Executive Intelligence

Colin McKellar

Co-Founder

Co-Founder of Darktrace

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In this profile

Quick Facts

  • Role Co-Founder
  • Company Darktrace
  • Country United Kingdom
  • Industry AI in Cybersecurity
  • Founded 2013
  • Known For Darktrace helped popularize self-learning, unsupervised-AI threat detection years before generative AI reshaped the security industry's marketing…
  • Last Reviewed Jul 2026

Executive Summary

Colin McKellar is listed in public materials as Co-Founder of Darktrace. This Brel Digital profile records the verified public leadership association using official company sources. Biographical details that are not evidenced on the cited official pages are omitted.

Career Timeline

Verified company milestones linked to this executive’s organization.

  1. 2013 Company founded

    Darktrace was founded in 2013 per the company profile source on file.

    Source
  2. 2013 Development

    2013: Darktrace is founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom, by mathematicians and cyber-defense experts backed by Invoke Capital, the investment firm of entrepreneur Mike Lynch.

    Source
  3. 2021 Development

    2021: Darktrace lists on the London Stock Exchange under ticker DARK.

    Source
  4. 2022 Acquisition

    March 2022: Darktrace acquires Dutch attack-surface management company Cybersprint for u20ac47.5 million.

    Source
  5. 2024 Acquisition

    April 26, 2024: Thoma Bravo agrees to acquire Darktrace for approximately $5.3 billion, a 44% premium to its recent trading price.

    Source
  6. 2024 Acquisition

    October 1, 2024: Thoma Bravo completes its acquisition of Darktrace, delisting it from the London Stock Exchange; Jill Popelka becomes CEO.

    Source
  7. 2026 Leadership

    January 2026: Jill Popelka steps down as CEO after roughly 16 months; chairman Charles Goodman serves as interim CEO.

    Source
  8. 2026 Leadership

    March 2026: Ed Jennings is named president and CEO of Darktrace, its third chief executive in eighteen months.

    Source

Connected Company

Connected Products

Industry Intelligence

AI in Cybersecurity Open industry

Overview

Colin McKellar is listed in public materials as Co-Founder of Darktrace. This Brel Digital profile records the verified public leadership association using official company sources. Biographical details that are not evidenced on the cited official pages are omitted.

Role

Colin McKellar holds the publicly documented role of Co-Founder at Darktrace. Readers should confirm current titles on the company’s official leadership or about pages, as executive roles change over time.

Sources

Primary sourcing for this profile:

Last Reviewed

This profile was last reviewed on July 14, 2026.

Correction Request

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Sources and references

This article draws on publicly available company information, official websites, filings, interviews, announcements, and other cited sources. Information may change over time.

Request a correction if you represent this company or believe information is inaccurate.

Nicole Eagan

Co-founder and Strategic Advisor

Darktrace

  • Country United Kingdom
  • Industry AI in Cybersecurity

Co-founder and Strategic Advisor of Darktrace, the AI cybersecurity company with more than ten thousand customers and two…

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