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Sandhya Gupta

I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.

KLA corporation

KLA Corporation, A Company Promoting Innovation In The Semiconductor Industry.

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KLA corporation creates market-leading products and services that promote innovation in the electronics sector. The company offers cutting-edge process enabling and process controlling technologies.

About The Company

Headquartered in Milpitas, California, KLA Corporation is a business that manufactures capital equipment. It provides yield management and process control systems to the semiconductor and other similar nano-electronic sectors. All stages of the reticle, wafer, integrated circuit (IC), and packaging manufacturing, from research and innovation to final volume manufacturing, are targeted by the company’s services and products. In order to increase production yields for a variety of conventional and custom semiconductors, printed circuit boards (PCBs), and flat panel displays, KLA produces a number of specialized diagnostic tools, metrology devices, and predictive analytics software. Its products are divided into three categories: PCB, Display, and Component Inspection, Specialty Semiconductor Process, and Semiconductor Process Control.

KLA corporation
Image Source: wsj.net

History

KLA Instruments and Tencor Instruments, two firms in the semiconductors machinery and yield management systems sector, merged to establish KLA-Tencor in 1997. The goal of the merger was to provide a single supplier for chip processing and diagnostics equipment. Ken Levy and Bob Anderson established KLA Instruments in 1975 with an emphasis on photomask recognition to spot chip flaws. Later, KLA diversified its product range to also include wafer metrology, unified examination and analysis software, and wafer inspection. Tencor was established in 1976 by American-born chemist Karel Urbanek and a collaborator named John Schwabacher. In 1984, the company developed laser-scanning technology to locate particles and other sorts of contamination after initially focusing on precisely measuring the thickness of semiconductor film layers. In 1998, KLA-Tencor acquired various companies like Freiburg, Amray Inc., Bedford, VARS, Quantox, Keithley Instruments, and Ultrapointe. In 2018, Orbotech, an Israeli company that sells automated optical inspection equipment, was acquired by KLA-Tencor for about $3.4 billion. In 2019, KLA-Tencor changed its name to KLA Corporation. In 2019, KLA made plans to establish a second US office in Michigan. The building was slated to open in the summer of 2021 and would house 500–600 new employees, around half of whom would be engineers. According to reports, the facility would encourage collaborations with the automotive industry and have a tie with the University of Michigan.

Controversy

KLA settled claims that the business and a few executives had improperly backdated share options grants in January 2008 by paying $65 million. The SEC claims that KLA dramatically inflated its disclosed financial results in this controversy, trying to deprive shareholders of accurate info about the corporation’s compensation costs and fiscal performance. SEC said that it was particularly troubling for a listed corporation to participate in such improper conduct even after being warned that these practices were illegal.

Founder – Kenneth Levy

Kenneth Levy has been involved with the semiconductors machinery and equipment sector for more than 30 years and currently holds the position of chairman of the board of KLA-Tencor Corporation. Levy was a co-founder of KLA Instruments, which merged with Tencor to establish KLA-Tencor in 1997.

CEO – Rick Wallace

Rick Wallace is the CEO and President of KLA Corporation. In 1998, he joined KLA Instruments as an application engineer and has worked there for more than 30 years, holding a variety of general management responsibilities. He worked for Cypress Semiconductor and Ultratech Stepper earlier in his career. In the past, Mr. Wallace held various positions on the SEMI Board of Directors, including Chairman of the Board. Mr. Wallace obtained his electrical engineering bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and his engineering management master’s degree from Santa Clara University.

workiva

Workiva, A SaaS Company Providing Transparent Reporting.

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Workiva is amongst the best cloud platform for open and transparent reporting. This managed, secure, audit-ready cloud platform houses the company’s fit-for-purpose technological solutions, which streamline operations, connect teams and data, and maintain consistency.

About the Company

Workiva is a global SaaS company headquartered in Iowa, USA. It offers a cloud-based platform for linked and compliant reporting that enables the usage of data integration and automates reporting for finance, auditing, risk, and compliance. Workiva offers the top cloud platform in the world for reporting on regulations, finances, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. For some of the most difficult reporting and disclosure problems, Workiva offers SaaS solutions to more than 4,300 companies. The company’s networked cloud platform is used by people all over the world to ease their most complicated reporting difficulties by enabling interaction and greater connection to existing work streams. In 2022, the company found its name on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For for four consecutive years.

