Darktrace aims for London listing

Cybersecurity company Darktrace has said it intends to start selling its shares on the public exchanges as the business looks to expand into a 40 billion US dollar (£29 billion) global market.

Darktrace said it is considering an initial public offering (IPO), which would mean that its shares start trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market.

It will be seen as a vote of confidence in the market, which was dealt a blow by the IPO of Deliveroo, whose shares are down considerably since listing two weeks ago.

“There is a lot riding on Darktrace’s forthcoming IPO after Deliveroo’s stock market flop,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The food delivery company’s IPO disaster has put a cloud over the UK tech sector and whether other tech entrepreneurs would really want to risk floating their company in London.

“If Darktrace manages to float its shares successfully and see them rise in value once trading begins then sentiment may improve towards London as a listing venue.”

Darktrace has developed an automatic system which responds to cyber attacks on organisations without needing human intervention.

The company’s software responds to an attack every second, in a bid to keep data and intellectual property safe.

It counts around 4,700 organisations among its customers.

“Since our foundation in 2013, our mission has been to apply fundamental technology to one of the most critical challenges facing organisations in all sectors: cybersecurity,” said chief executive Poppy Gustafsson.

Sky News reported on Sunday that the company will aim for a valuation of around £2.5 billion to £3 billion, making Ms Gustafsson’s stake worth approximately £20 million.

Such a valuation would be far above last year’s revenue, which hit 199 million dollars (£145 million), Darktrace said on Monday.

However the company has grown rapidly, and increased its revenue by 58% each year since 2018.

Darktrace’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation has also gone from a 27 million dollar (£20 million) loss to a 9 million dollar (£6.5 million) profit since 2018.