Latest news with #Felicis
TechCrunch
10-07-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Knox lands $6.5M to compete with Palantir in the federal compliance market
While highly sought after, federal software contracts frequently come with a hidden cost: Achieving government SaaS security compliance, known as FedRAMP, can take years and require substantial resources. Achieving this certification typically takes up to three years and costs more than $3 million, covering everything from security operations engineer salaries to security audits, according to Irina Denisenko, CEO of Knox. Denisenko (pictured above, second from left) launched Knox, a federal managed cloud provider, last year with a mission to help software vendors speed through this security authorization process in just three months, and at a fraction of what it would cost to do it on their own. On Thursday, Knox said it has raised a $6.5 million seed round led by Felicis, with participation from Ridgeline and FirsthandVC. Denisenko decided to embark on this journey after she learned first-hand the challenges of obtaining FedRAMP. Class, an education startup where she served as COO, had secured a contract to sell its software to the U.S. Air Force. And instead of waiting three years and spending millions, Denisenko helped buy CoSo Cloud, a company that was already FedRAMP certified and was managing Adobe's federal cloud. The acquisition helped Class receive FedRAMP certification in just six months. 'Class would still be getting FedRAMP today' if it had tried to obtain the clearance on its own, Denisenko told TechCrunch. And late last year, when it became clear that the proliferation of AI agents was becoming a national security concern, Denisenko decided to spin out the managed cloud solution into a standalone startup, Knox. Techcrunch event Save up to $475 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Companies that can afford FedRAMP certificaiton include large software vendors like CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and Salesforce, Denisenko told TechCrunch. And as the government increasingly adopts more software, she hopes Knox can help SaaS vendors gain FedRAMP to access government contracts more easily. Knox, named after a giant gold storage fort in Kentucky, monitors applications for all software updates, and tries to remedy issues if any changes are out of compliance. 'This stuff is legitimately very hard and very risky,' she said. 'We will bear the risk.' Knox is already handling security and compliance for Adobe, Class, Spacelift, and an LLM provider. 'We'll end the year with well north of a dozen customers live in the cloud,' Denisenko said. While FedRAMP authorization management may seem like a niche offering, Knox has one large competitor: Palantir. Palantir's offering, called FedStart, was introduced only two years ago, and since then, the giant data analysis platform has brought on the likes of Anthropic and Windsurf as clients. For Denisenko, Palantir's early success with FedRAMP only validates Knox's mission. 'Even anthropic couldn't figure this out on their own,' she said, adding that going forward, software companies will want to outsource their FedRAMP compliance to a company like Knox.
Business Insider
23-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A former OpenAI and Meta exec says there's a clear way he can tell if an employee is succeeding 6 months into the job
Peter Deng spent over a decade working at Meta. The venture capitalist was also OpenAI's vice president of consumer product. Deng said he expects new hires to be able to work independently within six months of starting out. Deng, a general partner at theventure capital firm Felicis, spent over a decade at Meta, where he served as thehead of product at Facebook and Instagram. Deng joined OpenAI in May 2023 as its vice president of consumer product. He left the ChatGPT maker in July. "There's a saying that I have, which is what I really optimize for everyone that I support and everyone I hire, which is in six months, if I'm telling you what to do, I've hired the wrong person," Deng said in an episode of "Lenny's Podcast" that aired on Sunday. "It puts pressure on me. It puts pressure on the person, and it creates this really interesting environment, and this safe space to really think about, 'Are we heading towards that goal?'" he added. Deng said that holding himself to this bar for excellence has benefited him in three ways. For one, it's a reminder to "keep my bar super high and just not settle" during the hiring process, he said. The bar is also helpful because it becomes a benchmark for success that new hires can work toward, he said. It also helps to elevate both the new hire and his own performance, Deng said. "It helps me and the person operate on a different level, where the goal is not 'Did you hit this OKR? Did you hit this goal?' The meta goal becomes 'Hey, are we calibrating enough?' Are we actually getting to a spot where in six months, you're the one telling me what needs to be done," Deng said. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, has shared management advice that similarly emphasizes the way employees work together. In a blog post published in March, Jassy wrote that having a good work ethic and being a strong team player will help you succeed in the workplace. "Are you a can-do person instead of someone who sucks all the energy out of the room? Are you somebody who cares about the mission, along with the team, versus just yourself?" Jassy wrote. "This seems so obvious, but a lot of people don't do those things," he added.
