Your Tech Story

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.

Pure Storage

Pure Storage – Company Simplifying Data Storage.

Pure Storage supports innovators by permanently simplifying data storage. The company is revolutionizing the storage process and empowering innovators by making it easier for users to consume and engage with data. With cutting-edge, cloud-ready storage solutions and the highest technological expertise, the company simplifies storage and turns data into effective results.

About The Company

Pure Storage is an American company that offers hardware and software for all-flash data storage. The company is headquartered in California, USA. Pure Storage was established in 2009 and worked stealthily on its products until 2011. After that, the company saw a 50 percent increase in quarterly revenues and raised over $470 million in venture financing. In 2015, the company went public and debuted on the New York Stock Exchange. In the starting, Pure Storage used generic flash storage hardware and built the software for storage controllers. In 2015, Pure Storage completed the development of its exclusive flash storage hardware.

Pure Storage
Image source: techherald.in

History

In 2009, John Colgrove and John Hayes launched Pure Storage under the code name Os76 Inc. The business was initially founded inside the offices of the venture capital firm Sutter Hill Ventures, and it was supported with $5 million in seed money. The company raised an additional $20 million in venture money in a series B fundraising round. In August 2011, the company emerged from stealth mode as Pure Storage. EMC filed a lawsuit against the company and 44 former employees in 2013, alleging intellectual property theft.

Additionally, EMC asserted that the company had violated a few of its patents. In a countersuit, It claimed that EMC had illegally acquired a Pure Storage device to perform reverse engineering. In 2016, a jury court decided in favor of EMC and Pure Storage was ordered to pay $14 million to EMC. A judge overturned the verdict and mandated a further trial to determine the legality EMC patent at issue. Following that, a $30 million settlement was reached between Pure Storage and EMC. In August 2015, Pure Storage informed the Securities Exchange Commission of its intention to go public. In 2016, the organization held its first yearly user conference. In 2017, The company achieved its first year of profitability and surpassed $1 billion in revenue.

Acquisitions

In 2018 with the $25 million purchase of StorReduce, a provider of data deduplication software, the company completed its first acquisition. The same year, the company announced a binding deal to buy software-based file storage business Compuverde for an undisclosed sum. In 2020, Pure Storage paid $370 million to acquire Portworx, a Kubernetes-based cloud-native data, and storage management platform, supplier.

Products

Employing consumer-grade solid state drives, Pure Storage creates flash-based storage for data centres. Although more expensive, flash storage is speedier than conventional disc storage. The company creates unique deduplication and compression algorithms to increase the data volume that can be kept on each device. Along with that, it makes its own flash storage technology. FlashBlade, for unstructured data, FlashArray/C, which employs QLC flash, and the more expensive NVMe FlashArray/X are it’s three main product lines. Most of the company’s income comes from IT vendors that sell its solutions to operators of data centres.

Founder – John Colgrove, John Hayes

Pure Storage, which was founded in 2009, entered a market that had been dominated for over 30 years by competitors like EMC and HP. John Colgrove and John Hayes, the company’s co-founders, understood that they would need to construct and operate their storage business differently if they wanted to successfully compete with the established market leaders. Their ideas eventually led to the foundation of Pure Storage.

CEO – Charles Giancarlo

American businessman and investor Charles Giancarlo serves as the CEO and Chairman of Pure Storage. He formerly held top management positions at Silver Lake Partners and Cisco Systems. Charles Giancarlo is the company’s CEO since 2017. Giancarlo has an MBA from Harvard University, a master’s degree from the University of California, and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

Genesys

Genesys – Company Started With The $150,000 Loan As Initial Money.

Genesys is a market leader in contact centre solutions and cloud customer experiences. The company has a presence in over 100 countries. Employees at Company collaborate to provide the best possible client experiences. Genesys connects every user moment across marketing, sales, and service on any channel while also enhancing employee experiences with the help of cloud and AI.

About the Company

Founded in 1990, Genesys is an  American software corporation that sells customer experience (CX) and call centre technologies to mid-sized and big companies. It offers software that is both cloud-based and hybrid. In 2012, It was acquired by Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and Permira Funds. The company is headquartered in California, USA, and it also has offices in the Middle East, Latin America, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.  The company is the main sponsor of IndyCar Series racer James Hinchcliffe’s in the #29 Andretti Autosport Honda. Additionally, the business sponsors the Genesys 300 and Genesys 600 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Genesys established “Experience as a Service” to enable companies of all sizes to communicate with customers sensitively, deliver simple personalization at scale, and cultivate their trust and loyalty.

