Stepping into the Future: Immersive Labs joins Future Fifty 9.0

It feels like no time at all since the early days of Immersive Labs, when the team (starting with just two of us) rattled around a shipping container accompanied by Taylor Swift’s dulcet tones.

It is hard to believe how far we’ve come since then! It wasn’t so long ago that we welcomed our 100th person to the team – and last week, when our headcount officially grew to 200 people across 7 countries, it felt like another huge milestone that I am sure will be surpassed in the months ahead. What’s so strange is that many of our team haven’t yet met in person, which is something that I’m looking forward to doing as we expand globally.

The news also broke this week that we have been selected for Tech Nation’s Future Fifty 9.0 program. When I heard this, I was ready to burst with pride at what the people of Immersive Labs – my team – have been able to accomplish in such a short time.

https://youtu.be/4sn5Y4PKNDE

To say I’m proud of the team really doesn’t do it justice. In the four years since waking up at 3am to scribble down an idea for a cyber labs platform that can measure skills, we have:

• Secured $48m in funding from Goldman Sachs and Summit Partners
• Expanded across the world with HQs in Bristol, UK, and Boston, MA
• Created over 1,000 high quality and engaging cybersecurity labs for our customers
• Brought some of the world’s biggest organizations on board, including Citigroup, the NHS, and Grant Thornton – and a whole lot more
• Passed the 200 employee milestone
• And much more that will be shared soon.

Our original product is now joined by 3 new products to the platform including secure coding training for developers, cyber crisis simulation and decision-making for executives, and a screening module to remove bias in the hiring cycle and hire based on skills, not certifications. I’m looking forward to sharing future products that form part of our platform in due course.

Now, as one of this year’s Future Fifty, we’re walking in the footsteps of some of the most successful UK tech companies. Even through the trials and tribulations of 2020, we’ve continued to experience exceptional growth and we have ambitious plans for the next few years.

Having the support of the Future Fifty will help us to continue to challenge the role people play in cybersecurity and define the human cyber readiness space, so we can achieve the vision we set out to make a reality: to help every person in every company stand prepared for every cyber threat.

James Hadley,
CEO and Founder of Immersive Labs