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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1762243" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Okta">Okta</keyword> fell by nearly 10% Thursday as the ID-authentication software company's outlook missed Wall Street's view. </li><li>The company expects a first-quarter adjusted loss of $0.20 to $0.21 a share compared with the consensus of a loss of $0.07. </li><li>Okta plans to buy rival <keyword id="10870529" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="auth0">Auth0</keyword> in a transaction valued at $6.5 billion. </li></ul><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/okta-stock">Okta</a> shares dropped nearly 10% Thursday following a quarterly outlook that missed Wall Street's estimate while the identity-authentication software maker said it plans to buy rival Auth0 in a $6.5 billion stock <keyword id="30336" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Deal">deal</keyword>.The company late Wednesday projected a first-quarter adjusted loss of $0.20 to $0.21 per share, which was wider than the consensus estimate of a per-share loss of $0.07. It also expects year-over-year growth in total revenue to $237 million to $239 million compared with Wall Street's view of $237 million.Shares of Okta lost as much as 9.6% when it hit an intraday low of $218. The stock later pared the decline to 4.5%. Over the past 12 months, the shares have advanced about 79%.The company's projection came within its fourth-quarter financial report and alongside a separate announcement about planning to buy Auth0. Okta said its guidance does not include any potential impact from the proposed Auth0 deal.Okta said the pending deal will stoke growth in the $55 billion identity market. Auth0 will run as an independent business unit inside of Okta and both of its platforms will be supported and integrated over time.The transaction "will accelerate our innovation, opening up new ways for our customers to leverage identity to meet their business needs," said Todd McKinnon, Okta's CEO and co-founder, in the statement.For the fourth quarter, the company posted adjusted <keyword id="6357061" type="SPONSORED" weightage="60" keywordseo="earnings">earnings</keyword> of $0.06 a share, swinging from a loss of $0.01 a year ago. Revenue of $234.7 million increased from $167.3 million in the same period a year ago.

Okta drops after company gives weak guidance and announces $6.5 billion Auth0 acquisition

