Lumana is an AI-powered video security technology company that transforms existing IP cameras into intelligent monitoring systems, helping enterprises improve physical security, accelerate investigations, and gain real-time operational insights through its hybrid-cloud platform. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Lumana Vice President of Operations Ilan Ofek to learn more about the company’s origins, Physical AI technology, enterprise security capabilities, operational applications, competitive advantages, and growth milestones.
How The Idea For Lumana Came Together
When asked how the idea for Lumana originated, Ofek said:
Before launching Lumana, our Founder and CEO, Sagi Ben-Moshe, spent nearly 10 years at Intel working on computer vision and building the company’s RealSense platform. At RealSense, he pioneered 3D depth sensing and spatial vision to help machines like autonomous robots and drones perceive and navigate the world around them.
But as he looked at the broader landscape, an obvious question came up: what about the hundreds of millions of stationary security cameras already deployed everywhere? This is where the concept of Physical AI has developed. Unlike a robot navigating through space, stationary cameras need to understand human behavior, context, and physical environments in real time in order to build genuinely safer, more responsive environments.
Nearly all recorded surveillance footage is never watched. It just sits on hard drives and is only reviewed after an incident happens. Edge computing and AI had finally reached a point where we could bring cloud-level intelligence directly to the edge without forcing companies to replace their existing camera fleets and infrastructure. That realization is why he founded Lumana.
Core Products And Features
When asked about Lumana and the company’s core products and features, Ofek explained:
Our AI video security platform essentially transforms existing IP cameras from passive recording devices into proactive AI agents that can monitor for specific events, alert teams in real time and surface operational insights that accelerate investigations.
The foundation of the platform is VIA-1, our proprietary video intelligence model that continuously learns and adapts to each specific environment it monitors.
Technically, the platform is built on a distributed hybrid-cloud architecture powered by Lumana Core, our on-premises edge appliance. Lumana Core processes heavy video analysis locally to reduce latency, ensure strict data privacy and drastically cut bandwidth consumption, while we leverage the cloud for advanced analysis of flagged incidents, centralized remote management and continuous system updates.
The platform is completely camera-agnostic and built to meet enterprise security and compliance standards, including SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA and NDAA.
Applications Beyond Video Surveillance And Physical Security
When asked about Lumana’s impact beyond traditional video surveillance and physical security, Ofek noted:
Our customer engagements almost always start with physical security, such as improving incident detection, accelerating searches or eliminating false alarms. But once our platform is deployed, operations teams quickly realize that their existing camera network holds an incredible wealth of operational intelligence.
In manufacturing, for example, a company might initially install our platform to secure their facilities, but plant managers soon realize the AI can actively monitor the factory floor. These types of customers are using our platform to instantly detect unscheduled line stoppages, track equipment uptime and pinpoint bottlenecks where materials are backing up, which prevents costly production delays.
In the retail space, operations leaders use that same video for improving customer analytics. Store teams can measure dwell times around key product displays and evaluate shopper journey paths, giving them the objective data they need to optimize floor layouts, product placement and staffing.
What Differentiates Lumana From Its Competition
When asked what differentiates Lumana from competing video security and analytics platforms, Ofek highlighted three primary advantages:
What really sets Lumana apart comes down to three main areas: hardware freedom, our hybrid architecture and the depth of our AI.
First, we do not force customers into a closed ecosystem. Many cloud camera companies require a complete “rip-and-replace,” meaning the customer has to throw away perfectly good cameras and buy their expensive proprietary hardware.
Lumana is entirely camera-agnostic. We connect directly to an organization’s existing IP cameras, letting them modernize their entire security and operations footprint on day one without massive capital expenditures.
Second is how we process data. Streaming 24/7 high-definition video directly to the cloud simply is not viable for large enterprises. It chokes network bandwidth and introduces latency. By putting dedicated GPU compute at the edge, we process the heavy visual models locally in real time. We send lightweight metadata to the cloud, giving customers the speed and reliability of on-prem systems with the remote accessibility of modern SaaS.
Finally, there’s the intelligence itself. A lot of legacy analytics just track basic pixel changes, which floods security teams with false alarms from headlights, tree branches, or rain. Our proprietary model understands real-world context and behavior across space and time. That’s what allows our platform to act like an actual AI agent, one that can understand natural language queries, minimize alert fatigue, and deliver answers in seconds rather than hours.
Significant Company Milestones
When asked about Lumana’s most significant milestones, Ofek concluded with the company’s enterprise adoption, funding, and broader vision for Physical AI:
One of our significant milestones has been the speed and breadth of customer adoption. We are currently deployed across retail, manufacturing, higher education, healthcare and Fortune 500 enterprises around the world. For these organizations, the immediate benefit has been transforming existing camera fleets into proactive intelligence-generating systems that cut incident investigation times from hours to seconds and deliver real-time operational visibility.
To support this growth, we have raised $64 million in total funding, including our recent $40 million Series A led by Wing Venture Capital with participation from Norwest and S Capital. This capital allowed us to accelerate our R&D initiatives and expand our go-to-market reach as demand continues to surge.
Our broader vision is to lead the rollout of Physical AI. We want to turn hundreds of millions of passive cameras worldwide into context-aware systems that not only keep environments safe, but also help businesses make smarter physical-world decisions every day.
