Darktrace

Darktrace Holdings Ltd is a British cybersecurity company founded in 2013 and headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with additional offices in London, San Francisco, and Singapore. It was established by a team of mathematicians and cybersecurity experts from Invoke Capital, a company owned by Mike Lynch, who was also a co-founder of Autonomy. Many of Darktrace’s early management personnel, including Poppy Gustafsson (former CEO) and Jack Stockdale (former CTO), came from Autonomy.

The company uses advanced AI-driven technology to protect organisations from cyber threats. Its flagship product uses unsupervised machine learning to create a "pattern of life" for networks, devices, and users, detecting emerging threats in real-time. Darktrace’s solutions include Antigena (autonomous response technology), PREVENT (attack surface management), DETECT (threat detection), RESPOND (automated attack response), and HEAL (restoration after cyber-attacks).

Darktrace was listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2021 with a market value of £2.5 billion, which later peaked at £7 billion. The company acquired Cybersprint, a Dutch company specialising in attack surface management, for €47.5 million in 2022.

In 2024, Darktrace was acquired by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $5.3 billion. Despite some controversies, including an investigation into accounting practices, the company has continued to grow, securing partnerships such as with McLaren Racing.

Darktrace has received several accolades, including the UK Prime Minister’s National Cyber Security Award and Infosecurity Europe’s Product of the Year. It serves a wide range of industries, including government, healthcare, finance, and telecommunications, providing AI-powered cybersecurity solutions for businesses of all sizes.

Darktrace Holdings Ltd was founded in 2013 in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The company was established by a group of mathematicians and cybersecurity experts with support from Invoke Capital, a venture firm led by Mike Lynch, who was also the co-founder of Autonomy. Many of Darktrace’s founding team, including key executives such as Poppy Gustafsson (former CEO), Jack Stockdale (former CTO), and Nicole Eagan (former Chief Strategy & AI Officer), had previously worked at Autonomy.

In the early stages, Darktrace set up its research and development (R&D) base in Cambridge and later opened a second R&D centre in The Hague, Netherlands. The company developed its AI-powered cybersecurity platform, which employs unsupervised machine learning techniques. This platform builds a "pattern of life" for every network, device, and user within an organisation. By continuously learning from these patterns, Darktrace’s platform can detect emerging cyber threats in real-time and respond autonomously to mitigate risks.

Darktrace went public in April 2021, listing on the London Stock Exchange with a market valuation of approximately £2.5 billion. The company’s valuation increased rapidly, reaching a peak of £7 billion in a few months. However, its market value fluctuated over time, and by March 2022, the share price had settled at £6.46, with a market cap of £3.43 billion. In the same year, Darktrace acquired Cybersprint, a Dutch company specialising in attack surface management, for €47.5 million.

In 2024, Darktrace faced scrutiny when a short-seller, Quintessential Capital Management, published a report alleging potential accounting irregularities. However, Darktrace disputed these claims, and an independent review by EY found only minor errors, which were not considered material to the company’s financial statements.

In April 2024, Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, made an offer to acquire Darktrace for $5.3 billion. The deal was approved by the UK Court in September 2024, and the acquisition was formally completed on 1 October 2024. Following the acquisition, Jill Popelka, the former COO, was appointed as CEO, succeeding Poppy Gustafsson.

In early 2025, Darktrace announced the acquisition of Cado Security, a UK-based firm specialising in cloud forensics and incident response. This acquisition aims to enhance Darktrace’s capabilities in cloud security and further strengthen its AI-driven cybersecurity platform.

Darktrace operates as a private company under Thoma Bravo and continues to develop and offer advanced cybersecurity solutions. The company provides a range of products, including threat detection, autonomous response, and cloud security services, to organisations across various sectors globally.

Darktrace’s mission is to make business environments naturally more secure and trustworthy, allowing organisations to focus on their core tasks. By leveraging advanced AI technology, Darktrace aims to detect and respond to cyber threats in real-time. Its goal is to provide businesses of all sizes with a proactive cybersecurity solution that can adapt to emerging threats, ensuring a safer and more reliable digital environment. The company seeks to offer autonomous protection that requires minimal intervention, allowing businesses to maintain operational continuity and minimise risks from cyberattacks.

