Technology

Posted on December 14, 2018 by staff

Tech and consulting firm floats on stock exchange

Technology

A UK technology and consulting company focusing on the cyber security sector has this morning floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

Crossword Cybersecurity, led by CEO Tom Ilube and chaired by ex-MI6 head Sir Richard Dearlove, has raised around £2 million and will use the money to further develop its operations and to support existing and future contracts.

On admission, the company had a market capitalisation of approximately £13.6 million.

“I am delighted that Crossword has reached this important milestone and I would like to thank Crossword’s existing and new shareholders for their continued support as the company continues to grow,” said chief executive Tom Ilube.

“AIM is an excellent platform for Crossword to achieve its ambitious growth plans over the coming years.”

Crossword Cybersecurity first outlined its intention to proceed with a float on AIM last month.

The group has two principal areas of activity: the first being the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security-related software and the second is cyber security consulting.

Over the last four years, the group has signed memoranda of understanding and agreements with 14 universities to explore potential commercialisation opportunities or work with them on cyber security research ideas.

The group’s current portfolio of products consists of Rizikon Assurance, a SaaS platform designed to help larger organisations manage third-party assurance at scale with a particular focus on cyber security; and Rizikon Standard, a cyber-risk and GDPR compliance assessment tool aimed at small to medium companies.

Crossword also has a third product, Nixer, a version of which is currently undergoing testing.

Nixer is a machine-learning based product aimed at protecting against application-layer DDoS attacks and the growing menace of automated attack tools.