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Okta is acquiring identity management firm Auth0 for $6.5 billion in stock, it announced Wednesday.</li><li>Auth0 will help Okta expand its customer identity business, CEO Todd McKinnon told Insider.</li><li>Okta already saw that as a huge opportunity and this acquisition lets it attack it more aggressively.</li></ul>Identity management firm Okta is acquiring startup Auth0 for $6.5 billion in stock, the companies announced Wednesday. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/auth0-doubled-valuation-to-1-billion-with-103-million-in-new-funding-2019-5">Auth0 also makes software for identity and authentication,</a> baking existing login and identity verification tools into code that developers can easily add to their websites or apps. The deal gets Okta closer to its ultimate goal of becoming the leading identity management platform for businesses, CEO Todd McKinnon told Insider. "Our strategic vision is that we have to make it really clear to every organization in the world that identity should be one of their strategic clouds in their environment," McKinnon said. "The way we get there is that we cover every identity use case."Okta's stock was down about 10% after the announcement, bringing its market cap to roughly $31 billion, despite an earnings release that beat analyst expectations. Right now, Okta is primarily known for its tool that helps businesses manage their employees' logins and identity. However, an even bigger challenge companies are facing right now is managing their own customer logins in a secure way - and Auth0 has the technology to help Okta grow that part of its business, McKinnon said. He calls <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-devsecopps-developer-security-operations-cybersecurity-snyk-contrast-auth0-2020-11">Auth0 the "Stripe of identity management"</a> because it gives developers an easy, customizable tool to build the login sites for customers interacting with their business. Right now 75% of Okta's business comes from its "workforce identity" tools, while 25% comes from its "customer identity" tools. Those customer identity tools allow, for example, grocery store client Albertsons to make it super easy and secure for shoppers to log into its website or mobile app to make delivery or pickup orders.These tools allow companies to embed passwords, authentication, and other identity-management services into their apps and websites and McKinnon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/okta-ceo-todd-mckinnon-earnings-huge-market-opportunity-customer-identity-2020-8">previously told Insider he believes that business has the potential to be even bigger than its workforce tools</a>. Acquiring Auth0 will help the firm better attack that enormous market. <h2>Auth0 is a developer-focused firm </h2>Auth0 has been a developer-focused firm from the beginning, McKinnon said, which is what Okta needs to successfully expand its customer identity product."You can't just decide you're going to be developer focused one day. You have to build that culture. You have to build a product that does that," he said. "Bringing this together, we give customers just a clear trusted vendor to trust all of their identity to, whether it's customer identity or workforce." Auth0 was founded in 2013 and has raised over $330 million in funding according to PitchBook. It netted a valuation of $1.92 billion after raising a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-salesforce-ventures-funded-partnered-during-pandemic-2020-11">$120 million round led by Salesforce Ventures last July,</a> meaning this deal represents a hefty premium.Okta's $6.5 billion all-stock deal will give Auth0 a fixed number of Okta shares at a price of $276.21 each, the companies said. The purchase represents roughly 14% of Okta's total number of shares, McKinnon said. Auth0 will stay an independent operating unit inside of Okta with its CEO Eugenio Pace reporting to McKinnon. Auth0 currently has over 850 employees and 10,000 paying customers. Okta has over 10,000 customers.Okta and Auth0 currently have some integrations that allow people to use an Okta login to log in to an Auth0 customer, but there's a lot more both companies can do with deeper integrations, execs said. The main focus will be continuing to serve both Okta and Auth0 customers and then looking for strategic ways to integrate the platforms once the deal closes. One of those might be sharing the data each platform can generate about treats and potential hacks to better protect users, McKinnon said. Auth0's growth also compliments Okta's, McKinnon said. Okta reported earnings Wednesday that showed its fourth quarter revenue grew 40% from a year prior. Auth0 is growing over 50% and is expected to bring in over 200 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of this year. The deal is expected to close mid year after going through regulatory approval.Bringing Auth0 and Okta together makes the joint entity a stronger competitor, McKinnon said:"Okta plus Auth0 is going to solve all my identity needs," he said. "That's the vision."Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at <a href="mailto:pzaveri@businessinsider.com">pzaveri@insider.com</a> or Signal at 925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.)

The CEO of identity firm Okta explains how the $6.5 billion deal to buy Auth0 helps it better attack an enormous 2nd market

