Duo Security today announced its Series D funding that puts the company in unicorn territory. The company raised $70 million led by Meritech Capital Partners and Lead Edge Capital at a valuation of $1.17 billion. This funding round brings the company’s total amount raised to $119 million.
This round included new investors, Index Ventures and Workday, that latter of which joins as a strategic partner, as well as existing investors Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures.
The Michigan-based SaaS company was founded in 2010 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it still calls home though has since opened offices in Austin, Texas; San Mateo, California; and London and now employs more than 500 globally. The company says it now works with more than 10,000 companies and more than doubling its annual recurring revenue for the past four years.
In May 2017 at TechCrunch Disrupt SF Duo Security’s founder Dug Song said Duo makes security easy for organizations at scale. The company’s main product is two-factor authentication app — which TechCrunch’s parent company uses and I’ve found it works fine — but Duo also offers other security products to secure user’s and their devices.
“Cybersecurity is the biggest geopolitical issue of our time” Duo Security CEO Dug Song said. “When Duo started, our mission was to democratize security, now we’re securing democracy. Duo has only scratched the surface of addressing the need to deliver simple and effective security globally. There are many more organizations that Duo could help protect, and in the journey ahead, we hope to reach them all.”
Song says the new investment will help accelerate the company’s technical innovations and operations as well as securing new partnerships.
Yet despite the growth the SaaS company does not see a need to leave Michigan for Silicon Valley or New York.
“Ann Arbor is our home,” Song said. “With more than 350 employees based here, we’re proud of our Michigan roots and our heritage of global cybersecurity innovation in Southeastern Michigan. The region has a wellspring of talent that we will continue to invest in and hire from, and attract talent from outside the state as well.”
“In the same way the synergy between San Francisco and San Jose created Silicon Valley, a resurgent Michigan is being driven by regional collaboration between Ann Arbor and Detroit,” he added. “We look at the current momentum occurring in Detroit as an opportunity to further accelerate the development of the tech community regionally and look forward to contributing to the city’s revitalization in any way we can.”
Gapping down
In reaction to disappointing earnings/guidance:
- MOBL -10.5%, SCSS -5.3%, MTG -3.1%, FOGO -2.5%, HBHC -1.9%, MTB -1.3%, CREE -0.6%, ASML -0.5%
Other news:
- AKTX -18.8% (to offer and sell American Depositary Shares in an underwritten public offering;)
- HUSA -7.2% (files ~12.178 mln share common stock offering by selling stockholders )
- RDCM -3.5% ( to offer its ordinary shares in an underwritten public offering)
- TPX -1.7% (following SCSS earnings)
- CHEF -1.2% (CFO John D. Austin resigns effective November 10 )
- RIG -1% (Transocean awarded a two-year, $106 mln contract plus three one-year priced options with a subsidiary of BHP Billiton, expected to commence in 2Q18)
- BHP -0.8% (reports Q3 operational update; all production and unit cost guidance remains unchanged for the 2018 financial year)
Analyst comments:
- CMG -2.7% (downgraded to Underperform from Neutral at BofA/Merrill)
- ULTA -2.6% (downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Piper Jaffray)
- HAWK -2.1% (downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Mizuho)
- W -1.8% (Hearing Oppenheimer out in the premarket with a note suggesting traffic may be soft to the website)
- MGM -0.8% (downgraded to Hold from Buy at Stifel)
Gapping up
In reaction to strong earnings/guidance:
- IBM +5.8%, ADTN +4.8%, SVU +4.2%, IBKR +3.2%, UFPI +2.6%, ABT +1.7%, NAVI +1.2%, OMAB +1.2%, PZG +1.1%, CP +1%
Other news:
- PLX +35.3% (announces an Ex-US license and collaboration agreement with Chiesi Farmaceutici for pegunigalsidase alfa)
- SSKN +31.4% (thinly traded; announces agreement with MedResults Network that will enhance sales efforts of Nordlys and STRATAPEN )
- SPPI +31.4% (reports new data for Poziotinib; demonstrates evidence of significant antitumor activity)
- RXDX +31.4% (reports data for Entrectinib demonstrated a 78% and 69% confirmed ORR)
- TROV +17.7% (announces 'positive' data from preclinical research demonstrating synergy of PCM-075)
- DRIO +16.1% (receives CE Mark for its Lightning-enabled version of the Dario Blood Glucose Monitoring System )
- BNTC +11.9% (confirms new patent relating to the Company's hepatitis B program has been issued in the United States)
- LTBR +11.7% (received a Notice of Allowance in the China for another key patent relating to its metallic fuel design)
- HCLP +11.1% (resumes distribution for the third quarter of 2017 and announces unit buyback program -- declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.15 per unit on all common units, approved a unit buyback program of up to $100 million)
