CYSEC: The Venture Leader Mobile securing space internet and satellite connectivity

14.02.2025 10:00, Rita Longobardi

Meet Yacine Felk, Co-Founder of CYSEC. The security startup provides cybersecurity tools for space internet networks and critical infrastructures. In March, Yacine will join nine other innovators on a business development and investor roadshow in Barcelona.

Name: Yacine Felk
Location: Lausanne
Nationality: Swiss
Graduated from: Mines ParisTech
Job title: COO and Co-Founder
Number of employees: 35
Money raised: CHF 8 M
 

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Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
Our product to be presented through the Venturelab program at MWC Barcelona 2025 is ARCA SATCOM. It is a software solution enabling to improvement of the quality of experience and secure data transmitted through satellite networks. With ARCA SATCOM we combine in a compelling way acceleration and encryption of the traffic, which is particularly critical in packet loss environments. We thus enable our partner to benefit from the advantages of satellite connectivity in the most critical environments.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
As a space tech company, we address the "Space internet" market which is expected to grow and reach USD 1T by 2030 driven by the strong adoption of connectivity for remote areas. This growth is enabled by the deployment of huge constellations of LEO satellites such as Starlink and Oneweb enabling broadband connectivity. With this in mind, at CYSEC we enable to secure, and improve the resilience and quality of services for end-users exploiting such networks. 

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup? 
Initially, our company was incepted in 2018 developing confidential computing solutions for sovereign clouds. We then shifted to securing space internet infrastructure a few years later while participating in the ESA Business Incubation Center, this is the place where we incepted our ARCA SATCOM solution.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how do you think it will help you achieve your vision?
Ventures Leaders roadshow helps to connect with peers, VCs and most of all attend MWC (Mobile Worldwide Congress) where we’ll have many opportunities to connect with partners and showcase our products and solutions.
 

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What are your team’s key achievements to date?

- Deploying our solutions abroad mostly in Europe, Middle-East and Asia in Tier 1 operators and integrators demonstrating our market fit.
- Growing from 2 co-founders to a 35+ team deployed between Switzerland, France, Italy and UAE in a few years.
- Getting our organization and solutions approved and supported by Space Agencies such as ESA (European Space Agency) and CNES (French Space Agency).
- Organizing the 1st Conference worldwide dedicated to Cybersecurity topics in Newspace (www.cysat.eu) with the first demonstration of in-flight satellite hacking in 2023.
- Getting support from our investors, new shareholders and VCs.

Is there a key principle or value that guides you as you build your company?
Driven by our vision, one of the key principles at the core of CYSEC is the "continuous optimism" we have in tackling any challenge we face. The other key principle is that we are “staying small until we build significant traction” releasing products with features relevant to our partners and customers, companies willing to exploit satellite communication networks.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
As a co-founder, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that selling and scaling sales requires patience and resilience for a b2b software provider, most of all given that most of our markets are outside the country.

What is your favorite productivity hack or tool and why?
Like many of my peers, I think the Pomodoro technique is one of my favorite productivity tools. It enables basically to focus on a problem and dig into solving it and executing a plan.

What was your dream job when you were a child?
Looking at seeds, plants and tree variety I wanted to be a Botanist.