It was only in June last year when we reported how Immersive Labs, a platform which teaches cybersecurity skills to employees in a “gamified” way, had closed a $75 million Series C funding round. As of today, the company just pulled in another $66 Million, taking the total raised to $189 million.
And it can perhaps put its success partly to COVID-19. The company has previously said the new wave of interest in cyber security by organizations has been caused by so many people shifting to working remotely, a habit which was acquired during the pandemic and which now increasingly companies implement by default.
Ten Eleven Ventures led the latest raise, while existing investors Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures, and Citi Ventures all participated in the round.
Immersive Labs originated from the CYLON cyber accelerator in London, an idea borne of founder James Hadley, a former GCHQ security researcher, and trainer, who realized ordinary employees needed a better way to learn cyber security as they were the weakest links in most organizations.
The capital will be used to boost its “Cyber Workforce Resilience” category and deliver solutions to enterprise customers like Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Pfizer, Daimler, Humana, Atos, and the UK National Health Service.
In a statement Hadely said: “Attracting new investment during a difficult time overall for the tech sector underscores the incredible demand for Immersive Labs’ disruptive, people-centric approach to cybersecurity. Proving cyber resilience has increasingly become a Board and C-level consideration.”
Immersive has also beefed-up its executive team, adding Sandra McDevitt as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Lucian Lui as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Dave Palmer (Ten Eleven General Partner and Darktrace Founder and former Chief Product Officer) will join the company’s Board, while Jack Huffard (Tenable Co-Founder and current Non-Executive Director of Immersive) becomes Chair.
Palmer added: “As we see more focus on proving cyber resilience across public and private sectors, Immersive Labs stands to play a key role in the future of cybersecurity.