Okta (identity management)


Okta, Inc. is a publicly traded identity and access management company based in San Francisco. It provides cloud software that helps companies manage and secure user authentication into modern applications, and for developers to build identity controls into applications, website web services and devices. It was founded in 2009 and had its initial public offering in 2017, being valued at over $6 billion.

Services

Okta sells six services, including a single sign-on solution that allows users to log into a variety of systems using one centralized process. For example, the company claims the ability to log into Gmail, Workday, Salesforce and Slack with one login. It also offers API authentication services.
Okta's services are built on top of the Amazon Web Services cloud.
In January 2019, Okta's CEO announced that the company has over 100 million registered users.

History

In, Okta was co-founded by current Okta CEO Todd McKinnon, who previously served as the senior vice president of engineering at Salesforce, as well as having held various roles at PeopleSoft. The other co-founder was Okta COO Frederic Kerrest, also previously of Salesforce.
In 2015, the company raised US$75 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital, at a total initial valuation of US$1.2 billion. Okta had previously raised US$150 million from earlier funding rounds.
In 2017, Okta's initial public offering raised an additional US$187 million. It traded up on its first day. At the time of its IPO, Sequoia Capital was the biggest shareholder, with a 21.2 percent stake.
Okta is headquartered in San Francisco. It also has offices in San Jose, Bellevue, Toronto, Washington D.C., London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Paris, and Stockholm.
Okta primarily targets enterprise businesses. Current customers include JetBlue, Nordstrom, MGM Resorts International, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Okta runs an annual “Oktane” user conference, which recently featured former US President Barack Obama as a keynote speaker.

Competitors