History

Gregory Shenkman and Alec Miloslavsky started Genesys in October 1990. The families of the founders loaned the company $150,000 as initial money. In 1997, the business successfully launched its (IPO) and went public, traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker GCTI. Alcatel-Lucent (formerly Alcatel) purchased Genesys for $1.5 billion in late 1999. In 2012,  It was acquired by Permira and TCV from Alcatel-Lucent for $1.5 billion. In 2016, majority shareholders, Technology Crossover Ventures and Permira sold a $900 million share to private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, valued at $3.8 billion. Genesys creates call centre software for corporations. The software is offered as on-premises or cloud-based software. Its popular products include Genesys Cloud CX, Genesys Multicloud CX and Genesys DX.

Genesys
Image source: www.genesys.com

Acquisitions

Genesys has expanded throughout the years by making a number of acquisitions. Its popular acquisitions include Forte Software, Plato Software Corporation,  Next Age Technologies, IBM’s CallPath, Telera, VoiceGenie Technologies, Informiam, Solariat, Conseros, OVM Solutions, Interactive Intelligence, Silver Lining, AltoCloud, nGUVU. In 2021, it acquired Bold360, a digital engagement suite, from LogMeIn.

CEO – Tony Bates

Business executive Tony Bates was appointed CEO of Genesys in 2019. He is a British native. He formerly held a number of technology-related leadership positions in business, including those of former CEO of Skype, former executive vice president of Microsoft, and former president of GoPro. Bates started his job in network services and internet infrastructure after dropping out of college. He has previously held positions on the boards of GoPro, SiriusXM, LoveFilm, TokBox, YouTube, and BubbleMotion. He has been a member of the boards of VMware and eBay. Bates holds several patents under his name.

Founders – Gregory Shenkman, Alec Miloslavsky 

Gregory Shenkman and Alec Miloslavsky founded Genesys in 1990. Russian émigrés Alec Miloslavsky and Gregory Shenkman first met in San Francisco when Shenkman was selling telecoms equipment and Miloslavsky was employed by Pixar Studios. Each took out a loan from their parents at $75,000 to start the firm Genesys. Together, they started creating software that enables businesses to learn more about their phone costs and cut down on hold times. Most of the company’s employees were Russian programmers, which first led the FBI to believe the business had connections to mafias in Russia. It went public in 1997, and Alcatel purchased the company for $1.5 billion three years later. The duo later also formed another company named Exigen Services.

Alten

Alten – Global Tech Consulting And Engineering Firm.

Alten is a leading provider of IT and Engineering services. With over 37,000 engineers spread across over 30 countries, Alten has emerged as a pioneer in outsourced R&D, engineering, and IT services in under 30 years. The company’s engineers work on intricate and highly technological projects for the most prestigious businesses in all industries, services, and telecommunications.

About The Company

Incorporated in France in 1988, Alten is a global tech consulting and engineering firm. It has a presence in over 25 countries and over 33,700 employees. The shares of Alten are traded on the Euronext Paris market in compartment B. They are included in the SBF 120, IT CAC 50, and MIDCAP 100 indexes and are qualified for the Deferred Settlement Service. In 2018, the company had a revenue of over €2.269 Billion. Forty-five percent of the Group’s business is focused on the French market. Over the past few years, Alten has acquired several companies like Calsoft Labs, Bardenheuer, Enea Consulting (Sweden) cPrime Inc., EclipseIT BV, and Quick Release (UK), and Volansys.

Alten
Image source: altenusa.com

History

Three engineers from prestigious universities, Simon Azoulay, Laurent Schwarz, and Thierry Woog, formed Alten in 1988. Between 1988 and 1997, the company built up its presence in France and expanded its operations. In 1999, the company debuted its IPO on the Paris Stock Exchange. In 2012, expansion was made toward Asia and USA. Since then, the Group has focused on making strategic business acquisitions in Europe consistent with its core business, especially in 2016. Thus, the international percentage of Group revenue in 2019 was 56.8%.