Workiva
Image Source: workiva.com

History

In 2008, Workiva was established in California by six businessmen as WebFilings LLC. In 2014, the firm’s name was changed to Workiva LLC and later transformed into a Delaware LLC. In 2014, the corporation went public through an IPO on the NYSE. In 2020, Workiva debuted W for ESEF. It is a way to assist European businesses in meeting the reporting standards set forth by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The technology enables businesses to create reports, tag data, and put together the whole ESEF submission package. IN 2021, the company joined the Global Compact CFO Taskforce of the UN, making it the first SaaS company to do so. Later in 2021, Workiva acquired OneCloud and made its first acquisition. Workiva also acquired a global provider of audit information and services AuditNet.

Products

Wdesk, a cloud-based workplace SaaS platform that enables businesses to gather, organize, report, and understand vital business information in real time, is the main product of Workiva. Companies can manage and submit compliance and financial records to regulatory agencies using Wdesk. The Wdesk platform combines data from various content formats, such as spreadsheets, presentation documents, emails, and other unstructured information, into a single cloud-based report. Wdata, a product of Workiva, enables users to link sizable information datasets to the Workiva framework. Its goal was to make Wdesk more functional. Wdata links information from cloud apps, third-party on-premise systems, governance, risk, and compliance platforms, as well as other sources. Wdata’s platform was enhanced by Workiva in 2019 to incorporate upgrades, approval workflows, connections for finance and accounting, risk and control integrations, and better-controlled access features. Additionally, the company connected its platforms with financial closing software maker BlackLine. Later Workiva partnered with financial close management software provider FloQast. The two provide compliance and reporting solutions for both public and private businesses, as well as for use both before and after an IPO issue.

Founder – Jeffrey Trom

Workiva was founded by Jeffrey Trom. He is the company’s VP and CTO. Jeff was a co-founder of Engineering Animation International(EAI) before joining in 2008. He spent ten years overseeing software architecture, development, and deployment as the company’s CTO.

CEO – Marty Vanderploeg

Marty Vanderploeg, the CEO of Workiva, was a co-founder of EAI and served as its CTO and executive VP until UGS Corp. bought the company in 2000. His expertise in growing software businesses from start-ups to both private and public international corporations spans more than 30 years Marty is renowned for his expertise in the technology field, including his work as a technology businessman and the development of computer-aided design tools used in forensic and medical applications.

floqast

FloQast, A Software Company That Simplifies The Accounting Process.

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FloQast is an industry leader in accounting process automation. The company, which was founded in 2013, offers a close management system to accounting departments in companies to assist them in the better balancing of the accounts each month. FloQast’s automating of routine accounting processes, streamlines and increases the efficiency of the accounting process.

About The Company

FloQast is a provider of accounting software with headquarters in Los Angeles, California. The company provides one of the best Financial Close Management workflow optimization tools enabling businesses to implement accounting excellence. Over 1,600 financial accounting teams trust FloQast, which was created by accountants for accountants to improve the efficiency of accounting teams. The company’s clients include Roblox, Zoom, Twilio, Snowflake, and Los Angeles Lakers. Customers may automate workflows like automated reconciliations, requests for documentation, and other procedures that affect the closing process at the month’s end with the help of FloQast. Since its founding, the company has received numerous mentions in major magazines as one of the finest places to work in the LA tech scene.

FloQast
Image Source: floqast.com

History

Chris Sluty, Mike Whitmire, and Cullen Zandstra established FloQast. Whitmire was a senior accountant at Cornerstone OnDemand when he first had the idea for the business. Whitmire set out to develop a product that would aid finance and accounting teams during the frantic financial close process after personally experiencing the difficulties accounting teams faced when closing the account books each month, including ineffective procedures, out-of-date workflows, and flawed organizational structures. Whitmire selected Zandstra to serve as the CTO and co-founder after coming up with the idea. The two created a minimal viable product (MVP), which led to their acceptance into the esteemed Amplify.LA accelerator program. Whitmire enlisted Sluty, to join the team as co-founder, COO, and head of customer success after the company received its initial funding. In 2014, the company received $1.3 million in seed funding from Amplify.LA and Toba Capital. In 2017, FloQast received $25 million in Series B funding after a period of expansion during which the business tripled its revenue. In 2021, the firm raised $110M in Series D financing. With this, FloQast has now received $203M in funding overall.

