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Cambridge
Darktrace wooed: Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike are among the tech giants expected to join US private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a £3.5bn race to buy British cybersecurity company Darktrace, says Russell Hotten in The Times. The shares leapt by a quarter on Tuesday to 515p, following a “tumultuous” ride since going public in April last year, when it was listed at 250p a share.
Darktrace uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect vulnerabilities within computer systems to prevent cyberattacks as opposed to building “walls” around networks.
It was founded in 2013 with backing from British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch (pictured), who is currently fighting extradition to the US over fraud charges, which he denies. While no longer a director at Darktrace, he retains a 12% in the company. A takeover could remove the reputational issues that have weighed on the share price. Darktrace’s recent £2.8bn market value was 38 times its expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
