Microsoft Acquires an OKR Startup that Raised $76 Million

Earlier this month, Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Ally.io, one of the software service startups focusing on helping companies improve their progress against Objectives and Key Results (OKR), which can be seen as a common way of management measuring the individual workers’ and the company’s progress towards their goal. The purchase price didn’t just announce back then. But it was estimated that the price had been raised by around $76 million.

The plan is to incorporate Ally and Viva to create a better employee experience product. The company has stated that the idea of this incorporation was to provide a more transparent way of communication between the company and its workers for a more extraordinary step towards success.

Kirk Koenigsbauer, as Chief Operation Officer, has mentioned that aligning the way workers work to achieve the company’s strategic mission is always a focus for every organization. To reach the company’s goals, the leaders should invest in a tool that can provide clear transparent communication as a medium to provide and share aspirational goals and reports at all levels within the organization.

That technology indeed works for supporting the company’s workflow. But, individual users could use something to protect themselves on the internet. For example, they can use Virtual Private Technology to obtain another layer of safety and protection against unwanted breaches. To have this best technology at hand, you can download Windows VPN in simple steps.

Ally.io Acquisition

The CEO and Founder of Ally, Vetri Vellore, said that this incorporation would enable the chance for the corporation to grow as quickly as a part of the Microsoft team. This acquisition will motivate Ally.io to continue developing its technology to allow companies, groups, and individuals to align their way into the company’s triumphant throne. The CEO later said in the blog that the company will always bring purposes and goals to every organization, no matter the platform they currently work with.

Of course, knowing the work objectives and how they can contribute to the bigger company goals has always become mandatory. It has become more critical as workers now work primarily at home due to their current condition. Having these objectives and goals carefully provided can help the company keep everyone on track and direct them to the same purpose.

Early Sign for Other Consolidations?

The acquisition of Ally.io by Microsoft could be an early sign of other OKR-focused companies. Aside from Ally, there are many other potential companies, including WorkBoard, Weekdone, Koan, Gtmhub, and Perdoo.

As a startup company, they’ve done their job greatly. They are successfully attracting venture capital and growing early revenues. With this join-cooperation opportunity, they’ll have to choose to stick to the original plan of using and increasing venture capital or approach their way to giant tech companies.

When the acquisition happened, this could be a chance for many companies to develop their way into the same, similar tooling. It’s highly possible for us to meet a pretty similar product, especially for solidly standing businesses like ServiceNow.

With Ally now off the board, we should wait and see how the market will respond to this action.

Previous Big Acquisitions Done by Microsoft

Ally.io wasn’t the first company acquired by Microsoft. In the long acquisition journey, Microsoft has acquired a lot of potential companies, including TikTok and Discord.

TikTok

The main reason why Microsoft finally wanted to acquire Tiktok is that there was a weakness in software and other services development within Microsoft. Another main reason why Tiktok was “forced” to sell its services in the US is that this application has become a prevalent threat for the giants in the industry, namely Facebook and Google. Seeing how competitive Tiktok has become, Microsoft would like to take action.

Acquisition done due to competitive challenges has been done regularly more than you’ve imagined. It’s a common scenario that even several observers have noticed for a long time. Some observers from Japan and France have stated that when the US loses the competition, they will do anyway to rob you.

The same scenario happened in Alstom; a company focused on power generation, ship transportation company. General Electric and Toshiba then acquired Alstom.

The government also seemed to “smoothen” this type of action with a condition. For example, Donald Trump allows this TikTok acquisition with a 30% commission for the government. Later on, the bid was won by Oracle, as Microsoft’s bid was rejected.

Discord

As a software currently used by most gamers and streamers, Discord has been one of the top valued companies in the US. Microsoft plans to acquire this company for a $10 billion deal.

According to several sources, this deal has reached the early stages. There’s still no official statement for both parties regarding this rumor. There’s direct confirmation as well.

If the deal happpens, it will add another company to the long list of businesses acquired by Microsoft.