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Auth0Auth0 cofounder and CEO Eugenio Pace</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">On Monday, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/auth0-expands-reach-of-global-partner-programnewest-partners-in-the-u-s-and-emea-extend-its-universal-identity-platform-to-more-customers-1027370032">cybersecurity company Auth0</a> announced it raised $103 million in Series E financing led by Sapphire Ventures. The round valued the company above $1 billion, double its $500 million valuation just one year ago.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">The company's software allows users to safely and securely log into a wide range of online services, from e-commerce sites to smart home devices to social platforms.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Cofounder and CEO Eugenio Pace told Business Insider that, as companies accelerate the adoption of complex technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the tools needed to safely and securely authenticate user information will have to be just as complex.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Auth0 also allows users to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-log-out-of-facebook">log into platforms using their social media accounts like Google and Facebook</a>, and so has to act as intermediary if those platforms enforce stricter privacy and data sharing rules.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>With a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/data-hacks-breaches-biggest-of-2018-2018-12">new</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-hack-what-is-pegasus-2019-5">security</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/data-breaches-retailers-consumer-companies-2019-1">breach</a> seeming to make <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-healthcare-data-breach-epidemic-will-intensify-2019-4">headlines</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-hacked-attackers-installed-spyware-2019-5">every week</a>, keeping user data secure has become quite a growth business.Enter Auth0, a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/auth0-expands-reach-of-global-partner-programnewest-partners-in-the-u-s-and-emea-extend-its-universal-identity-platform-to-more-customers-1027370032">cybersecurity software company that manages user authentication</a> and secures the login pages for some of the largest consumer and <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> businesses. On Monday, Auth0 announced it doubled its valuation to more than $1 billion in just one year with its $103 million Series E funding round.Existing investor Sapphire Ventures led the round after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/51-enterprise-startups-to-bet-your-career-on-in-2018-2017-11">leading the company's 2018 $55 million Series D</a> that valued the company above $500 million, disclosed for the first time to Business Insider. Other existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, K9 Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Meritech Capital, Telstra Ventures, and World Innovation Lab also participated in Monday's round."It's a problem space that is very, very complicated," Auth0 cofounder and CEO Eugenio Pace told Business Insider. "Making mistakes have dire consequences, it opens the door to get access to your information and your customer data. No one wants to be on the cover of newspapers with another breach and have all that information out in the open. There is an appreciation of the complexity of the problem and so, many companies know it is better left to the experts in the domain, which is us."Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vc-firms-most-unicorns-billion-dollar-startups-2019-5">As Airbnb and Instacart gear up for rumored IPOs, here are the VC firms that have made the most early investments in billion-dollar startups</a>Pace, who previously led Microsoft's developer program for 13 years, said that Auth0's approach is unique because it empowers developers. In the past, Pace explained, corporations that purchased security tools didn't see themselves as software companies, and so user authentication and security was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/data-breaches-2018-4">an afterthought left to the IT department</a>. With the ubiquity of smartphones, smart home devices, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smartphone-biometrics-are-no-longer-the-stuff-of-science-fiction-2017-12">complex authentication tools like biometrics</a>, Pace said every business needs to be able to adapt to changing user expectations and complex technology without sacrificing the user experience."How it's been, the more secure you want to be, the worse user experience it is," Pace said. "Your typical consumer has the thermostat, the phone, a smart TV, and an Echo device, and all these devices and the system need to be interconnected to know who you are, so the complexity will only increase. We are resolving this tension between user experience and security that has traditionally been at odds."<h2>Solving a problem that 'is not new'</h2>Part of Auth0's appeal, Pace explained, is that it acts as an inter<keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword>ry between its customers and social media sites like Facebook and Google that allow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-log-out-of-facebook">users one-step login using social media accounts</a>. According to Pace, Auth0 is fully responsible for maintaining the software and is able to manage changes required by changes to privacy or security policies those platforms enact. "Because we are the intermediaries, we can do things no one else can do. For example, we can observe behaviors of users that are suspicious, like the location of a login that is an anomaly, and alert the application."Auth0 currently has 7,000 global customers with plans to expand with its boost in funding, Pace said, but its service will remain the same as they were when Pace started the company in January 2013."The problem in itself is not new. Since computers were built, we've had to identify who was a legitimate user and who is not and what those users can do," Pace said. "But the way we are solving it and approaching it is quite unique and different from how it was solved in the past."Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lifelong-iphone-user-switches-android-samsung-galaxy-s10-2019-5">I've used iPhones for nearly a decade and switched to the Samsung Galaxy S10. Now I understand Android loyalty in a way I never understood before.</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Auth0, a cybersecurity software company started by a Microsoft veteran, scooped up $103 million and says its valuation doubled to over $1 billion in just 12 months

