Kaspersky Lab announces global security accelerator in partnership with venture industry leaders

Kaspersky Lab  announced a new global initiative, the Security Startup Challenge (SSC) which is a mentor-driven acceleration program developed and implemented by the Kaspersky Academy, in partnership with venture industry leaders, Mangrove Capital Partners and the ABRT Venture Fund. SSC will provide startups with access to cutting-edge business, cybersecurity and cross-industry expertise from around the world.

Eugene Kaspersky, chairman and CEO of Kaspersky Lab, says: “There’s been a significant increase in venture funding of early-stage startups in the industry. Young entrepreneurs today have an excellent chance to build a truly successful company. Technology startups have been massive wealth-generators for their owners and for society as a whole over the last few decades. Our company was a startup not that long ago, and I can confirm that it feels great to fight the bad guys and build your own business from scratch while doing so.”

Running from March to August, the Security Startup Challenge 2015 will comprise a preliminary series of two-day workshops, in Jerusalem, Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore and Moscow. This will be followed a three-month acceleration program which will include distance team work and two bootcamps in Luxembourg, culminating in a grand finale event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA).

Online registration for the workshops and the main program is now open at www.SSC2015.org. The closing date for application is 28 April 2015. The programme offers founders of startup projects in cybersecurity and related areas, such as fintech, healthcare, mobile, the Internet of Things, and the Cloud, a chance to build their knowledge and compete for an $80K prize fund and post-program support.