladin (United States) – Packages easy-to-use protection tools, interactive security awareness training, on-demand cyber expertise, and broad insurance coverage.
- TwoSense AI (United States) – Invisibly and continuously authenticates users by their behavior, such as how they walk, type, carry their device, or interact with a screen.
- Skout (United States) – Cloud-native, streaming data analytics platform built to deliver effective and affordable cybersecurity products for SMBs through managed service providers.
- Atakama (United States) – Protects sensitive files using advanced threshold cryptography and by inextricably linking files stored in one location to more than one physical device.
The NYCx Cybersecurity Moonshot Challenge supports the Cyber NYC initiative, a $30 million public-private investment aimed at transforming New York City into a global leader in the field, attracting new talent and fostering innovation.
“It’s no secret that the threat of cyberattacks is one of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said NYCEDC Chief Strategy Officer Ana Ariño. “That is why New York City has set out to become the global leader for the cybersecurity industry. The Cyber NYC Moonshot Challenge is a first of its kind public-private partnership that brings top cyber companies and talent to New York City. We’re proud of the incredible response to this competition from a diverse, innovative and international group of applicants, and are excited to support these companies in New York City’s vibrant cyber ecosystem.”
In October 2018, NYCEDC announced the winners of its Cyber NYC initiative aimed at driving substantial cyber startup growth, training and skill-building for cyber careers, and academia-industry collaboration. JVP was selected to establish the city’s first international scalarator, as part of its international hub in SoHo, based on its top track record of successful cybersecurity investments.
About JVP:
Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), is an internationally renowned venture capital fund based in Israel. Established in 1993 by Dr. Erel Margalit, JVP has to date raised $1.4 billion across 9 funds, and has been listed numerous times by Preqin, and other rankings, as one of the top-ten consistently performing VC firms worldwide. JVP has built over 130 companies, leveraging a broad network of partners and market expertise to help companies become global market leaders. Among the pioneering firms of the Israeli venture capital industry, JVP has been instrumental in building some of the largest companies out of Israel, facilitating 12 Initial Public Offerings on NASDAQ including CyberArk Software (NASDAQ: CYBR, $3.6 billion mkt. cap.), QLIK Technologies (NASDAQ: QLIK, then $2.5 billion mkt. cap.) and Cogent Communications (NASDAQ: CCOI, $2.3 billion mkt. cap.) https://www.jvpvc.com/
Cybersecurity Moonshot Challenge Finalist Event- Jerusalem Venture Partners