<ul><li><keyword id="11094" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hackers" source="Orion">Hackers</keyword> find different ways to trick people and steal information. </li><li>There are various ways to help reduce the chance of your account being hacked. </li><li>In this article, we have listed some ways to keep your <keyword id="2594807" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="instagram-account" source="Orion">Instagram account</keyword> protected.</li></ul>Hacking accounts is an increasingly common problem in today’s digital world. <keyword id="819905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="instagram" source="Orion">Instagram</keyword> is one of the most used social media services that hold personal information, card information, media and personal messages of individuals. Hence, it is one of the favourites of hackers. To keep accounts protected and prevent hacking, Instagram has given tips and introduced security features. There are several ways like sending links, softwares, coding and more that hackers might use to hack accounts but the common mistakes made by us can make it easy for them to gain unauthorised access to our accounts. It is important to follow certain measures that can reduce the risk of accounts being hacked. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Let's take a look at some of the ways to prevent Instagram account hacking." comment="subhead" text="Let's take a look at some of the ways to prevent Instagram account hacking.">Let's take a look at some of the ways to <keyword id="14153413" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="prevent-instagram-account" source="Orion">prevent Instagram account</keyword> hacking.</cmsannotation> <ul><li>Enable two-factor authentication: Instagram has introduced this feature that keeps the account owner aware if someone tries to login into their account. Instagram has recommended <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.authenticator2&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US">Google Authenticator</a> or <a href="https://auth0.com/docs/connections/social/instagram">Auth0</a> as the best-suited authentication apps to enable two-factor verification and keeping accounts safe.</li></ul><ul><li>Instagram account users should keep their phone number and email address.</li></ul><ul><li>Users should set a strong password using numbers, letters and special characters. Also, one should change the password regularly. Repeating passwords or using the same password for different sites should be avoided.</li></ul><ul><li>Users should stay cautious about scammers and phishers as they try to peek into your personal information and convince you by tricking and sending messages or links or emails.</li></ul>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/how-to-check-trending-hashtags-on-instagram/articleshow/92098720.cms">How to check trending hashtags on Instagram</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/how-the-whatsapp-double-verification-feature-works/articleshow/92055307.cms">WhatsApp double verification feature – what is it and how it works</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/how-to-transfer-esim-on-your-iphone/articleshow/92103125.cms">How to transfer eSIM on your iPhone</a>

How to prevent your Instagram account from getting hacked

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">CanvaCanva cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">Canva, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/canva-15-million-microsoft-office-2016-9">an online visual presentation software company that competes directly with Google's G Suite and Microsoft PowerPoint</a>, raised $70 million at $2.5 billion valuation on Monday.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Bond, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-leaves-kleiner-perkins-to-start-own-fund-2018-9">the venture capital firm founded by former Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker,</a> led the round with General Catalyst - the first investment that Bond has announced since it was founded in April.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">CEO Melanie Perkins tells Business Insider that the next step for Canva is investing more deeply in the <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> software space. </li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Australian startup Canva just raised $70 million to take on Microsoft PowerPoint and Google's G Suite - making it a $2.5 billion company. The<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/canva-15-million-microsoft-office-2016-9"> presentation software company</a> closed its latest funding round Monday. Bond, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mary-meeker-leaves-kleiner-perkins-to-start-own-fund-2018-9">the venture capital firm founded by former Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker</a>, a legendary figure in the industry, co-led the round with General Catalyst. Notably, it's the first investment out of Bond, which was founded in April - or, at least, the first that it's announced publicly. Existing investors Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Capital also participated in the round."The growth of visual content is why Canva is growing so rapidly," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/canva-ceo-melanie-perkins-interview-2016-8">Canva cofounder and CEO Melanie Perkins</a> told Business Insider. "Teams rely on visual content more than ever before, and need to ensure their branding is cohesive across different offices and geographies and teams more than ever before."Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/auth0-doubled-valuation-to-1-billion-with-103-million-in-new-funding-2019-5">Auth0, a cybersecurity software company started by a Microsoft veteran, scooped up $103 million and says its valuation doubled to over $1 billion in just 12 months</a>Perkins started <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/canva-sydney-office-culture-review-2018-9">the Sydney-based Canva in 2012.</a> The idea, she's said, is to provide an easier-to-use alternative to the likes of the ubiqituous PowerPoint that let anybody make professional-looking presentations, all from the web browser or an app. It can also be used to design flyers, posters, and anything else that requires a touch of graphic design expertise. Now, she says, the future of Canva is moving into the enterprise software space, taking on Microsoft Office and Google's G Suite in their place of power. According to Perkins, 80% of global Fortune 500 companies have teams using Canva, which has upwards of 15 million monthly active users. "We're doubling down on our services for workplaces," Perkins said. "At an even greater rate, you hear teams saying 'death by PowerPoint,' and it is common sense, so we want to make that an amazing experience."The company is also benefitting from the rise of remote workforces, with Canva as an easy way for marketing and design pros to standardize on the tools they use to manage and maintain a brand."When you have thousands of people designing for the brand, there might be separate jurisdictions across the globe that need to collaborate as more companies grow remote workforces," Perkins told Business Insider. Perkins could not confirm which investors from the round plan to join her company's board, but she did say she was excited to increase its presence in Silicon Valley with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fortune-report-kleiner-perkins-missed-early-investments-struggled-succession-2019-4">industry notables like Meeker</a> that can help Canva scale its global business."We know we have a lot more power to power the modern workforce," Perkins said. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-thrones-season-8-episode-4-details-missed-easter-eggs-2019-5">14 details in 'Game of Thrones' season 8 episode 4 you may have missed</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Design startup Canva is now a $2.5 billion company, thanks to the first-ever investment from legendary VC Mary Meeker's new fund

