Just over
two years ago, Steve Brigden was running a consultancy helping small tech firms
grow, satisfying his competitive side by racing classic motorbikes after a successful
career at cyber sector giants, Cisco Systems and ServiceNow.
Then came an invitation to join American tech business Cylera. It wanted to introduce its intelligent IT management product into the UK market and, although a relatively small firm, it recognised the value of hiring someone of Brigden’s calibre and contacts.
Today, the 60-year-old is the face of fast-growing Gloucestershire-based cyber firm, Cylera UK, which is providing an invaluable tool for NHS trusts under immense cost and time pressures – with its pioneering technology able to safeguard entire healthcare IoT (Internet of Things) infrastructures.
Cylera's cyber security and intelligence platform works by automating the entire process of managing and securing connected electrical devices.
For hospitals, this includes medical devices like X-ray, MRI and CT scanners, infusion pumps and blood-gas analysis machines – with the system providing live updates after an hour of being installed, reporting on rate of use, functionality, software update requirements, location and efficiency data, in a level of detail never before achieved.
NHS trusts have quickly begun to see the potential for efficiencies and patient care, as well as businesses and organisations that need their IoT securely managed.
With over 200 trusts in NHS England, each with approximately five hospitals, Brigden recently masterminded the firm’s expansion into Scotland, with further health service contract wins on the horizon.
He said: ‘The business was only founded in 2017 and in many ways is still in the ‘start-up’ stage. We are still really a small business, with something like 55 staff.'
Size is relative, of course: Cylera most recently secured $10 million in ‘series A' funding to aid its growth, taking its total amount raised to $17 million.
‘We are in the middle of series B funding currently,’ Brigden added, confirming more growth is expected.
The New York-headquartered company has also expanded into Spain and seen revenues increase 300 per cent on year since 2021, with its global team growing by 30. Cirencester-based Core to Cloud is helping drive sales in the UK as an exclusive provider of Cylera solutions.
Brigden – who, despite the new role, still finds time to race his MZ ETZ250 motorbike (his wife, also a keen biker, is his mechanic) – is based out of the Hub 8 workspace at The Brewery Quarter.
The Cheltenham workplace has become a magnet for all that is exciting in the world of cyber and digital, drawing firms into its fold as the county builds the growing sector in the shadow of GCHQ.
Cylera's impact has not gone unnoticed, with the company having recently been shortlisted in the Healthtech
Business of the Year at the National Go:Tech Awards.
Timur Ozekcin, co-founder and CEO of Cylera said: ‘Hospital networks will also grow in complexity over the next couple of years as tens of thousands of more medical devices come online which are essential to patient care.
‘Our aim is to continually modify our support and technologies to the evolving medical landscape.’
