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How Rubrik’s IPO paid off big Greylock VC Asheem Chandna

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When Asheem Chandna arrived at Rubrik’s office in Palo Alto on a Friday evening in early 2015, he couldn’t wait to search out out what the young company that hadn’t yet created a product would show him. Greylock’s partner was not upset.

The company’s CEO, Bipul Sinha, drew on a whiteboard Rubrik’s plan to revamp the info management and recovery market. “The old and new architecture he presented was very convincing,” Chandna said. “Based on my knowledge of the industry, I knew it could be turned into a big business.”

It was a prophetic call. On Thursday, nine years after that meeting, Rubrik began its operations as a publicly traded company with: market capitalization exceeding $6 billion. Greylock owns 13% of the shares, in keeping with the newest SEC reports. By the close of trading Friday, at a share price of $38, nearly 19.9 million shares were value greater than $756 million.

But Chandna says he was motivated to steer the Rubrik team by rather more than simply a desire to tackle the arcane data recovery market. Series B for $40 million in May 2015. (According to SEC filings, the Series B round sold for $2.45 per share, adjusted for splits. Although Greylock also participated in later rounds at higher prices, Chandra’s profits from this round are enormous.)

“The longer I do what I do, the more I truly believe that venture is a people business,” said Chandna, who has been an investor for over 20 years and has an enviable track record of successful exits. He helped incubate Palo Alto Networks within the Greylock offices and until last 12 months served on the board of directors of the nearly $100 billion company. Chandna was also an early investor Application dynamics, Sumo logic and Arista Networks.

Chandna looks for individuals who are usually not only motivated and bold, but in addition aware of their weaknesses and may recruit individuals who can get things done in areas that are usually not the founder’s strong suit.

Another essential ingredient for the founder is sand. “If you had the right technology, but slightly inferior to mine, but you were very aware and persistent, you would beat me,” he said.

This is what he saw in Sinha. The founding father of Rubrik dreamed of beginning a company all his life. Chandra recalls that when he founded a knowledge management and recovery startup in 2013, he couldn’t find strong engineers willing to work there. The business he was attempting to construct wasn’t inherently sexy on the time.

Despite being an investor in Lightspeed for 4 years before founding Rubrik, recruiting talent proved to be a serious challenge for Sinha. But he didn’t quit. He called engineers on LinkedIn after which invited them to coffee breaks outside the workplace.

“The startup path is very difficult, even for the most successful companies,” Chandna said. “I want people who won’t take no for an answer.”

Perhaps it was Sinha’s resolve and ambition that forced him to take his company public despite the unfavorable IPO atmosphere.

“Rubrik has almost $800 million in annual recurring revenue,” Chandna said. “This is more than most companies that have gone public in the last many years. I think they just wanted to keep it going.”

Chandna would not say whether he expects other Greylock portfolio corporations to follow Rubrik’s lead, but added emphatically that the best-performing late-stage corporations are Abnormal Security, Cato Networks, Discord, Figma and Lyra Health.

We will follow their fate closely.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Revolut will introduce mortgage loans, smart ATMs and business lending products

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Revolutthe London-based fintech unicorn shared several elements of the corporate’s 2025 roadmap at a company event in London on Friday. One of the corporate’s important goals for next yr will be to introduce an AI-enabled assistant that will help its 50 million customers navigate financial apps, manage money and customize software.

Considering that artificial intelligence is at the middle of everyone’s attention, this move shouldn’t be surprising. But an AI assistant could actually help differentiate Revolut from traditional banking services, which have been slower to adapt to latest technologies.

When Revolut launched its app almost 10 years ago, many individuals discovered the concept of debit cards with real-time payment notifications. Users may lock the cardboard from the app.

Many banks now can help you control your card using your phone. However, they’re unlikely to supply AI features that might be useful yet.

In addition to the AI ​​assistant, Revolut announced that it will introduce branded ATMs to the market. These will end in money being spent (obviously), but in addition cards – which could encourage latest sign-ups.

Revolut said it plans so as to add facial recognition features to its ATMs in the longer term, which could help with authentication without using the same old card and PIN protocol. It will be interesting to see the way it implements this technology in a way that complies with European Union data protection regulations, which require explicit consent to make use of biometric data for identification purposes.

According to the corporate, Revolut ATMs will start appearing in Spain in early 2025.

Revolut has had a banking license in Europe for a while, which implies it may offer lending products to its retail customers. It already offers bank cards and personal loans in some countries.

Now the corporate plans to expand into mortgage loans – some of the popular lending products in Europe – with an emphasis on speed. If it’s an easy request, customers should generally expect immediate approval and a final offer inside one business day. However, mortgages are rarely easy, so it will be interesting to see if Revolut overpromises.

It appears that the mortgage market rollout will be slow. Revolut said it was starting in Lithuania, with Ireland and France expected to follow suit. Although all these premieres are scheduled for 2025.

Finally, Revolut intends to expand its business offering in Europe with its first loan products and savings accounts. In the payments space, it will enable business customers to supply “buy now, pay later” payment options.

Revolut will introduce Revolut kiosks with biometric payments especially for restaurants and stores.

If all these features seem overwhelming, it’s because Revolut is consistently committed to product development, rolling out latest features quickly. And 2025 looks no different.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal is leaving PhonePe’s board

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Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down three-quarters from PhonePe’s board after making an identical move on the e-commerce giant.

Bengaluru-based PhonePe said it has appointed Manish Sabharwal, executive director at recruitment and human resources firm Teamlease, as an independent director and chairman of the audit committee.

Bansal played a key role in Flipkart’s acquisition of PhonePe in 2016 and has since served on the fintech’s board. The Walmart-backed startup, which operates India’s hottest mobile payment app, spun off from Flipkart in 2022 and was valued at $12 billion in funding rounds that raised about $850 million last 12 months.

Bansal still holds about 1% of PhonePe. Neither party explained why they were leaving the board.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of the first and staunchest supporters of PhonePe,” Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said in a press release. His lively involvement, strategic advice and private mentoring have profoundly enriched our discussions. We will miss Binny!”

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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The company is currently developing washing machines for humans

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Forget about cold baths. Washing machines for people may soon be a brand new solution.

According to at least one Japanese the oldest newspapersOsaka-based shower head maker Science has developed a cockpit-shaped device that fills with water when a bather sits on a seat in the center and measures an individual’s heart rate and other biological data using sensors to make sure the temperature is good. “It also projects images onto the inside of the transparent cover to make the person feel refreshed,” the power says.

The device, dubbed “Mirai Ningen Sentakuki” (the human washing machine of the longer term), may never go on sale. Indeed, for now the company’s plans are limited to the Osaka trade fair in April, where as much as eight people will have the option to experience a 15-minute “wash and dry” every day after first booking.

Apparently a version for home use is within the works.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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