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">TripAdvisorsTripAdvisors cofounders Ariel Cohen (left) and Ilan Twig</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">On Thursday, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/divvy-and-tripactions-announce-new-partnership-1027770388">corporate travel startup TripActions</a> announced it secured $250 million in Series D funding from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-launches-2-billion-late-stage-fund-2019-5">Andreessen Horowitz's newly announced $2.2 billion growth fund</a>.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">The round values TripActions at $4 billion just months after it reached the $1 billion valuation mark with its Series C round in November.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">TripActions cofounder and CEO Ariel Cohen told Business Insider that Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George was "very proactive" in pulling the investment together and that the team hadn't yet spent the full $154 million in Series C funding.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Cohen also said that while his team has a "relationship" with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-vision-fund-100-billion-tech-unicorn-factory-2019-6">SoftBank's Vision Fund</a>, they wanted to keep the deal terms simple and board involvement limited by going with an existing investor.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>TripActions cofounders Ariel Cohen and Ilan Twig took turns toasting to their team's accomplishments at Quince, a three-star Michelin restaurant in San Francisco's upscale Jackson Square neighborhood, on Tuesday.Fresh off trips across Europe, the duo had a lot to celebrate: their four-year old <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/divvy-and-tripactions-announce-new-partnership-1027770388">corporate travel startup</a> landed $250 million from VC firm Andreessen Horowitz at an eye-popping $4 billion valuation, officially announced Thursday."If we can raise money with good terms, why not," Cohen told Business Insider.The funding, officially the team's Series D round, comes just eight months after a $154 million Series C in November that valued the company at $1 billion. Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/slack-direct-listing-index-ventures-board-observer-2019-6">A former Slack board observer says there was 'no hesitation' about its unusual public offering, and she thinks Slack's successful direct listing will encourage more startups to do it</a>Cohen compared TripActions' rise, meteoric even by Silicon Valley standards, to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/netflix">Netflix</a> when it was first taking on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/blockbuster">Blockbuster</a>. He said current corporate travel vendors and travel agents may have 50 years of market experience on Cohen and Twig, but TripActions is easier to use and less of a headache for the end user: the employees."We think we can take the market, but we need all the means possible to do that," Cohen said.TripActions is the latest in the parade of startups raising late-stage funding rounds in close succession, with credit card startup Brex and identity management vendor Auth0 among the growing pool. <h2>An aggressive courtship</h2>Cohen explained that the team wasn't looking to raise and hadn't depleted the $154 million from November's Series C. Instead, he said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-launches-2-billion-late-stage-fund-2019-5">Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George, now leading the firm's new $2.2 billion growth fund</a>, aggressively pursued the team. George even sent Cohen pictures of his children to help "soften" Cohen during negotiations, according to George's account at Tuesday's dinner."I don't know if it worked, but I think it might have," George said.Cohen wanted to keep the board small, he said, and so he and Twig weren't planning on bringing on new investors. Andreessen Horowitz led the $154 million round in November, and had access to the team's data and growth statistics that Cohen believes convinced them to up the ante. That didn't stop Cohen from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-vision-fund-100-billion-tech-unicorn-factory-2019-6">exploring other possibilities</a>, he said."[SoftBank] is always a question," Cohen told Business Insider. "We have a relationship with them and had been talking in the past, but in the end we were able to choose investors and we chose who we are comfortable with."With another $250 million on the balance sheet, Cohen believes that TripActions will have enough cash on hand to accelerate the team's go-to-market strategy and bolster the team's ambitious hiring goals. According to Cohen, TripActions has $1.1 billion in travel expenses under management between 2,000 customers."We think about how many customers do we have, are people happy, and are users getting the right service, but these numbers are real," Cohen said. "We are really saving them and that's why they're coming to us." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-most-difficult-launch-ever-2019-6">Watch SpaceX's 'most difficult launch ever'</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

