Darktrace shares skyrocket following float on LSE

Cybersecurity specialists see shares rocket minutes after trading debut

UK cybersecurity firm Darktrace saw its shares leap by as much as 40 per cent minutes after opening on the London Stock Exchange for the first time this morning.

The Cambridge-based company started trading with an opening value of £1.7bn and 250p a-share, but Bloomberg is reporting that its shares began trading as high as 350p shortly after trading opened.

The deal will raise £143.4m for the company and £21.7m for selling shareholders. The Financial Times also reports that Darktrace could raise another £25m through an overallotment option if there is demand from investors.

It puts the company on course for the higher valuation it had hoped for, having opened at around £1bn below its initial target according to FT.

"Our company is deeply rooted in the UK's tradition of scientific and mathematic research so we are especially proud to be listing on the London Stock Exchange," Poppy Gustafsson, Darktrace's CEO said.

"We owe much gratitude to the Invoke team for their pivotal role in the vision, technology, positioning and operational input in the early years without which today's success would not have been possible."

Invoke was an early investor in the company but its founder Mike Lynch is currently facing US fraud charges over the deal that saw HP purchase his company, Autonomy, for $8.4bn.

It is alleged that he fraudulently inflated the value of the company before the sale but he denies any wrongdoing.

Darktrace uses artificial intelligence to detect and respond to cyberthreats and the company's early stock market success is partly down to high-profile attacks putting the focus on network detection and response (NDR) firms, according to the VP of EMEA Operations at Extrahop which provides a similar service.

"Recent high-profile attacks, including the SolarWinds vulnerability and the $50 million Acer ransomware demand, have put the spotlight firmly on NDR players, which have proven uniquely adept at detecting and investigating this type of advanced threat activity," Mike Campfield said.

"As with any first IPO in a given market, the Darktrace IPO is a watershed moment for the NDR segment, affirming the market opportunity. They may be the first, but mark my words, they won't be the last."

Darktrace competitor Vectra only this week raised $130m in funding led by Blackstone Growth.