Tech4Trust Award Ceremony crowns Saporo

It is on the main stage of the Swiss Cyber Security Days, after a highly anticipated keynote by US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis, that the three winners were distinguished. Chris Inglis’ words, mentioning "resilience by design" and calling for collaboration through public-private partnerships and international cooperation, resonated strongly with the aspirations of the start-ups involved in the Tech4Trust program and more generally with the DNA of Trust Valley.

"We are proud to bring together strategic partners from the public, academic and corporate spheres to accelerate the resilience and security of digital systems through collaborative work, the promotion of talent and access to a fertile network of trusted investors," said Lennig Pedron, Trust Valley's executive director. "Strong Network, which won 2nd prize in Season 2 in March 2021, has just raised 5.2 million, a record for a seed."

Saporo, who won the 3rd edition of Tech4Trust, reflects these ambitions: based in Lausanne, but with 1/3 of its staff in the United States, the startup co-founded by Guillaume and Olivier Eyries and Eric Blavier enables organizations to model and measure their resistance to anticipate attacks and make better-informed decisions about managing their risk without the need to think like an attacker.

Prioritizing and reducing user and system access risks

Saporo’s technology proactively stress-tests user and system access risks before attackers can exploit them. The product uses machine-learning driven analysis and graph theory to test an organization’s attack surface, and the relationships between assets, users, and computers, against millions of threat scenarios.

The technology continuously and contextually quantifies the security impact and exploitability of systems configurations. Saporo can then measure how much effort would be required for attackers to compromise resources. This allows organizations to identify and prioritize paths that attackers could take in various attacks like ransomware.

Olivier Eyries, one of the three co-founders of Saporo, expresses his great satisfaction with the Trust Valley acceleration program: "Six months ago, we only had an idea and no fundraising, hardly any network. Six months later, we have raised 2.5 million, we have 7 clients in Switzerland and France, and 12 employees. Tech4Trust acts as a badge of trust that propels us and encourages investors to talk to us. We remain humbled and delighted with this result and will get right back to work.

The second prize goes to Tune Insight. Based at EPFL Innovation Park, the startup develops secure computing solutions for sensitive and confidential data. In third position comes PRODAFT. The Y-Parc based company offers proactive threat intelligence to its customers against the constantly evolving attack techniques in the cyber world. Last startup recognized with the Social Impact Award was Hestia. The Geneva company builds sustainable personal data pipelines, respectful of the data contributors and responsive to changing circumstances.

Two and a half years ago, this high economic impact initiative conceived by Trust Valley, supported by the Canton of Vaud, academic institutions such as EPFL and UNIL, and leading companies such as Kudelski, Elca, SGS, SICPA and the GCSP, aimed at promoting and connecting key players in digital trust and cybersecurity, came into being. Tech4Trust is the first digital trust and cybersecurity acceleration programme. The only one of its kind in the world, this signature Trust Valley programme helps the most promising companies prepare their business for commercialization through top-notch mentoring by captains of industry, strategic support and training from leading industry partners. (55 mentors, 26 coaches, +10 trainers, +20 speakers)

(Press release - ES)
Picture: Award ceremeony with the founders of Saporo and Raphael Conz, Economic Promotion ManagerEconomic Promotion Manager Office for Economic Affairs and Innovation (SPEI) - State of Vaud (right).