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Frequently asked questions.

You have questions, we have answers.

From the application process to how you can involved with Catalyst Cyber Accelerator, here are the answers to your questions.

Who is involved in the Catalyst Cyber Accelerator program?

DMZ is responsible for delivering growth programming for resident scale ups, while DMZ’s partner Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst will be responsible for working with Corporates-in-Residence and resident scale ups.

Who are the Corporates-in-Residence involved in the program?

Rogers

Rogers is a proud Canadian company dedicated to making more possible for Canadians each and every day. Our founder, Ted Rogers, purchased his first radio station, CHFI, in 1960. We have grown to become a leading technology and media company that strives to provide the very best in wireless, residential, and media to Canadians and Canadian businesses. Our shares are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). If you want to find out more about us, visit about.rogers.com.

RBC

RBC is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 86,000+ employees who bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 16 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 34 other countries.

Herjavec Group

Dynamic IT entrepreneur Robert Herjavec founded Herjavec Group in 2003 to provide cybersecurity products and services to enterprise organizations. We have been recognized as one of the world’s most innovative cybersecurity operations leaders, and excel in complex, multi-technology environments. We have expertise in comprehensive security services including Managed Security Services (SOC Operations, Threat Detection, Security Technology Engineering) & Professional Services (Advisory Services, Identity Services, Technology Implementation, Threat Management & Incident Response). Herjavec Group has offices and Security Operations Centers across Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, and in India.

Torys LLP

Torys LLP is a respected international business law firm with a reputation for quality, innovation and teamwork. Our experience, our collaborative practice style, and the insight and imagination we bring to our work have made us our clients' choice for their largest and most complex transactions as well as for general matters in which strategic advice is key.

Siemens Canada

Since 1912 Siemens Canada has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality and reliability. The company is active across the country, focusing on the areas of power generation and distribution, intelligent infrastructure for buildings and distributed energy systems, and automation and digitalization in the process and manufacturing industries. Through the separately managed company Siemens Mobility, a leading supplier of smart mobility solutions for rail and road transport, Siemens is helping shape Canada’s passenger rail services. With its majority stakes in publicly listed companies Siemens Healthineers AG and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, Siemens is also a world-leading supplier of medical technology and digital healthcare services as well as environmentally friendly solutions for wind power generation. Sales for Siemens Canada in fiscal 2019 (ended September 30), were $2 billion CAD. The company has approximately 4,000 employees from coast-to-coast and 46 office and production facilities across Canada. Further information is available at www.siemens.ca.

Amazon Web Services

For 13 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 175 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 69 Availability Zones (AZs) within 22 geographic regions, with announced plans for 16 more Availability Zones and five more AWS Regions in Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Africa, and Spain. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December 31, 2019, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1,099 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

Microsoft

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft invests more than $1 billion annually to advance our efforts on security, data protection and risk management. We are deeply committed to sharing security knowledge and best practices we have learned from operating at hyper-scale with our customers, partners and the industry, so we can make the online world safer for everyone. Our Cyber Defense Operations Center (CDOC) brings together security response experts from across the company to help protect, detect, and respond 24x7 to security threats against our infrastructure and services in real-time. We are dedicated to empowering the next generation of cybersecurity practitioners to raise security standards and protect organizations through Microsoft Security Solutions.

How long is the Catalyst Cyber Accelerator program?

The program will last four months and runs three times per year.

I’m interested. When does the program start? How do I apply?

Applications for the first cohort of the Catalyst Cyber Accelerator program are currently open and close on July 15, 2020. The first cohort of the program will begin September 16, 2020. Founders can also apply to future cohorts.

I don’t fit the criteria for Catalyst Cyber Accelerator program, how else can I receive support?

Companies are encouraged to apply to DMZ's Incubator program, where we coach founders and work with them to get ready for the accelerator program.

How are you different from other accelerators in the North American ecosystem?

We are a founders-first focused program that does not take any equity from our companies. Our programming provides complete business support from building a sales playbook, hiring executive staff, preparing for fundraising and leadership coaching for the CEO.

Where is the program taking place?

COVID 19 Update:

Due to current challenges surrounding COVID 19, companies will be connected virtually during the 4 months program for Cohort 1 (September 2020).

Guidelines permitting, the Catalyst Cyber Accelerators will be located in Brampton, Ontario for Cohort 2 (January 2021). The expectation is that companies commit to the programming delivered in Brampton, Ontario. Unless companies have prior obligations, founders are expected to make due arrangements that allow them to be present during the four months of programming.

Do you help companies raise money?

Although we don’t invest directly into our companies, we have a strong network of VCs/angels within Canada & US markets to help our companies access capital. We have a dedicated funding relations team to help companies that are actively raising their funding rounds. We don’t host demo days, we focus on curating 1:1 meetings with top investors.

What are we looking for in the type of Cybersecurity companies?

The #1 criteria is to have a fantastic team that is seizing the opportunities and tackling the challenges of cybersecurity and understanding what your go-to-market strategy is and how you’re looking to scale.

Can I apply as a single founder?

Yes absolutely, but we ask that you have at least one dedicated Full Time Employee dedicated to sales and business development.

Where can I apply?

You can apply here: dmz.to/catalyst.

Can we apply if we don’t live in Canada?

The program is committed to supporting Canadian cybersecurity scale-ups. Scale-ups will benefit from a Global Network provided by the DMZ and Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst.

Do you take a share of the Intellectual Property?

No. Intellectual Property resides with the inventor.

Have more questions for us?