TAMPA, FL – Tampa Bay Wave, Inc. (Wave), a nonprofit technology accelerator helping entrepreneurs transform innovative ideas into real-world solutions and scalable businesses, is proud to announce the 15 cybersecurity startups selected for the 2023 CyberTech|X Accelerator program cohort. This group of high-growth startups, hailing from across the United States and abroad, including companies from Australia, Israel, Mexico, and Singapore, will participate in a 3-month tech business accelerator program designed to support and drive high-scale growth. The cohort also boasts diversity, with 11 of the 15 startups led by underrepresented founders.
The CyberTech|X Accelerator program provides companies with access to a dedicated team of experts, mentoring from notable tech founders and cybersecurity industry giants, sales training, pitch coaching, and investor introductions. The program also serves as a link between the region’s tech startup community and other cybersecurity workforce development efforts, such as the University of South Florida’s cybersecurity degree programs, Cyber Florida, and other community partners.
The program will culminate with Wave’s Pitch Night on March 29, where companies will have the opportunity to pitch their companies to an audience of accredited investors, venture capitalists, Tampa Bay community members, and cybersecurity industry leaders.
“The CyberTech|X Accelerator is a key component of Tampa Bay Wave’s mission to build Florida’s innovation economy,” said Linda Olson, President, and Founder of Tampa Bay Wave. “As cybersecurity threats continue to rise, programs like the CyberTech|X Accelerator can go a long way to address these growing security concerns while showcasing Tampa Bay’s tech and cybersecurity talent.”
The 2023 cohort will be the CyberTech|X Accelerator’s third cohort, building upon the success of the previous two years. The program has a track record of success, with roughly 50% of the companies in the inaugural 2021 program closing their funding rounds within six months of Demo Day. Additionally, the 2022 cohort saw multiple companies successfully closing funding rounds and one member, Crashtest Security, being acquired by Veracode in December.
The startups selected for the 2023 cohort continue the trend of strong national and international applicants and a diverse maturity set. Some startups are in the early revenue stages, while others are generating more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), including one with at least $4 million ARR. Cumulatively, the group has raised over $28 million in external capital, including one above $10 million.
Tampa Bay Wave is also the only GAN-accredited accelerator program in the State of Florida, providing selected companies with the benefit of becoming a member of the Global Accelerator Network, which includes $50,000+ worth of discounts and other perks.
“The Cybertech|X 2023 cohort reflects cybersecurity startups from the United States and abroad,” said Dr. Richard Munassi, Accelerator Managing Director. “The founders come from accomplished backgrounds, including PayPal, Infosys, Fannie Mae, McAfee, IBM, Intuit, Boston Consulting Group, HP, Accenture, Raytheon, Rolls Royce, Red Hat, SAIC, Verizon, State Farm, Northrop Grumman, Deloitte, Mitre, Ernst & Young, and Toyota. Founder backgrounds also include time at premier academic institutions, including Stanford’s MBA program, Johns Hopkins, West Point, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and MIT. Veterans are also represented by the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Top to bottom, they are companies solving real problems led by world-class founders, and we are proud to have them joining the Tampa Bay Wave portfolio.”
The CyberTech|X 2023 Accelerator cohort includes:
Avertro
Avertro CyberHQ® is a cyber command SaaS platform that helps leaders manage, measure, and report on their cybersecurity performance and make business-driven decisions.
CEO: Ian Yip
Location: Sydney, Australia
BreachQuest
BreachQuest is building Priori to reimagine the incident response process and minimize breach cost and downtime. Priori delivers speed, scale, and automation to incident response teams that currently rely on a labor-intensive approach.
CEO: Shaun Gordon
Location: Dallas, TX
CleverFi
CleverFi helps businesses and providers to deliver the most secure and reliable WiFi experience to their customers and guests.
CEO: Mario Soave
Location: Austin, TX
Cyvatar
Cyvatar is leading the future of cybersecurity with effortless, fully managed security subscriptions. As the first cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) provider, Cyvatar empowers our members to achieve successful security outcomes by providing the people, processes, and technology required for cybersecurity success.
CEO: Corey White
Location: Irvine, CA
DeviceTotal
DeviceTotal’s auto-prevention attack platform provides contextual risk analysis across an organization’s devices and networks so companies can manage control and eliminate their device’s risk.
CEO: Dr. Carmit Yadin
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Hackmetrix
Hackmetrix helps LatAm Startups and Small and Medium Businesses to prove their security standing by allowing them to achieve compliance certifications (such as ISO 27001 and PCI) and stay safe through Pentesting and Cloud Monitoring Tools.
