Darktrace, the British cybersecurity start-up backed by Autonomy founder Mike Lynch, has more than doubled losses amid a hiring spree, despite a leap in revenues.

The Cambridge-headquartered company is seen as one of Britain’s most promising technology start-ups, and claims to have pioneered “self-learning” algorithms that mimic the way the human immune system fights viruses to protect corporate computer systems.

Darktrace has raised almost $180m (£130m) to date and was last year valued at $825m.

Accounts for the year to June 30, which disclose the company's financials for the first time, revealed that annual sales had increased from £17.1m to £30.8m. At the same time, pre-tax losses grew from £10m to £25.7m as it embarked on a global hiring spree.

It said average staff numbers during the year had increased from 188 to 362 and that it now employs 620 staff in 24 countries.