TripActions skyrockets to $4 billion valuation just months after earning unicorn status with backing from Andreessen Horowitz's new $2.2 billion Vision Fund competitor

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Madrona Venture LabsMadrona Venture Labs team</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">On Wednesday, Seattle-based startup studio Madrona Venture Labs announced it raised $11 million in funding to help build between 8 and 12 startups.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"> Madrona Venture Labs is a startup studio backed by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/madrona-dominates-seattle-startup-scene-and-thats-a-little-scary-2015-3">Madrona Venture Group</a> and specializes in artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Mike Fridgen, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Labs, told Business Insider that Seattle is full of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-experts-call-on-amazon-not-to-sell-rekognition-software-to-police-2019-4">top technical talent from Amazon and Microsoft</a> that he hopes to recruit to the startup studio as founders and mentors.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">According to Fridgen, many of the legacy companies' top executives have made enough money to be financially secure enough to take the leap into entrepreneurship.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Seattle has become a top destination for tech talent. Amazon, Microsoft, and Boeing all call it their homes, while just about every other major tech company under the sun has set up shop in the city in a big way. Madrona Venture Labs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/madrona-dominates-seattle-startup-scene-and-thats-a-little-scary-2015-3">a startup studio backed by Madrona Venture Group</a>, is betting that tech talent cooped up at tech behemoths like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-experts-call-on-amazon-not-to-sell-rekognition-software-to-police-2019-4">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-warns-investors-artificial-intelligence-2019-2">Microsoft</a> are ready to strike it big on their own with its latest $11 million fund. The fund will go towards building 8 to 12 companies over the next year."We've had executives from those kind of companies that had seven-figure comp packages leave to do this," Managing Director Mike Fridgen said of the Madrona Venture Labs program. "At some point they're at a place financially where they can take more risks and do what they're actually passionate about."This program operates under a slightly different model than accelerators like the famed Y Combinator. Where other programs accept applications, choose a select few startups, and provide early funding and rigorous mentorship, Madrona Venture Labs enters the equation right at the beginning. As Fridgen explains, Madrona Venture Labs works with would-be founders to help them find and develop an idea for a startup. Then, Madrona matches the founder with a team to build the company. It can overcome a major hurdle to entrepreneurship, says Fridgen, by giving the newly-minted CEO an idea and a team right off the bat.Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/auth0-doubled-valuation-to-1-billion-with-103-million-in-new-funding-2019-5">Auth0, a cybersecurity software company started by a Microsoft veteran, scooped up $103 million and says its valuation doubled to over $1 billion in just 12 months</a>"They immediately gave me a team, with a Helix designer, a business analyst, an interim CTO, and a developer," said Mia Lewin, founder and CEO of Spruce Up, a Madrona Venture Labs spin-off company. "Instead of going through the traditional founding process trying to validate your idea, I went with the team to validation process."Madrona Venture Labs works closely with the investment arm of Madrona to identify opportunities, both in the market and in terms of technology. It then goes out through its connections in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/laid-off-oracle-cloud-developer-power-struggle-seattle-silicon-valley-2019-3">Seattle's talent pool</a> for the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vatican-microsoft-team-up-on-artificial-intelligence-ethics-2019-2">top artificial intelligence and machine learning technologists</a> to help actually build the solutions. Having to compete with the larger companies in terms of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/diego-piacentini-amazon-executive-pay-2012-11">paycheck and compensation</a> may be difficult, Fridgen said, especially with Amazon literally in its backyard. But there is something special that makes executives leave the comfortable confines of an established organization for the challenges of entrepreneurship."We are unlocking the value of entrepreneurs in our market by providing value for extremely capable executives in our market that, without this process, wouldn't start a company," Fridgen said. "What we focus on is venture capability and diversity, so we are trying to expand the pool of founders that we attract."Fridgen says that Madrona is the only investment group of its size in Seattle compared to 85 similar firms in Silicon Valley, giving Madrona Venture Labs graduates a leg up on other <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-amazon-microsoft-tech-boom-photos-2019-2">entrepreneurs hoping to gain a foothold in the market.</a>"It's an opportunity to provide onboarding for executives at companies in larger companies and folks not as familiar with building their own company," Fridgen said. "We are their cofounders, and connecting on that level is less obvious and capital is less available. Our goal is to remove all the hurdles to build the company by bringing it into the Lab."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=ecommerce&amp;itm_campaign=5-biggest-questions-around-amazons-new-grocery-chain"></a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/review-200-scuf-vantage-better-than-25-easysmx-controller-2019-5">We compared the $200 Scuf Vantage PlayStation controller to the $25 EasySMX controller - and the winner was clear</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

