The Governance
Element
Cybersecurity Cybersecurity risk is an area of high priority for both Horizon and
assessment audit that helps us to maintain
our portfolio companies. According to a survey conducted by the
confidence in the security of our data and IT
ONS, 39% of businesses experienced a cyber breach in 2022. The
system. These controls have proven successful
occurrence of such an incident can create significant disruption
as the firm has not experienced a cybersecurity
to business operations and therefore it is essential to take a
or other security threat to date. We strongly
proactive approach to fortifying data and IT infrastructure to
encourage the same caution and protocol within
improve our ability to detect, manage and prevent cyberthreats.
the data and IT infrastructure of our portfolio
We have therefore strengthened the firm’s cybersecurity
companies to ensure the security and safety of
protections.
their business operations.
This includes a review by a third-party consultant, CyberCrowd, and the achievement of Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus Certification. This is a government-backed scheme designed to guard against common cyber threats and demonstrate a commitment to cybersecurity. As a part of the annual certification process for Cyber Essentials, Horizon receives an external
Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) is a topic that has received increasing attention at both firm and portfolio level. At Horizon we have been focusing on growing the team to meet the deployment expectations of current and future fundraising, welcoming a total of 9 new members since end of 2021 – 5/9 were female hires and 4 directly involved in deal cycle (origination / investment) Horizon hosted a diversity and inclusion roundtable with representatives from each portfolio company. We discussed neurodiversity in business, trans & non-binary inclusion and menopause policy in an open forum format. We had champions for each of the initiatives across the portfolio share best practices and encourage discussion. Overall, it was a highly successful event and the feedback we collected is encouraging.
Thanks to all the presenters for pulling together an insightful and thought provoking afternoon Nikki Sandham- CFO of Modern Networks
3
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022/cyber-security-breaches-survey-2022