KKR leads $65m round for Darktrace

Kenny Wastell
06 July 2016

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KKR has led a $65m funding round for UK- and US-based cybersecurity business Darktrace.

The fresh capital will enable Darktrace to invest in global marketing and sales activity for its Enterprise Immune System product.

Existing backers Summit Partners also took part in the round, alongside new investors TenEleven Ventures and Japanese strategic investor SoftBank.

European cybersecurity companies continue to attract significant attention from private equity and venture capital backers. In 2016 alone, Environmental Technologies Fund led a series-B for MWR InfoSecurity; Inkef Capital and KPN Ventures took part in a €5.5m series-A for EclecticIQ; Evolution Equity Partners led a $5.5m series-A for DFLabs; and Digital Shadows raised $14m from Trinity Ventures and Paladin Capital.

Paladin, which is a US-based VC, also started fundraising for a €300m European cybersecurity-focused fund in 2014.

Previous funding
Invoke Capital invested an undisclosed amount in Darktrace in September 2013. In 2015, the business then received two further rounds of funding, with Hoxton Ventures leading an $18m round in March and Summit providing $22.5m of series-B funding four months later.

Company
Founded in 2013 and dual-headquartered in Cambridge and San Francisco, Darktrace operates a cybersecurity software that helps businesses and government bodies protect themselves against attacks and data compromises from within the network.

Darktrace was developed at the University of Cambridge. It uses Bayesian mathematics and advanced machine learning to understand the behaviour of every device, user and network within an organisation in order to detect abnormal threat behaviours as they emerge.

The company has a headcount of 300 and has seen revenues increase by 600% over the past year. It has additional operations in London, Paris, Milan, Dallas, New York, Washington, Toronto, Melbourne and Singapore.

People
KKR – Stephen Shanley (principal).
Summit Partners – Antony Clavel (vice-president); Hann Sikkens (managing director).
Darktrace – Nicole Eagan (CEO).