Konvu has won Infosecurity Europe's inaugural Cyber Startup Award after being selected as one of five finalists from a worldwide field.
The award was presented at the cybersecurity event at Excel London, where the shortlisted companies pitched to an audience of senior industry leaders, investors and buyers. Alongside Konvu, the finalists were Cytidel, Datambit, Ploy and RedCarbon.
Konvu describes itself as an AI-native vulnerability management platform focused on helping security teams investigate and remediate software vulnerabilities. The area has drawn growing attention as companies face pressure to identify and fix weaknesses more quickly.
The judging panel included Shlomo Kramer, chief executive officer and co-founder of Cato Networks; Mun Valiji, founder of the UK Cyber Start-up programme and group CISO at Close Brothers; and Kirsty Kelly, group CISO at CFC Underwriting. Kramer announced the winner on stage.
Awards for early-stage cyber businesses have become a growing feature of industry events as investors and buyers look for signs of which young companies are gaining traction in crowded markets. Vulnerability management, access control, deepfake detection and alert handling are among the areas where startups are trying to stand out against established vendors and in-house tools.
At the event, Kramer said the speed of change in security operations was a key factor in the judging.
"I think the new frontier models are going to bring a revolution over the next year. Not necessarily in security itself, because the core responsibilities remain the same, but in security operations. Security teams will still need to do the same jobs they do today, but they'll need to do them 100 times faster and at 100 times the scale.
"You simply can't achieve that using the old approach. To operate at that speed and scale, organisations need the right architecture and the right agentic controls built on top of it. What stood out about the award winner was the strength of their vision. They identified a compelling entry point, expanded it into a platform strategy and addressed a genuine market problem. That's a powerful combination, and ultimately what set them apart."
The finalists
The other shortlisted businesses reflected a broad spread of cybersecurity concerns. Cytidel focuses on vulnerability intelligence, Datambit on deepfake detection for audio and video, Ploy develops access intelligence tools, and RedCarbon aims to help security operations centres manage alerts and reduce false positives.
That mix offers a snapshot of where startup activity is clustering in cyber. Companies are trying to solve practical problems for overstretched security teams, especially in areas where the volume of signals, alerts and exposures has grown faster than many organisations' ability to respond.
Konvu chief executive officer Lucas Masson said the judges' decision mattered for a young company trying to build credibility.
"I have been really impressed by the pitches here, so it means a lot that our solution resonated with the judges. We're building AI agents that help drastically speed up the vulnerability management process, automatically and autonomously investigating and remediating vulnerabilities. We're all about trust, and awards like this can help add another layer of trust that's really helpful for us as an early-stage company.
"The timing is right. Frontier models like Mythos are getting very good at finding new vulnerabilities, but the same capability is in attackers' hands, so the window between discovery and exploitation is collapsing. Detection is heading toward being largely automated, which moves the bottleneck onto the enterprises that have to triage and fix. That's where Konvu cuts the load off security teams and remediates at the speed attackers now operate."
Startup focus
The award is part of a broader startup programme at Infosecurity Europe aimed at bringing founders, investors and buyers into closer contact. Organisers have expanded dedicated space for younger cyber companies as the sector continues to attract specialist venture capital and strategic interest from larger technology groups.
For cybersecurity startups, visibility at industry events can play an important role in securing meetings with potential customers and partners. Many younger firms operate in markets where trust, procurement cycles and evidence of technical depth can matter as much as product claims.
Valiji linked the competition to the wider cyber community around the event.
"The awards provide an opportunity to give something back to the community at Infosecurity. We've got access to amazing founders, investors and practitioners, with a prime opportunity for people in the community to come together. This was a chance to bring that to life. The Cyber Startup Zone and the awards are a great way for cyber startups to showcase their solutions and get some real energy going, but more importantly, leave people with a sense of connection that they're part of a community. We've had some great networking during the course of the day, and I'm looking forward to an enduring conversation."
The winner's package includes exhibition support, along with brand and communications services. For Konvu, the more immediate value may lie in endorsement from judges with senior roles in cyber and financial services, at a time when AI tools are reshaping vulnerability management on both the defensive and offensive sides.
All five finalists pitched their businesses live to senior industry leaders, investors and buyers.