Product

FloQast is a SaaS application. The month-end closure of an organization’s financial books is automated by the financial close management software, which integrates with Microsoft Excel and makes use of process management, reports, and collaboration. By providing accounting departments with checklists and tie-outs connected to Excel workbooks and the client of firms’ enterprise resources planning (ERP) system, the software automates reconciliations and, as a result, speeds up the financial closure process. FloQast ‘s AutoRec is a technology that uses artificial intelligence to aid in the automation of the reconciliation process. FloQast works with cloud-based file storage platforms like Google Drive, Box, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. The easy and simple configuration products from FloQast improve the way accounting departments now operate so they can work more efficiently.

Founder – Mike Whitmire; Chris Sluty; Cullen Zandstra

Chris Sluty and Mike Whitmire, former corporate accountants, and seasoned software programmer Cullen Zandstra established FloQast. Whitmire was a senior accountant at Cornerstone OnDemand when he first had the idea for the business. Cullen Zandstra later joined them as the co-founder of the company.

CEO – Mike Whitmire

Mike Whitmire is the CEO of FloQast. Mike worked on the finance and accounting team at the quickly expanding Cornerstone OnDemand before starting FloQast. Mike started his auditing career with Ernst & Young, where he concentrated on the media and entertainment industry. He carried out public business audits, opening balance sheet audits, cash to GAAP restatement, etc at EY. Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Syracuse University.

Blackline

Blackline, A Leading Tech Company Providing Accounting Software.

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BlackLine cloud-based finance operations management software, drives accountability through visibility, unifies data and processes for businesses, automates repetitive tasks, and provides industry-leading customer support.

About the Company

Blackline is an American software company that offers cloud-based services to automate and manage the complete financial closing process. Numerous clients depend on BlackLine to deliver thorough and precise results quickly. The company established the cloud financial closing market, and customers at reputable end-user review websites like Gartner Peer Insights, TrustRadius, and G2 have named it the best. Large enterprises and small businesses across all industries benefit from BlackLine’s solutions for managing and automating financial close, accounts receivable, and inter-company accounting operations. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and has 11 offices around the globe.

Blackline
Image Souce: prnewswire.com

History

In 2001, Therese Tucker, a former CTO at SunGard Treasury Systems, established BlackLine. The initial objective was to assist clients in switching from using Excel to a set of accounting systems. The company operated without any outside funding up until 2013, when Silver Lake Partners, a private equity group, invested over $200 million in the firm. In 2015 a strategic partnership was made between Blackline and McGladrey, a financial consultancy firm. The companies started providing a business process as a service (BPaaS) framework as a consequence of the deal. In 2016, BlackLine went public and is represented by the ticker BL on the NASDAQ. In 2016, Blackline paid over $34 million to acquire Runbook, a competitor in Europe Before being bought by Blackline, Runbook sold a dashboard application software package for SAP. The “automation of recurrent financial activities” by the software improve “internal control systems and compliance paperwork” and increases “visibility and transparency” of data kept by SAP. In 2018, BLackline and SAP entered into a contract with SAP to “resell BlackLine’s cloud-based accounting and finance solutions” as a component of “SAP Solution Extensions.” In 2020, the company acquired UK-based accounts receivable automation startup Rimilia. In 2016, Forbes’ Cloud 100 list included BlackLine at number 43. The company, which has a market worth of $3.5 billion, is the biggest tech company with a single female founder.