Business Insider
23-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A former OpenAI and Meta exec says there's a clear way he can tell if an employee is succeeding 6 months into the job
The venture capitalist and former tech executive Peter Deng says he looks for self-starters when hiring. Deng, a general partner at the venture capital firm Felicis, spent over a decade at Meta, where he served as the head of product at Facebook and Instagram. Deng joined OpenAI in May 2023 as its vice president of consumer product. He left the ChatGPT maker in July. "There's a saying that I have, which is what I really optimize for everyone that I support and everyone I hire, which is in six months, if I'm telling you what to do, I've hired the wrong person," Deng said in an episode of "Lenny's Podcast" that aired on Sunday. "It puts pressure on me. It puts pressure on the person, and it creates this really interesting environment, and this safe space to really think about, 'Are we heading towards that goal?'" he added. Deng said that holding himself to this bar for excellence has benefited him in three ways. For one, it's a reminder to "keep my bar super high and just not settle" during the hiring process, he said. The bar is also helpful because it becomes a benchmark for success that new hires can work toward, he said. It also helps to elevate both the new hire and his own performance, Deng said. "It helps me and the person operate on a different level, where the goal is not 'Did you hit this OKR? Did you hit this goal?' The meta goal becomes 'Hey, are we calibrating enough?' Are we actually getting to a spot where in six months, you're the one telling me what needs to be done," Deng said. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, has shared management advice that similarly emphasizes the way employees work together. In a blog post published in March, Jassy wrote that having a good work ethic and being a strong team player will help you succeed in the workplace. "Are you a can-do person instead of someone who sucks all the energy out of the room? Are you somebody who cares about the mission, along with the team, versus just yourself?" Jassy wrote. "This seems so obvious, but a lot of people don't do those things," he added.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After a string of successes, early-stage fund Felicis raises fresh $900M
Felicis founder Aydin Senkut is celebrating his 20th year as an institutional early-stage investor by announcing the firm's biggest fund yet: a $900 million Fund X. This follows the $825 million Fund IX raised in 2023 and the $600 million Fund XIII raised in 2021. Felicis, a seed and Series A firm, is known for backing a long string of successes, including Ayden, Bonobos, Ring, Shopify, and Twitch, among others. Since being founded in 2006, Felicis has backed over 50 unicorns and had over 125 exits, it says. Lately, Felicis, like most VCs, has been all over AI. Its portfolio now includes, for example, Browser Use, Poolside, Runway, and Supabase. 'We believe dozens of $100B+ AI companies will emerge this decade (not merely $1B or $10B),' Felicis wrote in its blog post, adding that 70% of its active portfolio are what it considers AI-native startups. Senkut did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
12-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
After a string of successes, early-stage fund Felicis raises fresh $900M
In Brief Felicis founder Aydin Senkut is celebrating his 20th year as an institutional early-stage investor by announcing the firm's biggest fund yet: a $900 million Fund X. This follows the $825 million Fund IX raised in 2023 and the $600 million Fund XIII raised in 2021. Felicis, a seed and Series A firm, is known for backing a long string of successes, including Ayden, Bonobos, Ring, Shopify, and Twitch, among others. Since being founded in 2006, Felicis has backed over 50 unicorns and had over 125 exits, it says. Lately, Felicis, like most VCs, has been all over AI. Its portfolio now includes, for example, Browser Use, Poolside, Runway, and Supabase. 'We believe dozens of $100B+ AI companies will emerge this decade (not merely $1B or $10B),' Felicis wrote in its blog post, adding that 70% of its active portfolio are what it considers AI native startups. Senkut did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
