Samsung invests in Darktrace

Korean electronics giant Samsung has joined a global procession to invest in Cambridge cyber security specialist Darktrace.

Neither party is revealing figures but the fresh cash injection has come from  Samsung SDS, the IT service affiliate of Samsung Electronics.

Promisingly for Cambridge’s growing cyber security community of innovators, Samsung SDS says it will continue to look for investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, analytics, and IoT going forward.

Samsung had previously paid $310 million for CSR’s mobile business in Cambridge. Cambridge AI companies have already attracted millions from Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon while SoftBank in Tokyo is paying billions for ARM’s expertise in the Internet of Things space. SoftBank also has a stake in Darktrace following the Cambridge company’s latest investment round.

Even before the Samsung investment, Darktrace had raised $105.5 million in 12 calendar months to bolster headcount and technology capability following a new $65m round backed by global big hitters, as previously reported in Business Weekly.

That growth equity financing was led by KKR, a leading global investment firm, with participation from existing investor Summit Partners and new investors TenEleven Ventures and SoftBank-affiliated SB ISAT Fund.

With CEO Nicole Eagan steering growth, Darktrace has grown rapidly to 300 employees and achieved over 600 per cent revenue growth in its latest financial year. With over 1,000 customer deployments, Darktrace’s Enterprise Immune System has been selected by some of the largest and most sensitive cyber security environments, including global financial institutions, telecoms networks, legal firms, retailers, technology companies, government organisations, and critical national infrastructure facilities.

In another Cambridge connection, Samsung SDS in May collaborated with IBM to provide cloud-based security solutions. IBM had previously acquired i2, the Cambridge software company that produced visual intelligence and investigative analysis software for military intelligence, law enforcement and commercial agencies.

Darktrace is now one of the world’s leading cyber threat defence companies. Its Enterprise Immune System technology detects and responds to previously unidentified threats, powered by machine learning and mathematics developed by specialists from the University of Cambridge.

Without using rules or signatures, Darktrace can interrogate the ‘pattern of life’ of every device, user and network within an organisation and defend against evolving threats that bypass all other systems.

Darktrace is headquartered in Cambridge UK and San Francisco with global offices including New York, Auckland, London, Milan, Mumbai, Paris,  Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington D.C.