This Seattle-based VC firm raised $11 million for its plan to convince Amazon and Microsoft employees to take the plunge into entrepreneurship

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Reuters/Ralph OrlowskiSAP SE CEO Bill McDermott (R) and CFO Luka Mucic attend the company's annual results press conference in Walldorf, Germany.</div></div></div>(Reuters) - SAP, Europe's biggest technology company, has agreed to buy U.S.-Israeli customer identity software company Gigya to strengthen its position in the booming market for online customer relationship marketing, the company said on Sunday.The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, will tie together Gigya's user identity access and management platform with SAP's Hybris customer profile data-matching software so businesses can market services to online customers.Several Israeli media put a purchase price on the deal of $350 million for Gigya, which was founded in Israel in 2006 before relocating its headquarters to Silicon Valley. Both companies declined to comment on price of the deal.Gigya software enables companies to manage customer marketing profiles and preferences, while giving consumers themselves the power to opt-in and give their consent, helping users to keep control of their data at all times, SAP said.The acquisition beefs up SAP's ability to help companies doing business in Europe to comply with privacy regulations such as the EU's upcoming General Data Protection Regulation. Gigya currently manages 1.3 billion customer identity profiles."Major independent analyst firms, most recently Forrester Research, have positioned Gigya as a top vendor in this field," SAP said in a statement announcing the deal.Forrester ranks Gigya as leader in the niche field of user identity management against rivals such as Salesforce, Ping Identity, Auth0 and Microsoft, singling Gigya out for its more intuitive user interface and security.It counts 700 big businesses as users, including half of the top 100 U.S. web properties, and European brands such as retailer ASOS, pharmaceutical maker Bayer, cosmetics firm L'Oreal and airline KLM, according to Gigya.Gigya will be incorporated into SAP's Hybris marketing business, which offers so-called "ommichannel" integration that allows businesses to keep tabs on customers whether they shop in stores, online or on their phones, SAP said.Since 2013, Gigya has been a partner of Hybris, which SAP acquired the same year.The transaction is expected to close in the final quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval,SAP said.(Reporting by Eric Auchard, Vera Eckert and Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Tova Cohen and Jane Merriman) <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-things-about-ellipitcals-2017-9">An exercise physiologist reveals why she never uses the elliptical - and what she prefers instead</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

