Australian-based startup iluminr has raised over $4.2 million in a capital raise to introduce its growing resiliency proposition into the US market.
The capital raise was led by QBE Ventures – its first investment in an Australian-based tech firm – supported by participation from Rebellion Ventures, Investible, Flying Fox and Jelix Ventures.
Established in 2019, iluminr is an award-winning SaaS platform helping organisations identify and manage critical threats through a bespoke set of cloud-based simulation, compliance and response tools to “bring resilience to life.” The startup was formerly known as Catalyst Technologies.
Under the direction of co-founders Joshua Shields and Marcus Vaughan, iluminr’s portfolio has expanded to over 50 customers, including Ramsay HealthCare, GPT and University of Sydney.
“We are bullish about the future,” Shields said. “We believe the US offers significant upside for a business such as ours. And it’s not just the size of the market that is so appealing, it is also the fact that it is dominated by old legacy technology providers and outdated training approaches.
“Our business model deliberately challenges the status quo and is attracting significant attention,” Shields added. “We are confident our platform will help reinvent a category where the current offerings are either broken or simply not delivering value. We have an opportunity to radically improve how organisations engage staff and manage their critical response capabilities.”
According to Shields, the team has been focused on building the world’s most engaging resiliency platform through scalable gamification as it goes beyond the traditional insurance offering. The entrance of iluminr into the US market will help more businesses adopt a response-first approach to cyberattacks, natural catastrophes or supply chain issues.
QBE Ventures’ investment comes at a time when traditional resilience programs are no longer sufficient for today’s demands, Vaughan said, noting that “how they prepare for and respond to critical events is now vastly different to what it was 18-24 months ago.”
“Every crisis is different from the last, and new threats are emerging daily,” Vaughan said. “More than ever, organisations need to be equipped with the tools and techniques to deal with fast-emerging risks from floods, political unrest, supply chain shortages, disease outbreaks and ransomware.”
