UK Cybersecurity Startup Radar 2026

Key takeaways

Growth in global fundraising: The radar has seen an increase in the number of UK startups seeking funding from abroad, rising from 26% in 2025 to 30% in 2026.
Continued market access issues: Across both the 2025 and 2026 radar editions, market access remains a persistent barrier, with 38% of surveyed startups citing it as a key challenge in 2026.
Rise of AI security: In 2026 there was a sharp uptick in AI adoption, with the share of startups embedding AI in their products rising from 30% in 2025 to 62% in 2026.
Geographic dispersion across the ecosystem: More UK cyber startups are now being founded and scaled outside London and the South East, with regional hubs playing a bigger role in the ecosystem.

With 225 startups and 9 scale-ups, the UK cybersecurity innovation ecosystem is expanding rapidly while facing persistent scale-up and market access challenges

The UK cyber innovation ecosystem continues to broaden, supported by a substantial wave of newly identified startups, increasing regional dispersion and fast-rising adoption of artificial intelligence across security products.

Discover the radar (EN only)

visual showing segment on start up radar — The UK Cybersecurity startup Radar 2026 provides a visual map of 235 cybersecurity innovation structures, including 225 startups, 9 scale-ups and 1 unicorn. Companies are categorised by cybersecurity capability, including application security, cloud security, governance and compliance, identity management, privacy, threat intelligence and AI security, illustrating the diversity and maturity of the UK cyber innovation ecosystem

A growing ecosystem facing new challenges

The UK Cybersecurity Startup Radar 2026 highlights a dynamic and rapidly expanding ecosystem, identifying 235 organizations, including 225 startups, of which 144 newly identified entrants. While growth remains strong, scale-up conversion is still limited, with only 9 UK scale-ups and 1 unicorn identified through publicly available data. London continues to play a central role, but regional ecosystems are gaining momentum, with 42% of startups now based outside London and the South East.

Market access remains the most significant challenge for cybersecurity startups, with around 38% reporting difficulties finding prospects, followed by barriers related to closing deals, securing funding and recruitment. International expansion is already well established, with 67% of surveyed companies exporting beyond the UK, primarily across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The adoption of artificial intelligence has accelerated significantly, with 62% of organizations now using AI within their products, compared with 30% in 2025, while 10% of surveyed startups focus specifically on securing AI usage. Despite an influx of younger companies, certification remains an important marker of credibility, with 77% of interviewed startups holding at least one cybersecurity certification.

Startup creation and scale-up conversion

The UK radar shows a substantial increase in the number of identified cybersecurity innovation structures. In 2026, the radar includes 235 organizations, of which 225 are startups. The increase is particularly visible in the number of newly identified startups, with 144 additions in the 2026 edition.

This expansion points to a highly active early-stage ecosystem. However, the same data also indicates that the UK market is still struggling to translate startup creation into scale-up confirmation at the same pace. The radar identifies 9 scale-ups in the UK, according to publicly available data, and one unicorn.

visual of circles showing number of start ups — The 2026 picture is one of early-stage momentum rather than broad-based scale-up maturity: the ecosystem is producing many new companies, while scale-up conversion remains limited based on publicly available data.

Regional ecosystem: London remains central, but dispersion is increasing

London continues to be a major hub for cybersecurity startups and scale-ups. At the same time, the radar shows more activity across the UK, with 42% of UK startups based regionally. Regional hubs, including the South West, are playing a larger role in new startup creation.

The radar also shows that the average team size of emerging startups continues to fall: 68% of UK startups had fewer than 10 employees in 2026, up from 52% in 2025. London remains the leading location for startup creation, with 21 new startups identified there in 2026 (13 in 2025), while regional hubs such as the South West gain momentum

UK map indicating spread of UK startups — London remains central as regional cybersecurity ecosystems expand.

Market categories and commercial challenges

The 5 largest categories represented in the 2026 radar are Governance & Risk Compliance (40 start ups), Application Security (34 startups), Detection and Response (31 startups), Data and Communication (26 startups), and Identity and Access Management (13 startups). Governance & Risk Compliance is the largest category in the available dataset, with 40 startups identified

Finding prospects is the biggest hurdle for UK startups at about 38%. Market access and customer procurement remain an issue for start‑ups, as cautious investors and tight hiring conditions leave many founders struggling to secure capital, pipeline, and the talent needed to scale.

visual showing graphs with challenges and categories — Commercially, market access and customer procurement are persistent issues. In a focus group of 49 startups, finding prospects was the largest reported hurdle at approximately 38%, with further pressure from closing deals, funding and recruitment.

Infographic showing the UK cybersecurity startup ecosystem in 2026, highlighting 144 newly identified startups. Governance, Risk and Compliance is the largest category with 40 startups, followed by Detection and Response, Application Security, Data and Communication, and Identity and Access Management. Finding prospects is the most commonly reported challenge, cited by 38% of surveyed startups

Internationalization: a majority export their product

The majority of surveyed companies sell outside the UK. The 2026 radar shows that 67% export their product, while 33% sell exclusively to UK clients. Among exporters, Europe, Middle East and Africa remains the primary sales gateway, representing 32% of total startups in the available analysis.