CEO: Adriel Araujo
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Infiltron Software Suite
Infiltron is a proactive, real-time IoT cybersecurity solution, leveraging technologies such as Ai, Blockchain, and Quantum to provide innovative cybersecurity protection. Every system that integrates with Infiltron has a less reactive approach to protecting its data and devices in real time.
CEO: Chasity Wright
Location: Atlanta, GA
Keep Aware
Keep Aware protects organizations and their employees from cyber threats through behavioral analytics. The team developed a browser-based solution that blocks phishing, data loss, and malicious downloads, while embedding cybersecurity awareness into every employee’s work day.
CEO: Ryan Boerner
Location: Austin, TX
Phalanx
Phalanx provides security & visibility to data that resides outside databases (unstructured data) with Zero Trust Data Access (ZTDA).
CEO: Ian Garrett
Location: Arlington, VA
Privacy Lock
Privacy Lock offers one solution to global compliance with consumer privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA, etc.). Privacy is a fast-expanding regulatory space, and most businesses are not ready to handle the volume of consumer privacy requests and regulatory reporting requirements in various jurisdictions in the years ahead.
CEO: David Ritter
Location: Denver, CO
Seccuri
Seccuri is the global cybersecurity talent tech platform. Seccuri’s proprietary ML/AI algorithm allows the platform to evaluate cybersecurity ecosystem data to support talent acquisition, talent upskilling, and reskilling.
CEO: Juanita Duque
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Stratawise
Stratawise is a Zero-Trust, no-code/low-code SaaS platform for process automation. It enables security-driven organizations to digitize processes, improving communication, transparency, and efficiency while easing continuous improvement safely.
CEO: George Panicker
Location: Tampa, FL
Vultara
Vultara is a web-based Cyber Security Management System (CSMS) dedicated to cyber-physical system manufacturers. Vultara automates cybersecurity engineering from concept design phase to post-development monitoring phase, enabling quick compliance to ISO/SAE 21434 and IEC 62443.
CEO: Yuanbo Guo
Location: Detroit, MI
X80 Security
X80 quantifies Cyber Risk in dollars and helps CISOs maximize their budget.
CEO: Simon Janin
Location: Singapore
Zendata
Zendata is the essential platform for CISO’s and compliance leaders to understand and mitigate their privacy risks through continuous monitoring of assets, starting with their websites.
CEO: Narayana Pappu
Location: San Francisco, CA
CyberTech|X Accelerator Program
Participating companies will benefit from the Tampa Bay Wave’s CyberTech|X Advisory Council, made up of cybersecurity experts from Wave’s Mentor Network, as well as representatives from the program’s funding partners and other cybersecurity experts.
Members of the Advisory Council include:
- Angelo Santos, Manager Deputy Account Lead, Accenture Federal Services
- Asim Murad, SVP, Technology Partnership & Business Development, Bank of America
- Brent Hambly, Director Enterprise Security Transformation, Accenture
- Cathleen Ryan Reneer, Managing Director, JP Morgan Chase
- Erich Kron, Cybersecurity Expert and Evangelist, KnowBe4
- Ernest Ferraresso, Associate Director, Cyber Florida
- Kishen Sridharan, Cybersecurity Partnership and Outreach Executive, Office of the CISO, Raymond James
- Lee Gray, Brigadier General (Retired), U.S. Army
- Mal Ensmann, Sr. Program Planner, Cyber Florida
- Mike Fraser, VP of DevSecOps, Sophos (formerly Refactr)
- Petar Besalev, SVP Cybersecurity and Privacy Services, A-LIGN
- Rolando Torres, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, abacode
- Russ Miller, CTO Secure Access, OPSWAT
- Scott Margolis, Managing Director, Data Privacy & Protection; RegTech, Ernst & Young
- Vince Rocca, CIO, Digital Hands
To learn more about the CyberTech|X Accelerator Program, visit: https://www.tampabaywave.org/cybertech/
About Tampa Bay Wave
Tampa Bay Wave, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that empowers entrepreneurs by providing them with the essential tools, expertise, and funding they need to build thriving technology-based companies in Tampa Bay. Since its inception in March 2013, Tampa Bay Wave has helped over 450 tech startups to flourish, thanks to the support of organizations such as the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), as well as from its economic development partners Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa. Additionally, the organization receives generous support from individuals like Michael and Korrine Fraser and Kyle Taylor, the founder of The Penny Hoarder, as well as from esteemed partners such as A-LIGN, Bank of America, Bellini Better World, Encore Bank/STi, EY, Florida Blue, Florida Funders, Foley & Lardner, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, KnowBe4, MacDonald Ventures, Nielsen Foundation, Rays/Rowdies Foundation, Trenam Law, Truist Foundation, and Vinik Family Foundation. Tampa Bay Wave is also proud to be a member of the GAN network of accelerators. To learn more, please visit www.tampabaywave.org.
