10 Things You Didn’t Know about Poppy Gustafsson

Poppy Gustafsson is the chief executive officer for EMEA of the cyber defense company Darktrace. She oversees operations across the region, and she has been crucial to the swift growth that the 300-person company has experienced. Moreover, Poppy is a co-founder of the 3-year-old Darktrace, and she has previously served as the CFO of the company.

That said, here are 10 things that you did not know about Poppy Gustafsson:

She holds a BSc, Mathematics

Poppy went to Sheffield University from 2000 to 2003 to study a Bachelor of Science (BSc) mathematics. Appropriate for a math company, she is also a qualified chartered accountant.

She has an extensive range of industrial experience

Poppy has a vast industry experience across several sectors particularly specializing in venture capital and technology companies. Poppy has worked as a corporate controller at Cambridge-based software company HP Autonomy and Invoke Capital from February 2013 to December 2014. She has also worked as a fund manager in Amadeus Capital Partners and as an assistant manager in Delloite from September 2004 to April 2008.

She considers her job very rewarding

While running a business, it is easy to spend your time looking forward to the next step and forgetting how far you have come. But, for Poppy Gustafsson, it is gratifying to step back and reflect on all the talented employees she overlooks and who work all over the world.

Keeping up with the demand is the most challenging part of her job

In this modernized era, everyone is a target for cyber-attackers. For her, satisfying the demand for immune system technology on a global dais is no small task. The company needs to contract cyber technologists, salespeople, developers, and analysts among others. Poppy needs to keep a personal connection with every employee, which is very challenging due to their huge numbers.

Her biggest milestones

From a technological perspective, Dacktrace has launched a new product that allows their clients to respond automatically to threats once identified by the Enterprise Immune System. In July, under Poppy Gustafsson management, Darktrace has raised a further $65 million in funding from investors including Softbank, KKR, and TenEleven ventures. The funds would be used to accelerate the global rollout and bring significant, strategic, value and knowledge to the team.

She spearheaded the Samsung SDS partnership

In August, through partnership with Samsung SDS, Darktrace got a huge validation to their technology that would propel growth in Asia. Poppy believes that through collaboration with the group, they can develop cybersecurity solutions for the Internet of things technologies.

Poppy has an excellent relationship with the UK

Poppy frequently speaks to the community of European investment and hence her good relationship with the United Kingdom. In fact, she accompanied the UK Prime Minister Theresa May, to India on a trade mission recently.

She attended the 2017 innovative finance summit

In the world of FinTech, the innovative finance, global summit has become a crucial event to attend, and consequently, Poppy Gustafsson obliged to the invite. Breaking banks teamed up with the creative finance team to create an episode that would bring some of the critical thinking that was presented at the conference.

She and the other founder were named team of the year 2017

The founders of Darktrace including Poppy Gustafsson have been named the “Team of the Year” at the Awards held in London at the Dorchester. Also referred to as the Oscars of the Technology Industry, the Enterprise Awards acknowledge the very best of the entrepreneurial talent in the UK. Poppy and her team were recognized for their vision, strategy, and the disrupting innovation behind Al technology Darktrace.

She has one regret

Poppy Gustafsson regrets the fact that she didn’t devote more time to practicing piano when she was young. While she did enough to get her by, she always thought that she would put in more effort later in life. Now that she is older and has a family, she has realized that she does not have free time and consequently still green at the piano and unlikely to get better soon.

In conclusion, Poppy Gustafsson is one of the brains behind Darktrace. With her extensive experience and education, she has been at the forefront of the instigating growth of this innovative, technology company.