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Darktrace is a technology company.
Darktrace develops a self-learning artificial intelligence platform that provides autonomous cyber defense for organizations. Its core offering, the ActiveAI Security Platform, uses AI to understand an organization's unique digital environment and identify subtle deviations from normal behavior. This approach enables the platform to detect and autonomously respond to novel and in-progress cyber threats across network, email, cloud, operational technology, identity, and endpoint systems.
The company was founded in 2013 in Cambridge, United Kingdom, by Poppy Gustafsson, Dave Palmer, Emily Orton, Jack Stockdale, and Nicole Eagan. Their foundational insight stemmed from applying advanced mathematical principles and machine learning techniques, pioneered at the University of Cambridge, to address the escalating and evolving challenges in cybersecurity, leading to the creation of a proactive defense mechanism.
Darktrace serves over 10,000 organizations globally, protecting them from a wide array of cyber-attacks, including ransomware, phishing, and insider threats. The company’s vision is to deliver comprehensive, adaptive cybersecurity that empowers businesses to defend themselves automatically against sophisticated attacks, ensuring resilience in a dynamic threat landscape. It aims to provide essential security for an ever-changing digital future.
Darktrace has raised $296.0M across 7 funding rounds.
Darktrace has raised $296.0M in total across 7 funding rounds.
Darktrace is valued at approximately $12.5M.
Darktrace is a British cybersecurity company founded in 2013 that develops AI-powered platforms to detect and autonomously respond to cyber threats in real-time.[1][2][3][4] Its core product, the Enterprise Immune System (now part of the Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform™), uses unsupervised machine learning to establish a "pattern of life" for every user, device, and network, enabling it to identify anomalies and threats that traditional tools miss.[3][4][6][7] Darktrace serves over 5,500 customers across all 16 CISA critical infrastructure sectors, including Fortune 100 firms, financial services, governments, and industrial operations worldwide, solving the problem of sophisticated, evolving cyber attacks like ransomware, state-sponsored espionage, and insider threats by providing proactive, autonomous defense without relying on predefined signatures or rules.[3][6][9] The company has shown strong growth momentum, expanding from early deployments to global scale with 44 offices, over 1,300 employees, rapid product launches, key partnerships (e.g., AWS, HackerOne, Cado Security), and an IPO in 2021 before its acquisition by Thoma Bravo in October 2024.[3][4][5][6]
Darktrace emerged in 2013 from a collaboration between mathematicians from the University of Cambridge and cybersecurity experts with intelligence backgrounds, including alumni from UK’s GCHQ, MI5, CIA, and personnel from Mike Lynch’s prior company Autonomy.[1][2][3][4][6] Key figure Dr. Mike Lynch, a Cambridge graduate and Autonomy founder (sold to HP), provided seed funding through his venture capital firm Invoke Capital (estimated £630,000–£1.3 million), which played a pivotal role in early development at Cambridge's signal processing lab and AI Research Centre.[2][3][4][6] The idea stemmed from applying AI and machine learning—inspired by human immune systems—to cybersecurity, addressing gaps in legacy tools that failed against novel threats; early traction came from proving the technology against real-world dangers like latent vulnerabilities and cloud threats.[1][2][3]
Pivotal moments included the 2013 launch of the Enterprise Immune System, its success during the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attacks (where Antigena responded in seconds), and subsequent expansions like Antigena in 2016 for autonomous responses and Darktrace Industrial in 2017 for OT/SCADA networks.[2][3][6] Leadership from figures like former CEO Poppy Gustafsson and CTO Jack Stockdale (Autonomy recruits) drove evolution from startup to global player.[4]
Darktrace rides the AI-driven cybersecurity wave, capitalizing on exploding threats from ransomware, nation-state actors, and AI-powered attacks amid digital transformation (cloud, IoT, OT convergence).[1][3][6][9] Timing is ideal post high-profile breaches like WannaCry and SolarWinds, where legacy signature-based tools falter against "unknown unknowns"; market forces like rising regulations (e.g., CISA sectors) and cyber insurance demands favor autonomous AI that scales without exhaustive manual tuning.[3][6][9] It influences the ecosystem by setting benchmarks for "immune system" defenses, inspiring AI integration in security (e.g., via PREVENT suite for preemption) and enabling sectors like critical infrastructure to operate securely, while acquisitions and partnerships accelerate hybrid/multi-cloud resilience.[5][6][7]
Under Thoma Bravo ownership since 2024, Darktrace is poised to accelerate innovation, leveraging its AI platform against AI-augmented threats and expanding into underserved areas like federal (Darktrace Federal) and multi-cloud via the 2025 Cado acquisition.[4][5][6] Trends like quantum-resistant AI, zero-trust evolution, and regulated industries' AI mandates will shape its path, potentially growing via deeper integrations and global dominance in autonomous security. Its influence may evolve from pioneer to standard-setter, empowering businesses to outpace cyber disruptions in an increasingly hostile landscape—much like its immune system origins transformed reactive defense into proactive resilience.
Darktrace has raised $296.0M in total across 7 funding rounds.
Darktrace is valued at approximately $12.5M.
Darktrace's investors include Vitruvian Partners, Dell Technologies Capital, DFJ, DNX Ventures, Insight Partners, SYN Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, Moshe Lichtman, KKR, Jeff Horing, Accel, Summit Partners.
Darktrace has raised $296.0M across 7 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $50.0M Series E in September 2018.