Darktrace, the world’s leading cyber AI company, today announced that its CEO, Poppy Gustafsson, and CTO, Jack Stockdale, have each been appointed OBEs (Officer of the British Empire) in the Birthday Honours 2019, in recognition of their services to cyber security.

Founded in Cambridge in 2013, Darktrace has quickly risen to be one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the country with its artificial intelligence technology that detects and responds to cyber-attacks. It now delivers defensive ‘cyber AI’ to over 3,000 organizations globally and employs over 900 people, more than 450 of which are in the UK.

Jack and I are humbled and honoured to receive this very special recognition from Her Majesty the Queen, and delighted to represent the UK’s thriving technology sector,” said Poppy Gustafsson, CEO of Darktrace. "In accepting this honour, I would like to recognize in particular the talented mathematicians and software engineers in our Cambridge headquarters who make our technology world-beating, as well as the company’s original backers and especially Dr Mike Lynch for his support and mentorship. This is a very proud moment for the whole company.”

Dr Mike Lynch, founder of Invoke Capital, the first investors in Darktrace, commented, “Cyber security is one of the great unsolved problems, and an area where advances in AI are going to be nothing short of transformative. But while there are high levels of interest in AI, true innovation is hard to come by.

Developing a reliable AI system that works at the scale, speed and level of accuracy that Darktrace does, is a major engineering feat, and is helping enterprises and institutions fight the developing cyber-threat. I am delighted to see Poppy and Jack honoured for their outstanding achievements at Darktrace.”