Darktrace agrees $5.32bn sale to US VC firm

Cambridge-based cybersecurity company Darktrace has agreed a deal worth $5.32 billion to be sold to US private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

The company said that it had agreed a sale price of $7.75 per share, representing a 44 per cent premium on Darktrace’s average share price over the past three months.

Describing Darktrace as being at the “very cutting edge of cybersecurity” Thoma Bravo partner Andrew Almeida said that the company would “bring to bear the full range of our platform, operational expertise and deep experience of cybersecurity in supporting Darktrace’s growth.”

Darktrace had previously reviewed and rejected unsolicited offers from the private equity firm in 2022, stating at the time that the offers did not fairly represent the value of its business.

Now in 2024 with an offer deemed appropriate, the company’s board said in a statement: “The acquisition will provide Darktrace access to a strong financial partner in Thoma Bravo with deep sector and US markets expertise who can support Darktrace’s growth.”

While the company’s technology has been praised in the industry, it has struggled to keep up commercially with competitors – partly due to the reputation of founder Mike Lynch, the British tech entrepreneur who is currently being tried on fraud charges over former company Autonomy.

The firm was accused of simulating sales to so-called ‘phantom customers’ in January 2023 by Quintessential Capital Management, which said that the firm appeared to have incorrectly booked sales of hardware as software.

Despite its controversies, Welbeck Ash Research in mid-2023 described the firm as a “fantastic business, with a wide range of highly popular cybersecurity products,” and called it a “cheap high growth cybersecurity business” in a sector that “will continue to remain strong in the coming years.”