Startup aiming to protect people from hackers wins BT & TechHub backing

DC14-198 May 6, 2014

Startup aiming to protect people from hackers wins BT & TechHub backing

A startup that has developed technology to protect personal online sign in details has won the chance to work with BT and TechHub for six months. The BT Infinity Lab competition was designed to find apps or services that help businesses thrive in the digital economy.

Winning startup Sedicii has created a solution to prevent personal details being stolen by hackers. Their patented technology means that no passwords are transmitted or stored anywhere except in the user's head. If no data is stored or transmitted there is nothing to steal or intercept and online security of a person's identity is increased.

Sedicii sent in their pitch video to enter the BT Infinity Lab competition and were among the ten shortlisted finalists. A pitch day on 22 April saw all shortlisted startups present to a panel of BT and TechHub industry experts. The prize is TechHub membership and desks for the six months, and BT is providing a team of technical and commercial people to validate the technology and to evaluate commercial opportunities.

Sedicii's technology seeks to do away with the need for transmission and storage of private user data including passwords when authenticating a user online and could offer a cost effective and future proof way for all companies to protect user data in the digital economy.

John Thorneycroft, commercial director, BT Business said: All the finalists had a great story and are businesses with a promising future. In the end we decided to choose Sedicii based on their long term strategic potential. They offer an industry solution to key customer concerns around security and authentication. We're really excited about working with them and exploring the technology, implementation and how we could bring these services to market to help businesses of all sizes.

We're also going to explore opportunities to work with other shortlisted startups, given that the calibre of entrants was so high.

Elizabeth Varley, CEO and founder of TechHub, said: The quality of entrants in this programme has shown why the UK is now pushing the boundaries of technical innovation, not just in Europe, but across the globe. Sedicii have come up with an innovative product that addresses a concern held by both businesses and their customers. We're pleased to provide them with access to our community of tech entrepreneurs and a place to grow, and look forward to working with them more closely.

Rob Leslie, CEO and founder of Sedicii said: We are absolutely delighted to have won this award and be able to work alongside a global giant like BT. For Sedicii's identity exchange concept to succeed we need to work closely with the most trusted names in the business and there are very few companies out there who come close to the strength of reputation and brand trust that BT has in the marketplace. This will provide a tremendous boost for our business and we are very grateful for the opportunity and for the chance to be based in such an innovative environment like TechHub.

Notes to editors

About TechHub

TechHub creates spaces around the world for tech entrepreneurs to meet, work, learn and collaborate. By offering flexible workspace, access to an energetic community and the resources of a global company with the energy and shared knowledge of a tech conference and the buzz of a social networking, TechHub enables technology startups to work smarter, develop faster and increase their chance of success.

TechHub was founded in 2010 by Elizabeth Varley and Mike Butcher, and is a growing community of thousands of tech entrepreneurs and a network of spaces for startups. It offers flexible workspace facilities, events, workshops, advice sessions, contacts, PR and press opportunities and an important tech industry network. TechHub London has two sites in Shoreditch's Silicon Roundabout' with one opening on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2014, and has additional sites in Manchester, Riga in Latvia and Bucharest in Romania. Further new TechHub cities have been announced in Swansea, Wales and Bangalore, India and more will be announced by the end of 2013 as part of the company's global expansion.

www.techhub.com

twitter.com/TechHub

Contact: Elizabeth Varley at elizabeth@techhub.com and via 44 (0)20 7256 6551

LINK:	http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=C0FC194A-...
	See more stories from bt

Most recent headlines