- ABUS +7.8% (announces a collaboration and license agreement w/ Gritstone Oncology)
- LPCN +5.1% (FDA has scheduled the Bone, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on January 10, 2018 to discuss the New Drug Application for TLANDO)
- FMSA +4% (HCLP sympathy)
- INO +3.4% (was initiated after the close with Outperform rating and $11 tgt at RBC Capital Mkts)
- PRKR +3.3% (enters into common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital for a private placement of 312,500 shares of common stock at $1.60 per share)
- JUNO +2.7% (enters a license agreement for the Trianni Mouse
- SLCA +2.2% (HCLP sympathy)
- CVS +1.5% (announces five-year agreement with Anthem (ANTM) to provide services to support IngenioRx)
- FGEN +1.3% (announces that the CFDA has accepted the co's recently submitted New Drug Application for registration of roxadustat)
- QURE +1.1% (presents preclinical data on AMT-130)
- ALNY +1.1% (announces licensing agreement with Vir Biotechnologyfor the development and commercialization of RNAi therapeutics for infectious diseases)
- PYPL +0.9% (following JPM/WePay news)
Analyst comments:
- LSCC +4.5% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies)
- GPRO +4.4% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Longbow)
- FTNT +3.1% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Deutsche Bank)
- SYNT +2.7% (upgraded to Outperform from Mkt Perform at William Blair)
- MGA +2.4% (upgraded to Buy from Underperform at BofA/Merrill)
- EQIX +1.8% (upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays)
- MRK +1.6% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup)
- MET +1.2% (initiated on the Conviction Buy List at Goldman)
Abbott Labs beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS in-line (55.06)
- Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.66 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.65; revenues rose 28.8% year/year to $6.83 bln vs the $6.72 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
- Co issues in-line guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.72-0.74, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $0.73 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
- Worldwide Diagnostics sales increased 5.4 percent on a reported basis in the third quarter, including a favorable 0.2 percent effect of foreign exchange, and increased 5.2 percent on an operational basis.
Early premarket gappers
Gapping up:
- SSKN +37.1%, RXDX +32.4%, SPPI +29.3%, BNTC +18.8%, HCLP +11.7%,FMSA +6.7%, ADTN +4.8%, IBM +4.7%, GPRO +4.4%, IBKR +3.2%, SVU+3.2%, INO +2.9%, LSCC +2.7%, UFPI +2.6%, SLCA +2.2%, FTNT +1.9%,EQIX +1.8%, CP +1.7%, CVS +1.5%, MRK +1.2%, SYNT +1.2%, OMAB+1.2%, PZG +1.1%, PYPL +0.9%, NAVI +0.9%
Gapping down:
- AKTX -16.4%, MOBL -10.5%, HUSA -7.2%, SCSS -5.3%, CREE -4.4%,RDCM -3.5%, MTG -3.1%, FOGO -2.5%, HAWK -2.1%, ULTA -2.1%, TPX-1.7%, HBHC -1.7%, CHEF -1.2%, MGM -1.1%, BHP -0.8%, RIG -0.6%,YUMC -0.5%, ASML -0.5%
Mnuchin: US stocks to face ‘significant’ fall without tax reforms
The US Treasury secretary has warned that American equities will reverse a “significant amount” of their recent gains if Congress does not enact reforms.
Steven Mnuchin said in a Politico podcast that there is “no question that the rally in the stock market has baked into it reasonably high expectations of us getting tax cuts and tax reform done”. He added that the spectre of regulatory relief has also been priced into stocks.
He reckons equities will “go up higher” if the tax plans, which include a reduction in the statutory corporate tax rate, are passed.
Mr Mnuchin’s comments were an allusion to the sharp rise in equities prices since Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2016. The benchmark S&P 500 index has rallied by almost a fifth since Mr Trump’s shock victory, according to FactSet data.
Mr Trump has not shied away from taking credit for the rally, tweeting on Monday that “The US has gained more than 5.2 trillion dollars in stock market value since election day!” He also tweeted “wow!”, along with an animation of the Dow’s gains over the period on Tuesday.
Wall Street investors generally agree that the idea of tax reform has been bullish for equities since lower taxes should boost corporate profits. Goldman Sachs, for instance, reckons the White House tax proposal would lift 2018 S&P 500 earnings per share growth 12 per cent above its baseline forecast that does not include the tax adjustments.
But other factors have also been cited for the S&P 500′s gains, including two straight quarters of double-digit earnings growth, a strong labour market, robust domestic and international demand, and the effect of several years of stimulative monetary policy.
Investors are not convinced that reform is needed for further market gains. Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s latest survey of fund managers shows that 68 per cent expects the US to see tax cuts in 2018, “but tax reform will not have a big impact on risk assets”.
For his part, Mr Mnuchin remains confident that tax reform will be passed by lawmakers, saying that he gives his “absolute guarantee” that a package will be in place by the end of this year.