| Hi there, it's Jamie Nimmo, an editor on the global business team in London. Hope you enjoy today's newsletter. Freebies, Sue Gray quitting, accusations of doom-mongering: it's been a baptism of fire for Keir Starmer since he took office. Thankfully there's help at hand, at least when it comes to relations with the business world. The government has announced Poppy Gustafsson, the former chief executive officer of cybersecurity firm Darktrace, has become its investment minister. And just in time, too. After all, the government is hosting its inaugural investment summit on Monday with the hope of attracting some much-needed money into Britain. Starmer could do with filling business leaders with more optimism about his vision for the country, as Caroline Hepker reports today. In a series of interviews to mark Starmer's first 100 days in office, she spoke to executives who are puzzled by how the government is holding the investment summit before Rachel Reeves presents her budget later this month.  Poppy Gustafsson at the Bloomberg Tech Summit in 2022 Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg "I do think they're a little bit more pessimistic than they need to be," says Anne Glover, chief executive officer of venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners. Figures today showed the UK economy returned to slight growth in August – but that was before jitters about what's to come in the budget. "We can't live without the details indefinitely" was the message from Michael Moore, who runs the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association – representing industries concerned about potential tax changes. Moore was, however, pleased with the appointment of Gustafsson as investment minister, so perhaps it's a first step in the right direction for the government. "This role requires someone who understands what it takes to lead and scale businesses that compete on the international stage," he said in a statement. "Poppy brings exactly that experience." Labour used to claim Rishi Sunak was a wannabe tech bro in bed with Silicon Valley. But now, they've hired a tech leader who can do some cozying up of her own. So who is Gustafsson? She ran Darktrace, a cyber security company that listed in London in 2021. The company was established in 2013 with funding from Invoke, the venture capital firm of Mike Lynch, who tragically died in the Bayesian yacht disaster off Sicily in August. Gustafsson, 42, previously worked for Lynch at Autonomy — and even gave evidence in his legal battles. The government wants to help more mature startups, known as scale-ups, keep growing rather than selling. That is a common pattern among British companies at present — including Darktrace itself, which Gustafsson grew before selling it to US private equity firm Thoma Bravo this year for $5.3 billion. Want this in your inbox each weekday? You can sign up here. | 
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