Geo Focus: The United Kingdom
,
Geo-Specific
,
Government

Orange Cyberdefense’s Dominic Trott on Investor Hesitancy, Geopolitical Obstacles

Akshaya Asokan (asokan_akshaya) •
August 4, 2025    

Dominic Trott, director of strategy and alliances, Orange Cyberdefense

The United Kingdom has a strong track record of supporting startups and building successful organizations, but U.K. cybersecurity startups still face hurdles, said Dominic Trott, director of strategy and alliances for the U.K. region at Orange Cyberdefense.

See Also: Compliance Team Guide for Evasion Prevention & Sanction Exposure Detection

One of the biggest challenges is the lack of long-term visibility for investors, as global events such as the war in Ukraine and trade tariff tensions make planning more difficult.

“As a result, funds become harder to access, whether for investment or procurement. There’s more scrutiny, more justification needed and decisions are made more conservatively. That makes it tougher for venture capital to flow, even though the U.K. still receives the most VC investment in Europe for cybersecurity,” Trott said.

In this video with Information Security Media Group, Trott also discussed:

The funding crunch for British cybersecurity startups;
The impact of U.S. trade tariff threats on European tech;
How Europe’s tech sovereignty ambitions may reshape the cyber sector.

At Orange Cyberdefense, Trott is responsible for shaping the company’s market strategy for global services. Prior to joining Orange Cyberdefense, he worked at IDC, focusing on U.K. and European security markets. He began his cybersecurity journey in 2007 as a market analyst at European IT research firm PAC.