Press Release

Illuma Labs Closes $9M Series-A to Accelerate Innovation and Battle Emerging Fraud Threats Targeting Banking Institutions

Rapidly growing voice authentication solution provider earns support from seven well-known investment groups.

Illuma Labs, a leader in voice authentication technology for banking contact centers, has secured $9 million in Series A funding led by LiveOak Ventures, with participation from Forefront Ventures, Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU. This investment will accelerate the development of Illuma’s voice verification solutions, addressing threats like fraud, voice cloning, and deep fakes, and expanding its reach to more credit unions and banks nationwide.

Illuma is led by co-founders Milind Borkar (CEO) and Jeremy Whittington (CTO). Author of 14 technical publications and inventor on 21 patents, Dr. Borkar launched over 50 hi-tech products during his career with Texas Instruments prior to becoming a FinTech founder. He was recently named to the ‘Future 50’ and ‘AI 75’ lists by Dallas Innovates. 

With a diverse career that stretches over 27 years, Jeremy Whittington has excelled in roles ranging from developer and architect to journalist, advisor, and serial entrepreneur. Under Jeremy’s leadership, the Illuma team has successfully converted innovations in voice biometric authentication into state-of-the-art products that are easy for financial institutions of all sizes to operationalize. “My career started in customer service and that has been a primary driver the past 20 years. It’s exciting to work on technology that can reduce fraud and improve the customer experience at the same time. A rare achievement.”

The Impact of Expanded Support for Illuma’s Voice Authentication 

Milind recognized the significance of the latest additions to the list of investors committed to the company’s growth. “While we are excited about the capital infusion to accelerate our development of fraud prevention and deep fake detection tools, we are equally excited about bringing in new partners to fuel Illuma’s continued commercial growth. LiveOak Ventures and Forefront Ventures bring invaluable operating expertise and industry connections to help Illuma scale to the next level. And we are deeply appreciative of the continued support from Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU.”

Venu Shamapant, Founding Partner at LiveOak Ventures, offered his perspective on the benefits of partnering with Illuma. “With Illuma’s position in the FinTech sector as a provider that delivers state-of-the-art voice biometrics accessible for financial institutions of all sizes, there is a clear growth path to becoming the preferred provider of voice authentication and fraud prevention solutions in this space.” 

Sentiment of Long Term Investors Remains Positive

TDECU and Connexus Credit Unions were early adopters of Illuma’s Fintech solution. Both are continuing their support in this latest round of funding. Chad Rogers, Executive VP and COO at Connexus, spoke about the long term benefits of having voice authentication in place.

“Too often, adoption of increased security measures results in less convenient, less pleasant member service interactions. That said, our collaborative four-year Illuma partnership and our strong track record with their innovative Illuma Shield voice biometric technology have proven just the opposite. Not only are we doing more to mitigate fraud while ensuring the safety of our members’ data and assets, but we’ve streamlined their member service experience by eliminating traditional, often burdensome, out-of-wallet authentication questions. With Illuma Shield, we’ve shortened individual call times by one minute on average, significantly reducing our operational expenses, and affording our members and employees a much more engaging, efficient, and secure experience.”

A Strong Team Toward Continued Growth

The Illuma team was celebrated in 2024 for Innovations in Fraud, winning the CreditUnions.com award in the fraud category. This accolade was followed by recognition of the company’s leadership in the inaugural list of AI 75 by Dallas Innovates for pioneering work in artificial intelligence. 

The latest addition to the Illuma team, Amy Travers, is another significant win for the organization. Travers, formerly Regional VP of Security and Biometrics at Nuance, joined Illuma this year to systemize and scale the sales effort across the U.S. “It’s an exciting move to be embedded with a team that is innovating so rapidly to address emerging threats in fraud, and making voice biometric technology affordable for community banks and credit unions”, said Travers.

About Illuma Labs

Illuma Labs is a FinTech company headquartered in Plano, Texas. The organization’s flagship product, Illuma Shield™, replaces traditional knowledge-based authentication practices with an effortless and secure real-time voice authentication solution to enhance caller experience, improve operational efficiency, and prevent fraud in credit union and community bank contact centers. For more information, visit https://illuma.cx. 

About LiveOak Venture Partners

‍LiveOak Venture Partners is a venture capital fund based in Austin, Texas. With over 23 years of successful venture investing in Texas, the founders of LiveOak have helped create nearly $5 billion of enterprise value. While almost all of LiveOak’s investments begin in the early stages, LiveOak is a complete life cycle investor focused on technology and technology-enabled service companies. With nearly $500M under management, LiveOak Venture Partners has led investments in 60 high-growth Texas-based companies, including DISCO (NYSE: LAW), Eventus, OJO Labs, AmplifAI, Homeward, Take Command Health, and Osano. Recognized as the Venture Capital Firm of the Year in Austin at the 2022 inaugural A-List awards by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, LiveOak is dedicated to supporting local founders, fostering the next generation of leaders, and building category-dominating companies. To learn more, visit https://liveoak.vc/. 

About Forefront Venture Partners

Forefront Venture Partners was co-founded by Phil Nadel in 2014 and has invested more than $100M in more than 200 startups. The fund invests in high-growth, revenue-generating, early-stage companies led by amazing founders. To learn more about Forefront, visit https://forefrontvp.com.

About Curql

Curql Collective is a collaborative ecosystem of progressive credit unions and innovative fintech. Through a family of funds including Curql Fund I, Curql Fund II, and Curql Accelerate, Curql strategically invests in the visions of entrepreneurs to bring transformative technology to credit unions to revolutionize how credit union members engage with financial services in the digital age. As the on-ramp to fintech collaboration and innovation, Curql connects credit unions with the future of the credit union industry. For more information, please visit curql.com/credit-unions/  

About Capital Factory

Capital Factory has been the most active, early-stage investor in Texas since 2010. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, the organization meets the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduces them to investors, employees, mentors, and customers. Learn more at capitalfactory.com.

About UsNet

For over twenty-five years Universal Sharing Network, Inc. (UsNet) has helped credit unions extend their reach, connect with members and succeed in their missions. Through UsNet and the shared branching network, no matter where members go, their credit union is there too. UsNet credit unions benefit from a growing network, unmatched support and service, and a thriving cooperative movement. UsNet is here to help credit unions excel at what we do best: Reach. Connect. Succeed. Learn more at https://www.universalsharing.com/

About Connexus

With more than 700 employees serving more than 450,000 members across all 50 states, Connexus is a member-focused cooperative with over $4.7B in assets. Connexus is proud to provide high yields for checking accounts and deposit products, as well as an industry-leading Digital Banking experience and competitive rates for personal, home, and auto loans. The Wausau, WI-based credit union has been nationally recognized for excellence by Forbes, CNN Money, NerdWallet, Kiplinger, and Bankrate. Connexus is committed to being a nationally relevant, trusted credit union, providing exceptional experiences and fostering prosperity for those it serves. Learn more at Connexus.org. 

About TDECU

Founded in 1955, TDECU is a not-for-profit financial cooperative with more than 370,000 Members and over $4.7 billion in assets. TDECU currently has 38 service locations, including 35 Member Centers, and offers a complete selection of convenient, innovative, and competitive products and services, including a full suite of deposit products as well as mortgage, auto and personal loan products, online and mobile banking. TDECU also offers, through its subsidiaries, retirement planning and wealth management, personal and business insurance products. Members can also access a worldwide network of over 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs. For more information visit TDECU.org or call (800) 839-1154.