Machine learning cyber security startup Darktrace Ltd. has raised $64 million Series C in a round led by KKR & Co. L.P. that included Summit Partners, TenEleven Ventures, and SoftBank.

According to reports, the round was raised at a valuation of $400 million.

Founded in 2013, Darktrace promotes itself as the leader in “Enterprise Immune System Technology” with a product that tackles advanced cyber threats using a machine learning platform developed at the United Kingdom’s University of Cambridge.

The company claims that its platform is based on the “biological principles of the human immune system” and is capable of learning ‘self,” whic,h according to SiliconANGLE’s Mike Wheatley, “constitutes the normal pattern of life for the organization, its users and devices – and detecting subtle deviations from this normal behavior, which suggest a compromise, breach or cyber-attack.”

“Cyber threats take many forms and are increasingly difficult to predict – like viral DNA, they mutate and evolve constantly in order to survive within their chosen environment,” the company explains. “The human body deals with this problem through its immune system, which continually learns about what is normal for our individual bodies and can identify outliers which do not fit that evolving pattern of normality.

“Darktrace applies the same logic to the enterprise environment. Enterprise Immune System technology iteratively learns a pattern of life for every network, device and individual user, correlating this information in order to spot subtle deviations that indicate in-progress threats.”

The company has 230 employees in 20 offices worldwide, and counts among its customers telecommunications giant BT Group, Virgin Trains, and bookmaker William Hill.

Different approach

Darktrace has a different approach from traditional cyber security companies which rely on rule-based algorithms, and it’s an interesting approach at that. If much of what has been previously said doesn’t make a lot of sense, the short version is that they use machine learning to implement a cyber security platform that evolves in a similar fashion as to how cells in the human body can evolve to deliver immunity against diseases.

Including the new round, Darktrace has raised $104.5 million to date; previous investors include Hoxton Ventures, Talis Capital, and Invoke Capital Partners.

The company said it would use the new funds for further international expansion, research, and development.

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