A wholly owned part of the Alten Group, Alten India offers engineering, technology, and digital transformation services. In India, it provides a wide range of services in numerous industries, from concepts to aftermarket services. Embedded. General Engineering, Aftermarket Support, and Digital are some of the company’s services. With over 3500 engineers, Alten in India has expanded since its founding in 2010 to help in areas that specifically cater to customer demands. In India, It has regional offices in Noida, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai.

Company Profile

Alten is a global technology consultation and engineering firm. It offers design and research projects for the technical and information systems departments in the industrial, telecommunication, and service industries. It works on technological product research and development for technical divisions. The business also builds IT solutions for information systems divisions and offers networks and telecoms design.

Alten offers services in various sectors, including information technology, defence, aviation, networking, and telecommunications.

Controversies

Alten Spain fired over 100 workers between July and December 2012 under the pretext of declining sales. Alten Spain attempted to terminate 140 employees in December 2012 and reduce the compensation of the remaining staff by 10%. As a result, employees issued a strike notice in January 2013.

In violation of the permitted uses of the trademarked terms “Engineer” and “Engineering,” Alten unlawfully markets its business across Canada as an engineering and R&D outsourcing firm. The company has never obtained a Certificate of Authorization from a professional engineering licensing organization in Ontario or any other Canadian jurisdiction. The company’s business is officially registered in Canada to provide staffing services, specifically office support and temporary help services, under the name of a subsidiary company of Proex Inc.

Founder – Simon Azoulay

Simon Azoulay, a French entrepreneur and the founder of Alten, formerly served as the chairman and chief executive officer of 18 different businesses. He is currently the CEO and Chairman at Alten. He is a Supélec alumnus. He created ALTEN with two other engineers in 1988 after overseeing the R&D department of Thalès.

Shopee

Shopee – Southeast Asia’s Largest e-Commerce Platform.

Shopee is an online platform that provides customers with a simple, safe, and quick online purchasing experience. With over 343 million monthly active users as of 2021, it is regarded as Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platform.

About The Company

Shopee is a multinational technology business based in Singapore that primarily focuses on e-commerce. The company is headquartered in Singapore Science Park. It is part of the part company Sea Group. Shopee began its operations in 2015 from Singapore. The company also offers online shopping and selling services to buyers and sellers in numerous European and American nations.

History

In 2015, Shopee, a socially driven, mobile-centric platform where customers can browse, shop, and sell, made its debut in Singapore. This platform makes online shopping simple and safe for buyers and sellers by integrating logistical and payment assistance. In order to compete successfully with other e-commerce platforms in the market like Coupang, Lazada, Tokopedia, and AliExpress, Shopee, which was earlier an app, developed its own website. The company uses its own escrow service dubbed “Shopee Guarantee” to guarantee online shopping security as a way to set itself apart from competitors. It withholds payment from merchants until customers have received their items.

In 2019, the company inaugurated its new headquarters at Singapore Science Park. The new facility is six times bigger than the previous one, which was located in the Ascent Building, and has over 244,000 sq. feet of area that can house over 3,000 employees. WeWork in Singapore had previously leased this structure. Due to Shopee’s quick expansion, the lease was later given back to it. By doing this, it intensifies its effort to enter the digital economy.

Shopee
Image source: abplive.com

Business Model

Shopee began as a C2C (consumer to consumer) marketplace but has subsequently transitioned to a hybrid C2C and B2C format. To help its users logistically, it collaborates with more than 70 delivery service companies across its markets. For item pickup and drop in Singapore, Shopee partnered with logistics startup NinjaVan. In India, it collaborated with Delhivery and Ecom Express for the delivery of products. However, in 2022, the company announced that it is shutting its operations in India.

New Launches

An initiative named “Shopee University” was introduced by Shopee in 2016 to help local company owners and entrepreneurs establish their online stores in the Philippines. In the Philippines and Singapore, it introduced Shopee Mall in 2017, which featured over 200 brands. The specialized portal offers thousands of products from top regional stores and brands. Shopee Mall was developed to provide a more varied online shopping experience and to serve more established brands better.

2018 saw the opening of Shopee’s China Marketplace platform, which gives consumers in the Philippines and Singapore simple access to goods and products from Chinese vendors without paying shipping or agent costs. Shopee Philippines introduced Shopee Cares PH, a social-media customer support division active on Twitter and Facebook, in 2021. In 2021 it also introduced its food delivery services in the Malaysian and Thai markets.

