Participated · Series A · Sep 2024

Illuma Labs is a Plano, Texas–based fintech company whose flagship product, Illuma Shield™, delivers real-time voice biometric authentication for credit union and community bank contact centers. The solution replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication to improve caller experience, operational efficiency, and fraud prevention. The company reports that customers have shortened individual call times by about one minute on average. Illuma plans to use new capital to accelerate development of fraud-prevention, voice cloning and deep-fake detection tools and to expand commercial deployment to more credit unions and banks nationwide. The team has added senior hires such as Amy Travers (formerly Nuance) to scale U.S. sales, while CTO Jeremy Whittington leads product execution. Illuma has received industry recognition, including a CreditUnions.com Innovations in Fraud award and inclusion on Dallas Innovates' AI 75 list. Illuma operates a GDPR-compliant contextual advertising platform that reacts to live browsing behaviour to expand campaigns in real time without relying on cookies, personal data or pre-built contextual segments. Founded in 2016 by data scientists and media experts, the company positions its technology as an alternative to cookie-based targeting. Illuma’s platform aims to deliver better return on investment for advertisers and already serves blue-chip clients including Microsoft, American Express, Aviva and TUI. The business plans to use its recent funding to scale operations, build its team, develop new products and further enhance its proprietary algorithms. Product development priorities explicitly include expanding into areas such as Connected TV (CTV) to meet growing demand for cookieless solutions ahead of browser cookie changes.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2024

Illuma Labs develops Illuma Shield, a real-time voice authentication solution that replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication in credit union and community bank contact centers. The product is designed to improve caller experience, boost operational efficiency, and prevent fraud including voice cloning and deep fakes. Early adopters TDECU and Connexus have deployed the technology; Connexus reports a one-minute reduction in average call times and lower operational expenses. Illuma plans to use new funding to accelerate development of fraud-prevention and deep-fake detection tools and expand its commercial reach to more credit unions and banks nationwide. Leadership includes founder and CEO Milind Borkar and CTO Jeremy Whittington; the company recently hired Amy Travers (formerly Regional VP of Security and Biometrics at Nuance) to systemize and scale U.S. sales. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Illuma has won a 2024 CreditUnions.com Innovations in Fraud award and was named to Dallas Innovates' inaugural AI 75 list.