Duo Security announced this week that it has raised a $12 million Series B round with a big-name Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm (Benchmark Capital) leading the way. What’s interesting is that Dug Song, the startup's CEO & co-founder, never had any intention of raising the 8-figures worth of new funding.
"Benchmark approached us," Song says.
More specifically Matt Cohler approached Song. He approached Song multiple times. Song didn't respond. He didn't even pick up the phone when Cohler called because Duo Security wasn’t raising seed capital. Song finally did pickup the phone when several of his friends told him he was crazy for ignoring one of the most successful entrepreneurs in tech today.
Benchmark Capital has been in the middle of a number of high-profile deals in the Bay Area since its launch in the mid 1990s, including investments in Zillow, Zipcar, Yelp, and Twitter. It's probably most famous for investing early in eBay.
"They are probably one of the top three venture capital investors in the world," Song says.
Cohler made a name for himself by getting in on the ground floor at number of high-profile startups over the last decade. He was a founding member of Linkedin. Then he went on to become an early hire at Facebook. Kohler joined Benchmark Capital as a general partner in 2008 and led investments in Dropbox and Instagram. He is now the point person for Benchmark Capital's investment in Duo Security.
Duo Security makes online security software, specifically a two-step verification process that confirms the right person is accessing protected information. Duo Push seamlessly integrates with the user's online password system, so when a user logs in on a computer Duo Push sends a push alert to that user's smartphone asking whether to approve or deny the login request. Check out a short video of it here.
Song (a big proponent of A2 New Tech Meetup and the Ann Arbor Skatepark) and Jon Oberheide launched the startup in 2009 at Tech Brewery. They raised a seven-figure seed round off the bat, attracting local venture capital firms (Reasonant Ventures) and coastal VCs (True Ventures). They have since grown the company to several dozen employees. Song declined to say how many but did say Duo Security is looking to hire 10 people right now.
"There are more (open positions) being added," Song says.
Which is why Duo Security is moving. It's nearly tripling its office space to 14,000 square feet at 123 N Ashley in downtown Ann Arbor.
"We're about to move," Song says. "Our anticipated move date is in November. It's a big build out."
Which might help explain why Song is too busy to take extra investor calls, and why they’re calling in the first place.
Source: Dug Song, co-founder & CEO of Duo Security
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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