Controversies

In 2019, Shopee Philippines was accused of defrauding Filipino fans of the Blackpink. #ShopeeScam became a trending topic on Twitter around the world.  The 568 top spenders on Shopee Philippines’ online store were given tickets to a Meet and Greet session as part of a campaign. However, a number of fans claimed that after receiving confirmation that they had won tickets, It then withdrew them. Others shared screenshots demonstrating how Shopee had altered the rules of the contest a day before this event. Currently, the Department of Trade and Industry is looking into Shopee.

Founder – Forrest Li

Forrest Li founded Shopee in 2015. He is a multibillionaire businessman from Singapore. He also founded Sea Limited. Garena and Shopee are subsidiaries of Sea Limited. Li, a Chinese national born in Tianjin, moved to Singapore soon after receiving an engineering degree from Shanghai Jiaotong University. He also has an MBA degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

CEO – Chris Feng

Chris Feng is the CEO of Shopee. He is also the CEO of Sea Group’s division for financial services and digital payments, called Seamonkey. Feng oversaw the mobile games department at Sea Group before assuming his present position. Before joining Sea Group, he was a member of the Southeast Asia core team of German startup Rocket Internet, which helped launch online stores like Lazada and Zalora. He was also Lazada’s chief purchasing officer and a regional managing director at Zalora.

krafton

Krafton Inc, The Company Behind The Famous PUBG Game.

Founded in 2007 as Bluehole, Krafton Inc. creates, produces, and markets home video games domestically and abroad. It provides games for consoles, smartphones, and PCs. It’s one of the most popular games is PUBG. Other popular games developed and published by Krafton are Mistover, Thunder Tier One, The Callisto Protocol, and New State Mobile.

About The Company

Krafton Inc. is a South Korean company that is in the business of developing and distributing video games. The company is renowned for creating TERA, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and NEW STATE Mobile, the latter two under its subsidiary PUBG Studios. The company was formerly known as Bluehole. In 2018, Bluehole underwent a reorganization to become a Krafton subsidiary. It is headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea.

History

Following PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ popularity, which resulted in funding from Tencent Holdings as well as studio expansion and acquisition, Bluehole decided to create Krafton in 2018 as a holding company for its video games operations. In April 2021, Krafton decided to launch its IPO. The company intended to raise US$5 billion at a valuation of US$27.2billion.The IPO launch took place on August 10, 2021, and although Krafton’s valuation declined from the initial list price at the end of a trade by 8.8%, it was still valued at US$19.32 billion.

Due to new limitations put in place by the Chinese government, shares of various Chinese and foreign videogame firms, including Tencent, the leading video game developer in China and a facilitator for foreign firms to release games in their country, decreased. Video games, mainly shooting video games, are perceived as “electronic drug” and a “spiritual opium” by the Chinese government because they are believed to encourage violence. Due to its high population density, China is a critically valuable market for video games, so video game firms like Krafton suffered greatly.

krafton
Image source: futurecdn.net

Subsidiaries

Since its inception, Bluehole has bought a number of development studios. On November 5, 2018, Krafton Game Union became the new parent company for all its subsidiaries. The popular subsidiaries of Krafton are Bluehole Studio, Striking Distance Studios, Dreamotion Inc, RisingWings, PUBG Studios, Thingsflow, 5minlab Corporation, and Unknown Worlds Entertainment. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), one of the first battle royale games, was created by PUBG Studios (formerly PUBG Corporation), an internal studio of Bluehole. PUBG game set a new record in 2017 by selling $100 million before release copies in just 79 days. Due to concerns about data privacy, the Indian government banned PUBG Mobile in September 2020, along with several other apps made by Chinese companies, including Tencent Games. In order to relaunch the game in India, Krafton regained ownership of the game’s Intellectual Property (IP) from Tencent. In 2021, Battlegrounds Mobile India, a visually upgraded version of PUBG Mobile, was released for both Android and iOS. This time, Krafton, Inc. published the game.

