The Australian government has selected six cyber security start-ups to take part in the Landing Pad program, at the WeWork shared workspace in San Francisco.

Launched in February of 2016, the Landing Pad program aims to provide market-ready Australian start-ups and scale-ups with access to investors and strategic planners.

The program is run by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (AusTrade) and works as a 90-day residency, with hubs in Tel Aviv, Singapore, Shanghai, Berlin and San Francisco.

The upcoming San Francisco intake will be delivered in conjunction with the Australian Cyber Growth Network, as part of the National Innovation and Science Agenda.

The six start-ups selected for the program are: Cog Systems, Hivint, GoPC, Haventec, NetCrypt and SIEMonster.

Senior Trade Commissioner and Consul General in San Francisco, Chris Oldfield, spoke about the program at a special ACS event last month.

“We now have an accelerator here in San Francisco, and we bring in about 10 young start-ups, four times a year and we manage that ourselves,” he said.

“We know it’s not possible to recreate Silicon Valley in Australia, but what we can do is bring Australians here to help them understand what’s needed for success.”

One of the selected start-ups is Hivint, Australia’s fastest growing cyber security consultancy firm, which earlier this year won the Telstra Victorian New Business Award.

Co-Founder and Chief Apiarist, Craig Searle, said the Landing Pad program now provides them with the opportunity to break into the US market.

“For us it’s an opportunity to establish ourselves, or establish a foothold, in the American market,” he told Information Age.

“We believe we’ve got a unique product offering that’s well suited for the US, but Landing Pad has enabled us to get into the US market a lot sooner than we would have otherwise, with substantially less risk than going in alone.”

Hivint offers users services across cyber security consultancy, penetration testing, strategy and governance.

It’s most successful venture has been their subscription portal, SecurityColony.com, which gives businesses early warnings of a potential compromise of data.

“It aligns with our growth strategy both in Australia and worldwide. We think that our security collaboration platform is a world-first offering, and the US is a good opportunity to really test that market,” said Searle.

“I think overall the Landing Pad has been a really exciting process and it’s good to see the buzz it’s generated in the cyber security community here in Australia, and we’re really proud to be a part of it and working alongside some of the best start-ups in Australia.”

Hivint will send over their other co-founder, Nick Ellsmore, in late January to take part in the program.