New York Launches $100m Cyber Security Hub
New York City wants to keep young technology professionals from fleeing to California’s Silicon Valley, and the city has turned to an established Israeli venture capital firm to help them keep the tech talent on the east coast. The city has recently announced the launch of a unique partnership with Israeli venture capital and start up incubator firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP).
Senior figures from New York City’s business, technology, investment, and diplomatic scene gathered for a celebration at the new tech hub in downtown Manhattan, featuring Erel Margalit, the founder of JVP, plus people from the City Mayoral office, investors and even the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who expressed her desire to visit Israel and its innovation ecosystem in the near future.
Conecerning cybersecurity, Mr. Margalit noted that many of the companies at the forefront of the industry had established themselves protecting governments and major multinational institutions, but were now focused on protecting the rights of and the privacy of individuals. “New York City is the financial and cultural center of the world, the hub of media and information and it can also become the technology hub of the world.... The JVP International Cyber Center is a launching pad for innovative technologies, for a new era of cyber, moving from protecting countries and enterprises to defending democracies and
JVP has built its center in downtown Manhattan hoping to connect tech startups with investors, multinational companies and universities.
About 30 companies, half of them Israeli, are up and running in the center, said JVP Chairman Erel Margalit. He said the group is looking to duplicate the venture in Europe. There are “two or three serious discussions” with European cities, particularly with London, Margalit said.
The initiative forms part of NYCEDC’s Cyber NYC program, which seeks to make New York City a global leader in cybersecurity and produce 10,000 jobs within five yearsa and is funded by an initial investment of $30 million from the City of New York followed by an additional investment of up to $70m. from private funding.
The $100 million partnership, including a $30 million contribution from New York City, will focus on companies working in the cyber technology sector.
New York City settled on cyber security as an under-represented sector in the technology world with officials saying that there are approximately 10,000 job openings in the cyber security field in New York City alone, and a shortage of more than one to two million cyber security experts around the world in the coming years.
One of the biggest issues is that large companies are able to afford expensive cyber protection from established security companies, but small to medium size businesses do not have affordable solutions.
As data is increasingly online, hackers can target anything from health data to a city’s electric grids to nuclear reactors to home security systems to stealing personal information from your local coffee shop’s loyalty program. “Our vision to transform the city into the cyber capital of the world, combined with JVP’s experience in driving change through innovation, creates a formidable partnership that gives rise to the next wave of cybersecurity startup success stories,” said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett in a press statement.
Times of Israel: Jerusalem Post: NoCamels.com Israel National News: Reuters:
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