Darktrace boss and co-founder Poppy Gustafsson is leaving

Darktrace CEO and co-founder leaves cybersecurity giant ahead of planned acquisition by Thoma Bravo

Poppy Gustafsson is stepping down with immediate effect 11 years after helping to create Darktrace, which uses artificial intelligence in software to protect organisations from cyber threats.

Her successor is Darktrace COO Jill Popelka, who joined the company as a non-executive director in January before assuming her current role in June.

Prior to that, he held senior positions at professional services firm Accenture, Snapchat developer Snap, and enterprise cloud business SAP.

Gustafsson said she was “immensely proud of everything” Darktrace had achieved since its founding, but that now was the “right time to hand over the reins.”

In April, Darktrace agreed to be acquired for £4.3bn by Thoma Bravo, a US private equity firm with a long track record of investing in the software sector.

Final regulatory approval for the deal is expected to be received on September 28 and then the transaction is expected to be sought for sanction by the UK court shortly thereafter.

Critics believe the deal represents another significant blow to London markets, which have lost multiple major companies in recent years to foreign buyers.

UK-listed companies are often seen as easy takeover targets due to a perception of undervaluation relative to rival global peers and the devaluation of the pound since the Brexit referendum.

Gordon Hurst, Chairman of Darktrace, said: ‘Poppy is a remarkable leader who has developed and nurtured one of the UK’s proudest technology success stories.

‘Under Poppy’s leadership, the company has transformed from a promising collaboration of AI experts to a high-growth global leader in cybersecurity.’

Gustafsson founded Darktrace after a two-year stint at Mike Lynch’s Autonomy Corporation.

Its clients include carmakers McLaren and Aston Martin, spirits producer Jagermeister, satellite operator OneWeb and construction company Sir Robert McAlpine.