Cambridge cyber security specialist Darktrace is closing in on a $1 billion valuation after another massive funding round.

Named Business Weekly’s Business of the Year in March, Darktrace has harvested $75 million from a Series D round, the company confirmed today. That takes its estimated private valuation to $825m with much more to come. The company was only founded in 2013.

The news raises the prospect of Darktrace becoming the fastest Cambridge company to attain unicorn status.

Darktrace confirms that the Series D round was led by Insight Venture Partners with backing from existing investors Summit Partners, KKR, and TenEleven Ventures.

Founded by Mike Lynch and launched by ex-Spooks from MI5 and MI6, Darktrace has already raised more than $180m. It is growing incredibly quickly as governments and companies across the globe wake up to one of the biggest threats the corporate world has ever faced.

The company said it would use the latest cash to underpin recruitment and expansion in Latin America and the Asia Pacific.

The machine learning technology, which has racked up 3,000 global deployments and counting, emanates from the University of Cambridge but has been considerably enhanced since. Darktrace’s Enterprise Immune System identifies cyber attacks in real time and repels them.

Such is the demand for its services that under dynamic CEO Nicole Eagan (pictured above) Darktrace has doubled headcount to 500 in the last year and now operates from 24 global offices, with Cambridge the HQ.

Contract value has soared 140 per cent in the last 12 months to more than $200m. Sales in the United States more than trebled in that time. 

ARM’s parent company SoftBank of Japan and Samsung Ventures are among international influencers that have invested in the business along its journey so far.