Welsh Software Firm Dot On Selected for UK Government Cyber Security Role

Welsh software company Dot On has been selected by the UK Government as a Software Security Ambassador, joining organisations including Fortinet, Thales and QinetiQ in a national drive to raise security standards across the software that UK businesses rely on.

Dot On, which is based in Monmouth, is the only ambassador headquartered in Wales. The Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP) has supported the company, helping it build the security credentials behind its selection.

The scheme, run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), brings together organisations that serve as role models for the Software Security Code of Practice: 14 voluntary principles that set out what good software security looks like, from how code is designed and built to how vulnerabilities are fixed and communicated to customers.

Dot On is one of 15 organisations in the scheme’s second cohort, running from November 2026 to October 2027. It joins the scheme’s first cohort of 13, which launched in January 2026 and includes Cisco, Sage and Santander, bringing the number of ambassadors to 28. Ambassadors share their experience with government, champion wider adoption of the Code, and help inform future software security policy, including a planned certification scheme being developed by DCMS and the NCSC.

Jon and Louise Petrie founded Dot On in 2015, after years of running their own retail business on e-commerce, in-store, warehouse and back-office systems that repeatedly broke down. Frustrated by the cost of poor-quality technology, they began building their own. Dot On now provides a core operations system that enables retailers, particularly fashion brands, to run their existing systems from a single platform. Customers include Fairfax & Favor and The Beauty Tech Group, with customers across the UK, Europe and the US.

Security has been central to the business from the start. Dot On holds UKAS-accredited ISO 27001, ISO 9001, and Cyber Essentials certifications, and its engineers hand-craft its source code without using generative AI.

AGP has worked with Dot On across its growth, guiding it through ISO 27001 preparation, helping it raise more than £500,000 in research, development and innovation funding and secure R&D tax credits. AGP’s business development specialists also supported product positioning, pricing, and team structure, helping the company win contracts with some of the UK’s and Europe’s fastest-growing retailers. With that support, Dot On has doubled its team, grown revenue by 600%, and secured backing from the Welsh Government through several funding rounds totalling £1,250,000.

Retailers using Dot On’s platform sell to customers in more than 80 countries, across the UK, Europe, North America, Asia and Australasia. Over the next three years, the company aims to grow its team tenfold, increase revenue twentyfold and expand into new international markets.

Jon Petrie, Co-Founder, CEO and CTO of Dot On, said:

“Being chosen as a Software Security Ambassador, the only one based in Wales, is a real moment of pride for our whole team. It puts a Welsh company alongside some of the best-known names in technology and retail, and shows that you don’t need to be headquartered in London to help lead industry standards.

 

“We started Dot On because we’d lived with technology that kept letting our own business down, so we decided from day one that quality and security would underpin our proposition. Our customers trust us with the systems at the heart of their businesses, and our own team hand-crafts every line of our code.

 

“The Accelerated Growth Programme has been with us at every stage. Andy Bird, our AGP Relationship Manager, has been pivotal. He believed in what we were building and gave us hands-on, practical support, from getting ready for ISO to finding the right funding to keep innovating. That gave us the foundations and the confidence to put ourselves forward for opportunities like this. Taek Legal, a Welsh legal consultancy, has also been key in supporting our security journey.”

Lucy Jones, Operations Manager of the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme, said:

“We’re delighted to see Dot On recognised by the UK Government in this way. Being selected alongside household names, and as the only ambassador from Wales, is a significant achievement for a growing Welsh retail tech business.

 

“Dot On has treated security as a core part of their product from the beginning, and that focus is what sets them apart.

 

“Helping ambitious firms put the right foundations in place, and then use them to compete on a national stage, is exactly what the Accelerated Growth Programme is designed to do. We’re proud to have supported Dot On on that journey.”

Adam Price, Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, said:

“Dot On’s selection as a UK Government Software Security Ambassador is a significant achievement and recognition of the expertise being developed by Welsh technology businesses in cyber resilience.

 

“It highlights the strength of Wales’ growing cyber and digital sectors – key parts of our ambition to drive innovation and increase productivity – and the value of the support available to ambitious businesses through Business Wales.”

As part of its role, Dot On will publish an assessment of its practices against the Code and work with DCMS on case studies showing how growing technology businesses can apply the principles.