Darktrace’s vision is to build effective, self-learning cybersecurity solutions that are accessible to all organisations, regardless of size or industry. By combining cutting-edge AI and machine learning technologies, Darktrace aims to create systems that evolve and improve over time, offering dynamic protection against a constantly changing cyber threat landscape. The company envisions a future where businesses can operate freely without the constant fear of cyberattacks, using intelligent systems that automatically identify and respond to threats. Darktrace’s vision includes broadening its reach and helping more organisations around the world become digitally secure.

Darktrace has received numerous awards recognising its impact and innovation in cybersecurity. These include the UK’s Prime Minister’s National Cyber Security Award and accolades from Infosecurity Europe, where it was named Product of the Year. It has also been recognised in the Deloitte Technology Fastest 50 and won SC Europe’s Best Threat Detection Solution. The company’s technology has been praised for its ability to detect and respond to cyber threats autonomously, making it a leader in AI-driven cybersecurity solutions. Darktrace’s contributions have earned it a strong reputation across the global cybersecurity industry.

Darktrace offers a comprehensive suite of cybersecurity products and services, all powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. 

Darktrace PREVENT: Darktrace PREVENT is a proactive attack surface management tool that continuously monitors and assesses an organisation's attack surface for vulnerabilities. It helps businesses identify risks, high-impact vulnerabilities, and external threats that could be exploited by cybercriminals. The product ensures that organisations have a complete view of their security posture, allowing them to strengthen their defences before an attack occurs. PREVENT is essential for businesses looking to stay ahead of evolving threats and mitigate risks in a constantly changing digital landscape.

Darktrace DETECT: Darktrace DETECT is a core component of the company’s cybersecurity platform. It uses AI to analyse large volumes of data, identifying subtle deviations from normal patterns that could signal the emergence of a cyber threat. DETECT is capable of spotting unknown techniques and novel malware that traditional security tools might miss. It provides real-time threat detection and visibility across networks, helping organisations quickly identify malicious activities and potential breaches. The system is designed to operate seamlessly, installing in minutes and avoiding disruption to business operations.

Darktrace RESPOND: Darktrace RESPOND is an autonomous response tool that actively defends against cyber-attacks in progress. Once a threat is detected, RESPOND takes immediate action to neutralise it, without needing manual intervention. The product works 24/7, enabling security teams to focus on higher-priority tasks and ensuring that threats are handled efficiently. RESPOND can protect against a wide range of cyber threats, including data breaches, ransomware, and insider attacks, by automatically taking steps to contain the threat and mitigate its impact.

Darktrace HEAL: Darktrace HEAL is designed to help organisations recover from cyber-attacks by restoring systems and assets affected by security incidents. Using AI, HEAL enables businesses to return to trusted operational states quickly and confidently. It provides support to security teams, allowing them to make informed decisions about how to repair and restore systems after an attack. This product is particularly important for businesses that need to minimise downtime and ensure that their operations can resume as soon as possible following a cyber incident.

Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst: This product leverages AI to automate the analysis of cybersecurity data. It helps security teams investigate potential threats and security events more efficiently, providing valuable insights that would typically require manual analysis. By automating the process, Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst reduces the time needed for threat hunting and investigation, enabling quicker response times and allowing teams to focus on higher-priority tasks. This tool is valuable for organisations with limited security resources or those looking to streamline their operations.

Darktrace Industrial: Darktrace Industrial is a specialised cybersecurity solution tailored for industrial environments such as factories, critical infrastructure, and manufacturing plants. It uses AI to protect operational technology (OT) systems, ensuring that industrial networks are safe from cyber-attacks. This product is designed to monitor industrial networks for anomalies and protect against cyber threats that could disrupt operations or cause damage. It is particularly important as more industries become connected through IoT and digital systems, increasing the risk of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.

Darktrace Antigena: Antigena is Darktrace’s autonomous response technology that works alongside its detection tools to actively defend against cyber-attacks. When a threat is detected, Antigena takes immediate action to neutralise it by isolating affected systems or blocking harmful activities. This real-time response capability ensures that businesses are protected from attacks as they unfold, reducing the need for manual intervention and allowing security teams to focus on strategic tasks. Antigena can be integrated with other Darktrace products to provide a seamless, automated defence system.