Operations

More than 3,100 organizations, including Netflix, Costco, Coca-Cola, JetBlue Airways, Kraft Heinz, Google, Sirius XM Holdings, and Under Armour, use Blackline’s software. In contrast to simple general ledger software, the company develops stronger financial controls. A technique referred to as continuous auditing is used by BlackLine’s software to manage financial data, reconcile balances from sub-systems, assure correct and thorough closings, and keep an eye on regulatory controls. The business uses cloud-based software that complies with ISO 27001 standards and is predominantly run on the Cloud Platform from Google.

Founder – Therese Tucker

BlackLine was founded by American entrepreneur Therese Tucker. Tucker’s first role was as an engineer at Hughes Aircraft. Earlier she was the CTO at SunGard Treasury Systems. In 2016, she made BlackLine public. Tucker held the positions of CEO and Chairman until 2020 when she resigned. Her worth was estimated to be $140 million after BlackLine’s IPO. based. In 2020, Forbes placed her net wealth at $370 million. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science.

CEO – Marc Huffman

A veteran of the cloud accounting software sector Marc Huffman has an outstanding track at various prosperous software firms. He began working with BlackLine in 2018 as COO before being elected as the company’s President in 2020. As President, he oversaw all customer-facing sales, marketing, and technology organizations globally. Early in 2021, he was elevated to the role of CEO. Since his hiring, BlackLine has expanded its sales and client success teams strategically realigned its go-to-market strategy, finalized a global reseller deal with SAP, set up a subsidiary in Japan, and formed several collaborations with the top consulting and advising firms around the globe.

forcepoint

Forcepoint – A Leading Provider Of Cybersecurity Services.

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Forcepoint is a human-centric cyber security firm that recognizes behavior and adjusts security enforcement and responsiveness to risk. Risk-Adaptive Protection is provided by the Forcepoint Human Point system to continuously ensure the trustworthy use of vital systems and data.

About The Company

Forcepoint is an Austin, Texas-based American multinational software firm that develops firewalls, data security, cloud security brokers, and cross-domain services and solutions. Originally known as NetPartners, Forcepoint was established in 1994 as a reseller of IT services. In 1999, the firm changed its name to Websense, and at the height of the dot-com bubble, in 2000, it went public.

forcepoint
Image Souce: i.ytimg.com

History

In 1994, Phil Trubey established Forcepoint as NetPartners in San Diego. The company started off as a distributor of network security products before creating software to regulate employee Internet access. In 1999, NetPartners became Websense. At the height of the dot-com boom in 2000, the company raised over $72 million through an IPO. On the first trading day, the stock price increased twofold. In 2006, Websense acquired the fingerprint security firm PortAuthority. In 2007, it acquired an email security provider SurfControl. In 2009, it bought Defensio, a social media-focused spam and virus startup. In 2011, Facebook used Websense to examine every link people posted on the platform. In 2013, Websense was acquired by Vista Equity Partners. That year, Websense’s headquarters were relocated to San Diego, then in 2014, they were moved to Austin, Texas. Raytheon bought the company in 2015 from Vista and merged it with RCP, a former component of its IIS division, to become Raytheon|Websense. In 2015, Raytheon paid $1.9 billion for an 80% stake in Websense. Stonesoft, a provider of network security, was purchased by Websense in 2015 from Intel. In 2016, the business changed its name to Forcepoint.In 2019, Raytheon purchased the remaining 20% of the business from Vista Ventures Partners. In January 2021, Francisco Partners acquired Forcepoint from Raytheon.

Controversies

Although Forcepoint has a stance against doing business with government agencies and ISPs that restrict the Internet, the company has come under fire for having a “perceived relationship to repression of freedom of speech and the transmission of knowledge”. In 2009, it was found that the Yemen government was utilizing Forcepoint’s products to track internet usage by the general public and to block applications that let people hide their online activity from the government. In response, Forcepoint disabled the country’s ability to access the company’s database updates. However, Yemen’s government continued to limit access to platforms like Tumblr, which many newsagents used to disseminate news. In 2009 due to one of Cisco Systems’ IP addresses being listed on a hacker website, Forcepoint briefly classed Cisco Systems’ website under “hack sites”. Later the IP was verified, and it was determined to be safe. Forcepoint announced in 2011 that it would join the Global Network Initiative, an organization dedicated to internet freedom and privacy. In 2014, the company however left this initiative.

