This article first appeared on CyberScoop.
The Department of Homeland Security is dishing out nearly $1 million in competitive awards to five startups developing cybersecurity technologies for the Internet of Things.
The five companies are getting the money as they advance to phase two of the Silicon Valley Innovation Program, or SVIP, run by the Cybersecurity Division of the Science and Technology Directorate. The program uses a special government acquisition authority called an Other Transaction Solicitation to help “non-traditional” contractors to develop technology solutions to “some of the toughest threats facing DHS and the homeland security mission,” according to a release out Tuesday.
“This marks an important milestone,” said Melissa Ho, the managing director of SVIP. “We’re committed to real investments in startups and connecting them to new operational customers and applications of their technologies that they never imagined.”
The five companies have completed the first phase of the program by creating a proof-of-concept demonstration….