Cybersecurity leader Darktrace has revealed a slew of executive management changes alongside impressive results.
The Cambridge company revealed the exits of long-standing executives Emily Orton (chief marketing officer) and Dave Palmer (chief product officer).
Orton stepped down in early July, while Palmer will leave his role at the end of August to join Darktrace investor 1011 Venture Capital as a general partner. At that point he will join Darktrace’s advisory council.
Palmer will be replaced by Max Heinemeyer, currently Darktrace’s VP of cyber innovation.
Meanwhile, David Walden has joined as chief people officer, while Carolyn Esser joins as chief corporate affairs officer. Walden has driven successful people strategies at multinational companies including Capital One, AOL, T. Rowe Price and Etsy, while Esser – responsible for Darktrace’s internal and external communications strategies – joins from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where she was deputy director, communications, Europe, Middle East and East Asia.
Prior to that, she was global communications director at UK technology and business services company Logica.
“Both Dave and Emily have played pivotal roles in growing Darktrace into the innovative, world-class cybersecurity company that it is today,” said CEO Poppy Gustafsson (pictured). “Their contributions to the company have been immense and we are so grateful for their leadership over the many years they have been with us.
“I’m delighted to welcome Max, Carolyn and David to our executive management team as we continue to strengthen and deepen our leadership capabilities in a number of core areas.”
Revealing its results for the financial year ended 30th June 2022, Darktrace saw a 32% increase in customers to 7,400, a 48% jump in revenue to $417 million, a 42% leap in annualised recurring revenue and adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 19.5%.
“We are delighted to report strong operating and financial performance for FY2022, where we saw demand for our products continuing to grow as organisations seek to protect themselves from growing cyber threats,” added Gustafsson.
“We expect this business momentum to continue into FY 2023 as against a turbulent geopolitical background, it’s no surprise that long-term cyber risk is an even higher priority for chief information and security officers and senior executives.
“In addition to our strong performance announced today, I am thrilled to announce the launch of Darktrace PREVENT, the third product area in our delivery of a Cyber AI Loop, which will provide continuous feedback and a deep interconnected understanding of the enterprise to strengthen an organisation’s state of security.
“We’re excited about the value PREVENT will bring to our customers as we continue to pursue our mission of freeing the world from cyber disruption.”