Immersive Labs, the company empowering organisations to measure and improve cybersecurity skills across technical and non-technical teams, has closed a USD75 million Series C funding round led by new investors Insight Partners alongside Menlo Ventures, Citi Ventures and existing investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
The investment will accelerate delivery of a progressive new Cyber Workforce Optimisation platform. With cyber risk no longer confined to technical specialists, expert skills are now required across the entire organisation. From crisis management with executives, to secure software development amongst engineers and ensuring compliance in legal teams, the platform will use data insights to understand where skills are required and inject role specific training. It will also enable board-level metrics and benchmarking.
Immersive Labs, which has now received USD123 million in venture funding, currently counts organisations such as HSBC, Vodafone and the NHS as customers. Growing at over 100 per cent year-on-year, it has recently been named in numerous industry and business awards as an innovation leader.
James Hadley, CEO and Founder of Immersive Labs, says: “With cyber risk becoming a problem for a growing number of business functions, cybersecurity knowledge and skills should no longer be the preserve of a few technical people hidden away in a back office. Everyone from the teams who build software, to the CEO, now need to play their part in addressing a pervasive company issue. This requires unlocking and evidencing skills in a much broader group of people.
“The first step to achieving this lies in understanding where capabilities are lacking which, until now, has been impossible. This investment will allow us to add new analytical capabilities and content to provide a more detailed picture of skills across the growing breadth and depth of cyber exposure facing organisations, helping them measure and manage risk better.”
“With significant global customer and revenue growth over the last few years, Immersive Labs has established a strong position in the fast-developing cyber skills space,” says Ryan Hinkle, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “With influential leadership, an innovative product in a growing market and strong user engagement, the company is in a position to continue to lead the cyber readiness market.” As part of the transaction, Hinkle will be joining the company’s Board of Directors.
As well as building out the platform, Immersive Labs will use the funding to expand its international presence, tripling global headcount to 600 over the next two years and establishing operations in new regions throughout APAC and Europe.
“The labor crisis in cyber security is a hard problem to solve. To protect against ever-evolving threats, the cyber workforce must constantly expand and evolve. Immersive Labs helps large organisations confront this head-on by combining smart data analysis with targeted training,” says Venky Ganesan, Partner at Menlo Ventures. “As a veteran cyber security investor, I find the opportunity for Immersive Labs to solve a massive problem with a horizontal solution exciting. The cybersecurity threat will only increase, making Immersive Labs future proof as they seek to help large enterprises educate and arm themselves against ever-evolving threats.”
Arvind Purushotham, Managing Director and Global Head of Citi Ventures, says: “We believe strongly in the value of using people more strategically to help large organisations mitigate ever-growing cyber risk. Traditionally, this has been difficult; without effective data, it’s hard to know where to apply skills development and how to measure its success. This is why Immersive Labs’ vision is so compelling – it creates visibility into and optimises one of the most valuable assets in cyber defense, the human defenders.”
James Hayward, Managing Director in the Growth Equity team at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, says: “Immersive Labs has proven itself to be a valuable partner for businesses looking to improve their resilience to cyber risks. Their growth and development in the three years since we initially invested has been impressive and we believe they have built a strong foundation for further growth.”
