Invoke Capital, the $1 billion technology fund vehicle set up by Autonomy founder Dr Mike Lynch, has made its first investment in a Cambridge-based cyber security company.
The company, Darktrace, offers an approach to cyber defence based on mathematical research out of the University of Cambridge.
The investment is reported to be worth between $10 million (£6.2 million) and $20 million (£12.5 million), according to the Financial Times.
"We are delighted to announce our first investment in a genuinely innovative company, in such a critical area as cyber security," said Lynch.
"Darktrace brings a radically different solution to the challenge of protecting our information in today's environment of cyber threat. It is an inherently mathematical approach that does not seek to block information flow, but rather understand it, in all its practical complexity and subtlety."
Darktrace's technology is based on a new branch of Recursive Bayesian Estimation theory. It begins with the premise that a network has already been infiltrated and that some of the risk might come from a company's own employees.
Steve Huxter, managing director of Darktrace, said: "Our combination of fundamental behavioural technology and expertise in cyber operations at the highest level means that we offer a solution to the number one agenda item of boardrooms everywhere."
The company's founders have a combined 70 years' experience in cyber operations, working with governments, military forces and private companies across the world.
Invoke Capital prides itself as being the only investment team in Europe with a dedicated, in-house R&D division.