UK-based cybersecurity software producer Darktrace floated today in a £165m ($230m) initial public offering, having previously raised $393m from investors including SB Isat, the joint venture between telecommunications firms SoftBank and IndoSat.
The company priced just over 66 million shares at £2.50 each but its shares have jumped to £3.51 on its first day of trading, giving it a market capitalisation of roughly $2.39bn.
Darktrace’s software uses artificial intelligence to autonomously detect and respond to cyber threats. It made a $48.4m net loss in the first six months of 2020 from $127m in revenue.
SB Isat first invested in the company through a $65m round in 2016 that was led by investment firm KKR and backed by venture capital firm TenEleven Ventures and growth equity firm Summit Partners at a valuation of over $400m.
Summit Partners was an existing backer, and the company’s earlier investors include Invoke Capital, which exited in July 2020, Hoxton Ventures and Talis Capital. SB Isat was not mentioned in a list of Darktrace’s investors in a prospectus for the IPO.
Darktrace’s most recent financing was a $163m convertible note round in July 2020 featuring KKR, Summit Partners, Talis Capital, TenEleven Ventures, Hoxton Ventures and Balderton Capital, while Insight Partners led its 2017 series D round and Vitruvian Partners its 2018 series E.
Summit Partners owned 22% of Darktrace’s shares pre-IPO, KKR 11.9% and a vehicle named Deep Defence 5.3%. Jeffries, Berenberg and KKR Capital Markets are joint global coordinators for the IPO, and joint bookrunners along with Needham & Company and Piper Sandler.
