Cisco Plans to Buy Michigan Unicorn Duo Security for $2.35 Billion
Summary
The purchase will bring San Jose, CA-based Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO )—which sells a variety of IT hardware, digital products, and services—a software-as-a-service security tool used to authenticate a user’s access to things like software, networks, and devices.The company was apparently happy to pay up to gain control of Ann Arbor, MI-based Duo, which claimed last year it was valued at about $1.17 billion after a $70 million round of funding .Duo—which has offices across the globe, including Detroit; Austin, TX; San Mateo, CA; and the U.K.—sells a cloud-based, two-factor authentication technology that gives a second method of confirming a user’s identity when trying to log into a website or database.Like other similar software, Duo verifies a user’s identity through a second device, like a smartphone, or through a piece of information only the user has, as Xconomy has previously reported .Duo has raised some $119 million from investors since its founding eight years ago, which helped it achieve the highest private valuation of any startup in the state’s history, according to the Michigan Venture Capital Association.
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