Poppy Clare Veronica Gustafsson, Baroness Gustafsson, (; born 24 August 1982), is a British businesswoman and Labour Party life peer who has served as Minister of State for Investment since 2024.

Early life and education

Gustafsson was born Poppy Clare Veronica Prentis on 24 August 1982 in the United Kingdom, to John and Gilly Prentis. Her father ran an agricultural-sales business, and her mother was a journalist for ''

Farmers Weekly ''Farmers Weekly'' is a magazine aimed at the British farming industry. It provides news; business features; a weekly digest of facts and figures about British, European and world agriculture; and livestock, arable and machinery sections wi ...

''. Growing up in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

, Cambridgeshire, she attended

Hinchingbrooke School Hinchingbrooke School is a large comprehensive secondary school situated on the outskirts of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, historically in Huntingdonshire. Originally all of the surrounding land—including what is now Huntingdon Town—compris ...

. She gained a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(BSc) degree in mathematics from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

in 2003 before studying for an accountancy qualification at

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 2006.

Career

In her early career, Gustafsson worked for the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm

Amadeus Capital Partners Dame Anne Margaret Glover (born 6 February 1954) is CEO and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in European high-technology companies. Career Prior to founding Amadeus in 1997, she was with Apax Partn ...

. In 2009, she moved to

Autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...

, working as a corporate controller until the company's acquisition by HP. Gustafsson co-founded

Darktrace Darktrace Holdings Ltd is a British cyber security company, established in 2013 and headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom with further global office locations and London, San Francisco, and Singapore. It was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

in 2013 and initially held the position of chief financial officer. She subsequently took on the role of co-chief executive in 2016 and became the sole CEO in 2020. She led Darktrace's

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 2021, and left the company in 2024 prior to the completion of its sale to the private equity firm

Thoma Bravo Thoma Bravo, LP is an American private equity and growth capital firm based in Chicago, Illinois. It is known for being particularly active in acquiring enterprise software companies and has over $130billion in assets under management . It ...

. On 10 October 2024, Gustafsson was appointed to the government as Minister of State for Investment by Prime Minister

Sir Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

. She was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as ''Baroness Gustafsson, of Chesterton in the City of Cambridge'', on 15 November to allow her to sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

Personal life

In 2008, Gustafsson married Roland Joel Gustafsson, a Swedish engineer; they have two daughters. She took her husband's surname after the birth of her eldest daughter. She lives in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Honours and awards

Gustafsson was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

2019 Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

for services to the cyber security industry, She was promoted to

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2025 New Year Honours The 2025 New Year Honours are appointments by King Charles III among the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The ...

. At the 2019 UK Tech Awards, Gustafsson was named Tech Businesswoman of the Year. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

(Hon DSc) degree by the University of Sheffield, her alma mater.

References

External links

1982 births Living people Alumni of the University of Sheffield 20th-century English people 20th-century English women 21st-century British politicians 21st-century British women politicians 21st-century English businesspeople 21st-century English businesswomen British technology chief executives British women accountants British women company founders British women chief executives Chief executives of computer security organizations Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deloitte people English accountants English chief executives English company founders Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Charles III Life peers created by Charles III People from Cambridgeshire {{Life-peer-stub