After a benchmarking study, R3i selected the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as the soft landing pad for the House of DeepTech's first international cybersecurity cohort. Luxembourg is a hub for cross-border finance within the EU single market, which has the world’s third-largest population after China and India. The Duchy is the second largest investment fund centre in the world, hosting over 60 leading international traditional and alternative asset managers, banks and insurers, while also providing easy access to Paris, London, Zürich, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Brussels. In an age of extraordinary immobility, Luxembourg still offers freedom of movement for talent, a critical component in successfully scaling any company cross border.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of the Economy, the Duchy has invested heavily in cybersecurity, which Gartner predicts will become a $170.4 billion worldwide market by 2022. R3i invites scaleups from across the information security spectrum, including application security, data security, endpoint security, identity and access management, deepfake technologies, and network security. This investment has delivered a competitive, dynamic, and growing ecosystem, with more than 320 players strategically positioned in the market.

Francois Thill, Director cybersecurity and digital technologies at the Ministry of the Economy noted, "Digital trust is an essential contributor to Luxembourg's economic growth, especially in the data-driven innovation strategy. The R3i Ventures' House of Deeptech can play an important role in strengthening Luxembourg's attractiveness in this respect. Through innovative protections to our citizen's privacy and delivering state of the art assurance to our financial services sector, smart city agenda, and insurance industry, the House of DeepTech cohorts will contribute to our competitive cybersecurity ecosystem and enable growth opportunities across other sectors of the Luxembourg economy, and the wider European Union."

The Luxembourg Calling program offers growth-stage, export-focused cybersecurity founders, a soft landing program, delivered in English, for developing and executing targeted market access and capital raising strategies to expand into Europe. Through the program, founders will secure accelerated access to Luxembourg's fintech ecosystem along with guidance from R3i's expert Navigators, who include seasoned international deeptech VCs and experts in IP, brand protection, anti-counterfeit, and R&D in cybersecurity, hardware, big data, and artificial intelligence. Founders will receive a personalised program that supports adaptation of their value propositions for new markets, accelerating and expanding their reach into their target audiences. R3i's Deal Desk will empower founders to tap non-dilutive grant pathways and potential investors. As a zero-equity pay-to-play program, Luxembourg Calling fees are reimbursed by selected national government export development programs.

The House of DeepTech aims to create 120 new jobs per year, contributing to the up-skilling and inclusivity of the labour workforce, and drive equal opportunities across its smart city ecosystems. An annual impact report will measure the program’s societal and economic outcomes.

One founder who has benefited from R3i's prowess is IAG Firemark Alumni Theo Nasser, CEO and Cofounder of Right Hand Security. "Leesa and her R3i team played a huge role in Right-Hand's Go To Market strategy in SouthEast Asia, by strengthening our existing cyber assurance capabilities for InsurTech and expanding sales efforts into new industries. They provided accelerated market access, and critical feedback on the product, ops, funding and exit pathways. Right Hand Security is now ready for global scale."

R3i’s Luxembourg Calling programs for its House of MedTech and House of Deeptech leverage the same digital foundations. Given the compliance requirements in cybersecurity for today's MedTech pioneers, the synergy increases the potential for rapid traction for both cohorts.

Applications for the 2021 House of DeepTech Luxembourg Calling cohort are open now. Applications close on January 31, 2021. The Luxembourg Calling program starts on March 15, 2021.