Founder – Phil Trubey

Websense, Inc., which is now known as Forcepoint, was founded by Phil Trubey. The company is a market leader in defending businesses against data theft and cyberattacks.

CEO – Manny Rivelo

At Forcepoint, Manny Rivelo serves as the company’s CEO. As CEO of Forcepoint, Rivelo directs the company’s strategy to hasten the adoption by businesses and government organizations of a contemporary security paradigm that incorporates the newly developed Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) framework. Rivelo has over 30 years of expertise in leadership, corporate development, customer service, and sales roles. Rivelo previously worked as a Senior Operating Partner at the international investment company Francisco Partners Consulting.

Spiceworks

Spiceworks, An Online Networking Platform For IT Professionals.

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Spiceworks was established in 2006 with the goal of making IT workdays simpler. The business operates a global IT platform that links millions of buyers and sellers of technology so they can accomplish their daily tasks. It assists tech companies in creating, promoting, and supporting better services and products while also assisting tech workers in locating, using, and managing the most recent technologies.

About The Company

Spiceworks is a professional networking platform for the information technology sector. Jay Hallberg, In 2006, Scott Abel, Francis Sullivan, and Greg Kattawar, established the company intending to create IT management software. Spiceworks is an online platform where users can communicate and share advice while also shopping for IT-related services and goods in a marketplace. Over six million IT experts and 3,000 technology providers use this network. The company only supports Microsoft Windows in its free proprietary software, which is coded in Ruby on Rails. The software finds IP-addressable devices and has integrated knowledge bases and help desk features. Users can access Spiceworks’ professional software and network for free. The majority of the company’s revenue comes from the sale of the advertisements that are seen on its network. A tiny portion of its income comes from sales of IT goods and services made via the Spiceworks portal.

Spiceworks
Image source: app.jobvite.com

History

In 2006, former Motive executives Jay Hallberg, Scott Abel, Greg Kattawar, and Francis Sullivan founded Spiceworks. The group had first come together in 2005 with the goal of developing a social approach to IT. In 2019, Ziff Davis closed the takeover of Austin, Texas-based Spiceworks. They teamed up to combine Spiceworks’ community and product experience and knowledge with Ziff Davis B2B’s rich content, information, and performance marketing skills. As a result, new insights for technology professionals improved intent-driven market, account intelligence for technology brands, and new experiences that connect both parties at crucial times will be produced. In 2006, it launched a public beta. Four months later, Spiceworks’ 1.0 release was made public. It concentrated on streamlining the procedure for inventory collecting, network monitoring, and report generation for IT experts at small and midsize businesses. In 2007, the company introduced the 2.0 edition of its software. Subsequent versions came after, and version 7.0 was released in 2013. In 2014, the company launched a free network management product. In 2021, Spiceworks Desktop 7.5 stopped being accessible for download and was discontinued later. The company introduced a Cloud Help Desk service. It inaugurated its European main office in London, England, in 2012.

Controversy

In 2016, the company marked its tenth anniversary, and it also made intentions to hire an additional 100 people this year. However, those intentions were altered, and the company declared that it was dismissing roughly 12% of its workers. Additionally, a number of Spiceworks executives left the company to work with former CEO Scott Abel on the founding of a new startup called Resly Labs. Later, Resly Labs changed its name to Umuse.

Events

Since 2008, Spiceworks has held SpiceWorld, an annual user conference in Austin. Spiceworks established a London branch in 2012 in response to the expanding global community. In 2012, Vinopolis in London’s Bankside played host to the inaugural SpiceWorld London event. To combat the pandemic threat, Spiceworld held its inaugural conference in a virtual mode in the years 2020 and 2021.

Founders – Jay Hallberg, Greg Kattawar, Francis Sullivan, Scott Abel

In 2005, former IT professionals Jay Hallberg, Scott Abel, Greg Kattawar, and Francis Sullivan started talking about how they could create an online social networking site for IT experts where users might assist one another in resolving typical technological issues. This idea resulted in the foundation of Spiceworks in 2006.