Poppy Gustafsson is a British technology entrepreneur best known for co-founding Darktrace, the Cambridge-based cybersecurity company that became one of the UK’s most prominent artificial-intelligence businesses. Her career has since expanded beyond the private sector: she entered the House of Lords in November 2024 as Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton, served as Minister of State for Investment until September 2025, and now sits on the Lords’ European Affairs Committee. She also joined the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) as a trustee in January 2026, giving her a continuing role at the intersection of technology, security and public policy. That combination of startup experience, cybersecurity expertise and government service explains why searches for Gustafsson now stretch well beyond Darktrace, especially into questions about British technology policy and national security.
Her route into technology was grounded in mathematics and finance. Gustafsson graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BSc in Mathematics in 2003 and later trained for an accountancy qualification at Deloitte. She joined Darktrace’s founding team in 2013 and became one of the company’s most recognizable executives. Under her leadership, Darktrace grew from a Cambridge startup into an international cybersecurity business built around AI-driven threat detection and response. The company listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2021, and by September 2024 its market capitalization had risen from about £1.7 billion at listing to £4.1 billion. Gustafsson stepped down as chief executive on 6 September 2024, with Jill Popelka succeeding her. Less than a month later, Thoma Bravo completed its acquisition of Darktrace in a deal valuing the company at approximately $5.3 billion.
The next phase of Poppy Gustafsson’s career moved quickly into public life. In October 2024, she was appointed Minister of State for Investment, serving jointly in the Department for Business and Trade and HM Treasury. She left the ministerial post on 5 September 2025 while retaining her seat in the House of Lords as a Labor life peer. Her honors also reflect her cybersecurity career: Gustafsson received an OBE in 2019 and was promoted to CBE in the 2025 New Year Honors for services to the cybersecurity industry. In January 2026, she took up an unpaid trusteeship with RUSI, where she applies her experience to questions involving cyber strategy, resilience and emerging digital threats. Gustafsson’s story is therefore no longer only about building Darktrace; it now connects British technology entrepreneurship with national security, investment policy and parliamentary work.
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