Lumu, a startup dedicated to aiding enterprises in detecting and isolating security breaches, has just announced a successful Series B funding round that secured $30 million. Forgepoint Capital led the investment, with $6 million of the total raised in the form of debt financing.
Ricardo Villadiego, Lumu’s CEO and founder, has outlined the company’s plans for this fresh infusion of capital. The funds will primarily be directed towards expanding Lumu’s sales team in the United States, bolstering its go-to-market strategy, and intensifying investments in research and development.
Villadiego highlighted Lumu’s core mission, emphasizing its commitment to making their security solutions accessible to a broader range of security teams, especially those with limited resources, as they grapple with the complexities of today’s threat landscape.
Villadiego, who previously served as IBM’s Regional Director overseeing internet security systems for Latin America, established Lumu after years of scrutinizing corporate data breach patterns. He identified a common thread in these breaches: the involvement of cybercriminals in the network. Consequently, Villadiego developed technology that continuously monitors networks for signs of compromise and responds accordingly. This technology has evolved into Lumu, which now offers a suite of services designed to fortify defenses against potential cyber breaches.
“Cybersecurity is a complex field where it’s often challenging to determine if the measures taken are effectively enhancing resistance to cyberattacks,” Villadiego noted. “Lumu simplifies this conversation across all levels within an organization, providing a clear guiding principle.”
To achieve this, Lumu focuses on the detection of network threats and provides comprehensive information about compromised assets, including the timing and methods of the breaches, along with recommendations for specific countermeasures. With Lumu, customers can automate certain defense actions using their existing cybersecurity tools and review up to two years’ worth of network metadata for any signs of suspicious activity.
Villadiego emphasized that Lumu’s interface caters to individuals with varying levels of technical expertise, ensuring that even less experienced analysts can effectively use the platform. Furthermore, Lumu is adaptable to different cybersecurity stacks, regardless of their complexity, granting operators the capability to respond in real-time to network threats using their existing infrastructure.
While Lumu operates in a space with several similar vendors, such as Ordr, Cyrebro, Darktrace, and Vectra, it benefits from a market that continues to experience sustained and even growing demand. A September Cisco survey revealed that 86% of organizations plan to increase their cybersecurity budgets by at least 10% over the next year.
Despite a decrease in venture capital investments in cybersecurity, with Q2 2023 data indicating a 63% year-over-year drop to just over $1.6 billion, Villadiego is optimistic about Lumu’s prospects. He pointed to the company’s customer momentum, including 881 live deployments as of September and a remarkable 133% growth in annual recurring revenue year-over-year.
Villadiego attributed some of this growth to the pandemic, which forced organizations to rely on security controls that remained in corporate offices while network traffic flowed from employees’ homes to the cloud, often without adequate scrutiny. This situation created significant opportunities for cybercriminals, driving demand for Lumu’s services.
