Ehud Barak. Photo credit: Barak Weizmann, under Creative Commons license Carbyne, a New York-based startup that develops emergency communications software for law enforcement agencies, has announced that Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel who has held a board seat the company since 2015, is relinquishing his board position. Barak is stepping down from Carbyne's board, which he has helmed as Chairman for about five years. Barak, a former prime minister and also defense minister of Israel, helped steer Carbyne through multiple funding rounds and an expansion into new countries. Barak has served as some sort of campaigner for Carbyne, having helped promote the company's products in media appearances and lent a significant deal of credibility to the New York-based but Israeli-originated startup. Barak's affiliation with Carbyne has, however, stirred some controversy towards himself. As part of Barak's departure, he'll be selling all his shares i
A very big new acquisition has happened in the tech industry, with Okta (NASDAQ: OKTA), the publicly-traded cloud identity and access management software provider, announcing an agreement to buy Auth0, a fellow cloud identity software provider, for a price of $6.5 billion to be paid all with shares. A $6.5 billion exit for Auth0 marks a major win for the startup scene in Seattle, the tech hub where Auth0 is based and also a major win for the company's backers and investors. Auth0 last raised venture funding last year in July with a $120 million Series F round that valued the company at $1.9 billion. Now, it's about to sell for more than triple that amount. Auth0 has raised more than $330 million in total venture funding, with investors including the likes of Salesforce Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Telstra Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and DTCP. Salesforce Ventures led Auth0's most recent $120 million Series F round. With its acquisition of a fellow cloud identity a