LaunchKC Winner Acquired

The start-up Nodal Industries, which won a $50,000 grant Kansas City's LaunchKC competition, has been acquired by Luma. Luma provides speed, safety and security to the home WiFi network. The company was launched in 2015 by Mike Van Bruinisse and Dr. Paul Judge, two industry veterans, and has emerged as a competitive force in the smart router market.

Created by Marcus Eagan and Bruce Kleinman, Nodal raised $200,000 from 500 Startups and others before selling to Luma for an undisclosed sum. The team uses a “database of threats combined with behavior analysis” to identify viruses and malware on a network. It can actively block malicious activity and will work directly with Luma’s intrusion detection to bolster the company’s security offering.

“Marcus had been doing non-security consulting with Target on analytics and data integration when a networked HVAC system and a pair of compromised credentials led to the fiasco that was Target’s 2013 holiday,” said Dr. Paul Judge, co-founder of Luma. “While doing some security consulting for other retailers and health care providers who knew about Target, they asked Marcus what tools exist to secure all the ‘smart’ devices for homes and he knew he needed to build the product.  Nodal focused on the home because it wants users to embrace the Internet of Things.”

Nodal launched this year and sold the Numa, a small box that sat directly on the network and protected without onerous configuration. They will embed their technology into the Luma product.

“By merging these two technologies, consumers will now enjoy the equivalent of having the world’s most advanced corporate internet security team right in their home–so you never have to worry about the security vulnerabilities that come with great smart home products ever again,” said Eagan. If the interest in the Luma product is any indication, it’s clear that lots of folks are looking for something to fix their IoTs on the QT PDQ.