Everything you need to know about Darktrace

When is the Darktrace IPO?

Darktrace made its market debut on the London Stock Exchange on April 30 at 250p a share. The transaction gave the company a valuation of £1.7 billion.

Shortly after 8am GMT, the company's shares rose to more than 358p, representing a 43% boost from its original IPO price.

While Darktrace had lowered its pricing for the float from a rumoured £3 billion valuation, the company is expected by some analysts to successfully ride the wave of anticipation surrounding fast-growth tech stocks. The London listing will be closely watched following the disappointing Deliveroo IPO in March.

Read about more IPOs set for 2021. 

How much is Darktrace worth?

Darktrace is worth £1.7 billion based on its IPO on April 30 2021. 

As of 2018 Darktrace was valued at $1.65 billion following a $50 million Series E funding round. The company’s Series D round amounted to $75 million in 2017, which valued the company at $825 million. Before that, Darktrace also raised $64 million in 2016, and $23 million in 2015.

How to trade Darktrace shares

Darktrace shares are available to trade with City Index following its April IPO.

You can start trading shares in just a few quick steps:

1. Open a City Index account, or log in if you’re already a customer
2. Search for Darktrace in our award-winning platform
3. Choose your position and size, and your stop and limit levels
4. Place the trade

What is Darktrace?

Darktrace is an artificial intelligence (AI) company with a focus on cybersecurity. It develops solutions for organisations to detect emerging online threats, using technology based on machine learning and AI algorithms to prepare clients for potential attacks.

The company works by installing an appliance in a client’s network infrastructure. The device employs its machine learning capabilities to detect suspicious activity, using Bayesian mathematical equations to assess the probability of an attack, and neutralises threats before they turn into crises.

Darktrace’s products include Darktrace Industrial, Darktrace Enterprise, Darktrace Cloud and Darktrace SaaS, all software applications designed to target threats from various online sources.

Headquartered in Cambridge, the company has more than 1,500 employees across 44 offices globally, and saw revenues of more than £100 million for its latest accounts filed in 2019.

How does Darktrace make money?

Darktrace makes money through cybersecurity contracts with corporations, governments and banks, reportedly charging clients based on the number of IP addresses or networked devices managed.

This can result in a contract being worth anything from a few thousand to several hundred thousand pounds per month.

The company has counted Micron, Rolls-Royce, Coca-Cola, Siemens, and NHS trusts as some of its key customers.

Is Darktrace profitable?

As of its latest 2019 accounts, Darktrace is not a profitable business, having racked up losses of £21.8 million on revenues of some £100 million. However, these losses were trimmed from £27.6 million the prior year.

Founder Poppy Gustafsson said in 2018 that the profitability of the business was being put on hold as the company’s high-growth phase placed hiring and international expansion as an immediate priority.

Who are Darktrace’s competitors?

Darktrace’s competitors include IT multinationals such as Cisco, which offers its own b2b cyber defence solutions, as well as specialist cybersecurity companies such as Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, FireEye and ESET.  Additionally, there are a host of other companies releasing new products in response to the constantly-evolving cybersecurity marketplace.

While Darktrace’s revenues are currently dwarfed by many of the American cybersecurity giants in a hugely competitive sector, the company is widely considered to be a major early adopter and leading innovator specifically of AI-based cybersecurity solutions. Today, however, as more and more companies enter the AI space, Darktrace may find tougher barriers to scale than previously encountered.

What is Darktrace’s strategy?

From its launch in 2013, Darktrace set out to ‘fundamentally transform the ability of organisations to defend their most critical assets in the face of rising cyber threat’. On launch, the company’s technology was widely regarded as pioneering in its design to enable network infrastructures to mirror the human immune system in dealing with threats.

The strategy evolved over the years to incorporate Autonomous Response technology, which allowed the ‘immune system’ to react to in-progress cyberattacks with a higher degree of precision. 2019 saw the release of the Cyber AI Analyst, which further strengthened a company’s ability to defend attacks through automation of the threat investigation and reporting process.

Who are the directors of Darktrace?

Darktrace was founded in 2013 by Poppy Gustafsson, Jack Stockdale, Dave Palmer, Emily Orton, and Nicole Eagan. In addition to the core founders, there are a number of prominent board members and advisors, including Robert Webb QC, former General Counsel of Rolls Royce and British Airways, and Alan Wade, former CIO of the CIA.

Here are some of the key personnel at the company:

• CEO and Director: Poppy Gustafsson
• Chief Financial Officer: Cathy Graham
• Chief Technology Officer: Jack Stockdale
• Chief Technology Officer, Americas: Eloy Avila
• Chief Marketing Officer: Emily Orton
• Chief Information Security Officer: JR Tietsort