The data should be read as primary sales market information based on the latest available startup responses at the time of analysis. Americas and Asia-Pacific are present but smaller export destinations, representing 14% and 21% respectively in the analysis.

global map showing percentage of startups exporting globally — Among companies exporting their product, Europe, Middle East & Africa remains the main gateway (**32% of total startups**).

World map showing export activity among UK cybersecurity startups. Sixty-seven percent sell products outside the UK, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa representing the largest export market. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 21% of exports and the Americas for 14%

Innovation and proof points: certifications remain important

The UK Cybersecurity Startup Radar 2026 indicates that most interviewed startups are not simply replicating existing products. A large majority stated that they aimed to address a gap in the market, while only a minority said their main inspiration was improving an existing product.

Certifications remain a core credibility signal. Despite the influx of very young startups, 77% of the interviewed startups hold at least one cybersecurity certification. The 2026 radar highlights Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, SOC 2 and FIPS 140 among the certifications and qualifications identified.

graphs illustrating innovation in start ups — Innovation drivers and certification snapshot across the interviewed startup group.

Infographic showing innovation drivers and certifications among UK cybersecurity startups. Eighty-one percent reported addressing a market gap as their primary motivation, while 77% hold at least one cybersecurity certification, including Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001 and SOC 2.

Securing AI and using AI for Cyber

AI is one of the clearest accelerators in the 2026 UK radar. The share of companies using AI in their products has increased to 62%, compared with 30% in the 2025 startup radar (open in new window). These use cases include threat detection and analysis, incident response orchestration, awareness campaign optimization, data classification and fraud detection.

The radar also identifies a more specialist Cyber for AI segment. In 2026, 10% of questioned startups are securing the use of AI, up from 7% in 2025. These solutions address areas such as security of models and training phases, protection of environments and processed data, governance and compliance, sensitive data detection, LLM security and AI compliance.

visual to illustrate security of AI in startups — AI for Cyber and Cyber for AI are both expanding in the UK ecosystem

Infographic showing the growing role of artificial intelligence in the UK cybersecurity ecosystem. Sixty-two percent of startups use AI within their products, while 10% specialise in securing artificial intelligence through capabilities such as model security, governance, compliance and data protection.

New market-driven uses: AI acceleration and deep tech differentiation

The radar highlights two complementary innovation dynamics. First, several startups are reimagining cyber operations through AI, including AI-accelerated penetration testing, resilience, third-party management and SOC activities. Second, deep tech players continue to provide differentiated building blocks for demanding environments.

Deep tech themes in the 2026 radar include data encryption, secure development, secure virtualization and identity and access management. These segments are important because they provide defensible technical differentiation in a market where AI-enabled product features are becoming increasingly common.

table showing AI and deeptech solutions — Market-driven emerging uses: AI acceleration and deep tech capabilities.

Infographic comparing AI-enabled cybersecurity solutions with deep-tech cybersecurity innovations. Examples include AI-accelerated penetration testing, resilience and security operations, alongside deep-tech capabilities such as encryption, secure development, secure virtualisation and identity access management

Implications for ecosystem stakeholders

For startups: use AI to accelerate product value, but maintain a clear technical differentiation and a credible trust posture through certifications, reference customers and defensible IP where relevant.
For investors and ecosystem partners: prioritize startups that can show a credible path from product innovation to enterprise adoption, particularly where procurement cycles and market access remain blockers.
For large organizations: combine platform strategies with selective adoption of specialist innovations, especially where startups can improve AI security, resilience, detection, identity or governance outcomes.
For regional ecosystem builders: continue supporting non-London hubs through customer introductions, talent pathways and routes to public and private sector buyers.

What’s next?

The UK cybersecurity startup ecosystem is expanding quickly and diversifying geographically. The next phase of maturity will depend on converting this startup creation into repeatable enterprise traction, regional scale and more visible scale-up growth.

Discover the full radar now

UK Cybersecurity Startup Radar 2026 (EN only)

pdf · 2940KO

Download the radar

Methodology

The radar focuses exclusively on cybersecurity startups and scale-ups headquartered in the UK. Startups were included if they were founded within the last seven years, employed fewer than 35 people, operated primarily in cybersecurity and generated less than 50% of their revenue from consulting or professional services. This selection approach prioritizes early-stage, product-driven companies and excludes mature organizations, consulting-heavy businesses and companies no longer active in the market.

In addition to startups, the radar features a small group of UK scale-ups. These are companies headquartered in the United Kingdom that have outgrown the startup criteria but remain product-driven: they employ fewer than 250 people and generate less than 50% of their revenue from consulting or professional services. To qualify, a scale-up must also demonstrate clear commercial traction, either through a funding round of at least €10 million within the last three years, or through sales revenue above €2.5 million combined with average annual revenue growth of more than 25% over the last three fiscal years.