Immersive Labs, the Bristol cyber security firm founded by a former GCHQ researcher, has raised $8m (£6.2m) to further develop its innovative training system that uses computer game techniques to fight real-life threats.
The skills platform, which is already used for complex cyber security training by clients such as engineering group BAE Systems and accountants Grant Thornton, harnesses real-time feeds of the latest attack techniques, hacker psychology and technological vulnerabilities.
These are used to rapidly build cyber wargames for IT and security teams. The platform can upskill people within hours of a threat emerging and can also be used to identify and fix less immediate weaknesses in the talent pool.
The series A funding found has been led by banking giant Goldman Sachs and also includes a group of smaller private investors.
The funding will be used to grow the business by bringing in new staff, further developing the platform and supporting its marketing.
Immersive Labs, which is based in the Runway East co-working space, was founded by ex-GCHQ researcher James Hadley and has former GCHQ director Robert Hannigan as chair of the advisory board.
James had the initial idea after running a GCHQ cyber summer school, teaching 18-25-year-old students over a 10-week period.
He noticed the classes with the highest success rate were the ethical hacking challenges featuring games, which enabled students to solve problems, as opposed to sitting passively in a classroom.
Just two years later, the company has grown from two people to 65 globally with sister offices in London and New York.
Its award-winning platform uses real-time feeds of the latest attack techniques, hacker psychology and technological vulnerabilities to rapidly build cyber wargames for IT and security teams to learn from.
James Hadley said: “Large organisations are facing a dual cyber security talent problem. Not only is the number of professionals seriously lagging but so is the pace at which their skills are developed. If you are able to recruit the right people in the first place, today’s attackers move so fast your team may quickly fall behind.
“Our goal is to reduce this gap. With increased capital, we can help more companies continue to upskill their cyber talent in a way which keeps pace with the threat landscape.”
Goldman Sachs chief information security officer Andy Ozment added: “Having rolled out the Immersive Lab platform globally ourselves, we are aware of the benefits it brings to large organizations.
“Continuous training programmes are critical to meeting evolving cyber security threats. The Immersive platform has helped us hone the skills of the people at the front line of our cyber defenses and identify new talent throughout the organisation.”
Robert Hannigan said: “It is great to see a company with the reputation of Goldman Sachs getting firmly behind one of the fastest-growing UK cyber security success stories. Not only does it speak volumes of everything the team at Immersive Labs has achieved to date, but also of the massive growth potential the company has.”