Founder – Chang Byung-gyu

In 2007, Chang Byung-Gyu founded Krafton, initially known as Bluehole. Chang Byung-gyu started Bluehole Studio in Seoul in 2007. Along with seven other co-founders, Chang founded Neowiz in 1997. He later founded the search engine company, First Snow, in 2005 and sold that business in 2006. Tencent made a $500 million investment in Bluehole in 2018 for a 10% ownership, elevating the company to unicorn status. As per Forbes, Chang is one of South Korea’s seven gaming billionaires, with a net worth of over $2.9 billion.

CEO – Kim Chang-han

In 2020, Kim Chang-han was named the CEO of Krafton. Before that, he was the CEO of PUBG Corporation( now PUBG Studios). He started his career in the gaming industry in 2000, engaging in production, development, and engineering for a couple of studios before joining PUBG Corporation. He has attended the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, where he received a Ph.D. in computer science.

Larsen & Toubro

Larsen & Toubro, Started With Dairy Equipment To Leading Indian Multinational Corporation.

Founded in 1946, Larsen & Toubro is a market leader in almost every industry. The conglomerate has achieved and maintained leadership in its primary business sectors for more than eight decades due to a robust, customer-focused strategy and a never-ending pursuit of world-class quality.

About the Company

Larsen & Toubro, also known as L&T, is a leading Indian multinational corporation with business operations in various industries like construction, engineering, technology, manufacturing, financial services, and information technology. L&T is ranked among the top five construction firms worldwide. The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India. L&T Group consists of 118 subsidiaries, 25 joint ventures, six associates, and 35 joint operations corporations. The company is listed on the NSE and BSE. In 2022, it had a revenue of over $20 billion. It serves clients from various industries in more than 50 countries.

History

In 1938, Henning Larsen and Soren Toubro, two Danish engineers, formed a company in Bombay. The company started as a business that imported and sold Danish dairy equipment. Unfortunately, import limitations that came into effect after Germany invaded Denmark in 1940 severely hurt the company’s business. Despite their difficulties, the pair decided to stay in India and establish a local workshop to provide services and technical work. During World War II, they discovered a profitable commercial opportunity to construct and repair ships. As a result, Larsen & Toubro was founded. In 1940, the company received its first significant order to build a soda ash facility/plant for the Tata Group. The calibre of service and prompt service of L&T delighted numerous national and international businesses. They started working with lots of foreign players. Gradually, L&T also became a representative of various British equipment manufacturers for producing soaps, glass, hydrogenated oils, etc. In 1945, the company made a deal with the US-based Caterpillar Tractor to market earth-moving machinery.

In 1946, L&T was incorporated, and it established offices in Madras, Calcutta, and New Delhi. In 1950, it went public and became a listed company. The company was selected as a contractor for constructing nuclear reactors in 1965. L&T was invited by Dr. Homi Bhabha, the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) chairman at the time, to provide vital parts for atomic reactors in the 1950s. L&T began to obtain major projects from the ISRO in the 1970s and 1980s. In order to design weapon and missile systems, it also collaborated with DRDO.

Larsen & Toubro
Image source: moneycontrol.com

Operations

L&T is also a top supplier of design-to-delivery services for India’s defence industry. It builds underground facilities, military installations, and storage facilities. Additionally, L&T provides a selection of defence-related vessels, such as warships, submarines, support vessels, and unique naval platforms. An important participant in India’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives is L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd. It has finished significant projects in several important industries, including renewable energy, transmission and distribution lines, ports, water supply, etc. The world’s largest metro project under PPP form is the L&T Metro Rail in Hyderabad. It extends over three corridors for 69.2 kilometers.

Founders – Henning Holck-Larsen, Søren Kristian Toubro

Henning Holck-Larsen and Soren Kristian Toubro, two Danish engineers, established L&T in Bombay in 1938. They were equally dedicated to enhancing India’s engineering capacity to fulfill market demands. Danish classmates Henning Larsen and Soren Toubro, who were studying India in history classes, perhaps never imagined that they would one day write the history of that auspicious country. The two companions made the decision to leave the conveniences of living in Europe in 1938 and launch their own business in India instead.

CEO – S N Subrahmanyan

S N Subrahmanyan is the CEO and Managing Director of Larsen & Toubro. He has been serving as the company’s CEO since 2017. In 1984, he started working with Larsen & Toubro’s ECC Division. He has an MBA from Symbiosis, Pune and also attended London Business School.