SAP is buying customer identity software company Gigya

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li style="font-weight: 400;">Rahil Sondhi presented his startup, PopSQL, at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-founders-reveal-repeat-accelerator-progam-demo-day-2019-8">Y Combinator's annual Demo Day</a> in San Francisco on Monday.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Sondhi pitched his company, pronounced "popsicle," as a modern database communications tool for distributed teams, replacing static SQL queries sent via CSV files.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">The former Instacart engineer told Business Insider that he had raised $1 million in seed funding ahead of Y Combinator's annual pitch competition in San Francisco.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Sondhi said that his biggest focus now is hiring a team, which currently only counts him on the payroll.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-founders-reveal-repeat-accelerator-progam-demo-day-2019-8">Y Combinator's Demo Day</a>, which actually spans two full days in a massive warehouse in San Francisco, is a see-and-be-seen type of event straight out of an<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-characters-real-life-2016-6"> HBO parody show</a>. The men's restroom line surpasses the women's. A flock of electric scooters flanks the entrance. Puffy vests outnumber traditional business attire. And everyone has a backpack with an impressive name stitched on the back.But for all the amusing clichés of the ambiance, the bi-annual event still delivers an impressive display of fresh ideas and hungry startups. On Monday and Tuesday, an ambitious group of entrepreneurs took to the stage to pitch hundreds of investors on their early-stage companies. Rahil Sondhi was among the almost 200 companies that presented over the two-day event. His company PopSQL, pronounced "popsicle," is a database collaboration and communication tool built on the database language SQL. Sondhi has been running the startup completely on his own since founding it two years ago. Before stepping on to the stage, he told Business Insider he had already raised $1 million in venture funding. PopSQL already has more than 100 customers, Sondhi said. He's eager to bring in employees so he can pursue fundraising for the remainder of his seed round while simultaneously building new products and features."I need people to take anything off my plate," Sondhi said. "If a strong engineer comes on board, awesome. A strong designer comes on board, perfect. A marketer, content marketing is really important for us. What else? Sales. Really anything, I need help in all departments."<h2>Born on the fourth of July</h2>Sondhi began building PopSQL while he was working as a software engineer at the grocery <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instacart-tips-expensive-review-2018-3">delivery startup Instacart</a> in October 2016. He said he would work on his side project for almost 35 hours a week in addition to his full-time role. PopSQL launched on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/product-hunt-2014-6">Product Hunt, a popular forum for startups</a>, in May 2017, and Sondhi was off to the races."I stayed in the July 4th weekend writing the code for the billing system and shipping it. We got our first customer on July 4th," Sondhi said. "I still have that email and they're still a paying customer and I think it was $32 or something, but it was so meaningful. Imagine waking up on July 4th to that after 10 months of work."Now, Sondhi says PopSQL has over 100 customers, including his previous employer, Instacart, as well as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-still-be-pocketing-tips-despite-pay-model-change-2019-8">food delivery startup DoorDash</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/auth0-doubled-valuation-to-1-billion-with-103-million-in-new-funding-2019-5">security startup Auth0</a>. Read More: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-michael-seibel-startups-distance-themselves-google-facebook-2019-8">Startup founders need to distance themselves from big tech, according to the CEO of famed startup accelerator Y Combinator</a>"If you take the SQL editors that have existed, they're just very legacy, they're heavy weighed, they're clunky, they have outdated UIs," Sondhi told Business Insider. "And then imagine somebody gives you Chrome for the first time or somebody gives you Google Docs for the first time. It's fast. It's lightweight, it looks good, it just has the right amount of buttons, it's intuitive."<h2>Building a team that can work from anywhere</h2>For the last three months in the Y Combinator program, Sondhi said he's been chipping away at growing the company instead of building new features.Unlike past Y Combinator alumni companies, Sondhi isn't counting on building the company and hiring a team in San Francisco, although that's home for him. Between<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bungalow-co-living-photos-san-francisco-housing-crisis-2019-7"> skyrocketing costs and an incredibly tight labor market</a>, the Toronto native is "completely open" to building a distributed team from the beginning. "The tools exist, it's just the culture and the willingness to do it," Sondhi said of building his team. It's a philosophy being embraced by a growing number of tech entrepreneurs<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-cofounder-alexis-ohanian-initialized-capital-silicon-valley-housing-costs-2019-7">, including Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian</a>, who recently said that "no one in their right mind" would build a company entirely in San Francisco these days. Ohanian, who now leads VC firm Initialized Capital, has employees based all over the US. But even if he assembles a dispersed team, PopSQL's Sondhi isn't planning to move back to his native Toronto anytime soon. "I loved Toronto but San Francisco's become home. Once you get rid of winter, you can't take it back."

This founder raised $1 million before Y Combinator's Demo Day to make a better database communications tool for distributed teams. Now he needs a team.

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