Immersive Labs raises $40m Series B

Immersive Labs, the world’s first fully interactive, on-demand and gamified cyber skills platform, has closed $40 million in funding led by global growth equity investor Summit Partners, with participation from existing investor Goldman Sachs.

The investment will be used to support expansion initiatives in North America, where customer demand highlights a clear need to optimise cyber skills and guard against constantly evolving threats.

James Hadley, CEO of Immersive Labs said: “Gaps in cybersecurity knowledge meaningfully increase risk to an organisation, creating vulnerability and presenting opportunity for attackers. The rapid, constantly evolving threat landscape has made traditional classroom training for cyber skills obsolete.

“At a time when cyber skills are stretched across the board, the Immersive Labs platform enables companies to identify these weak points and rapidly skill people to address them.”

Immersive Labs was founded by CEO James Hadley, former UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) cybersecurity instructor, who envisioned transforming the way organisations acquire and deploy new skills.

The company has experienced rapid growth since its launch, with 750% year-over-year increase in annual recurring revenues and an employee base that is now more than 100 strong. The company plans to build on its momentum from its new North American headquarters in Boston.

More than 100 organisations worldwide are already experiencing the benefits of the Immersive Labs platform, including British Telecom, Bank of Montreal, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as well as government bodies such as the UK’s National Health Service and London’s Metropolitan Police.

Antony Clavel, a Principal with Summit Partners, said, “Cybersecurity has been a core investment theme for Summit for many years. We recognize in Immersive Labs many of the same qualities that we’ve seen in other cybersecurity leaders: a technically strong and strategically thoughtful management team; a differentiated product addressing a large and urgent market need; and a rapidly growing base of blue-chip customers.

“We believe Immersive Labs is well-positioned to become a global category leader in cyber skills development.”

James Hayward, from Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, added: “We are impressed with Immersive Labs’ achievements since our initial investment and see further growth potential as the team continues to execute on their vision and expand to new geographies.

“The platform is continually evolving to help address the gap in cyber skills that is impacting companies and governments across the globe.”

source immersivelabs

Industry: Cyber Security