New billionaire Jyoti Bansal left Delhi with a few hundred dollars and built two billion-dollar companies, including Harness, which just raised $240 million at a huge valuation. https://t.co/LaX9y11GXV https://t.co/d3BMdLZHIO ...

Group 1: SpaceX IPO Plans - SpaceX is planning an initial public offering (IPO) aiming to raise "significantly more" than $30 billion at a market valuation of approximately $1.5 trillion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history [1][4] - The management and advisers of SpaceX are targeting a listing as early as mid-to-late 2026, although the timing may be adjusted based on market conditions, with a possibility of delaying until 2027 [1][4] Group 2: Recent Capital Raises - Saviynt, an identity security company, announced a $700 million Series B Growth Equity Financing at a valuation of about $3 billion [4] - Fervo Energy, a geothermal energy development company, closed an oversubscribed $462 million Series E funding round led by B Capital [4] - Boom Supersonic, an aircraft startup, raised $300 million in a funding round led by Darsana Capital Partners [4] - Harness, an AI software delivery platform, announced a $240 million Series E financing round led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives [4] - Port, an agentic engineering startup, raised $100 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total funding to $158 million and valuing the company at $800 million [1][4]

Core Insights - Harness, an AI DevOps tool founded by Jyoti Bansal in 2017, is projected to exceed $250 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) by 2025 [2] - The company recently completed a $240 million Series E funding round, achieving a post-money valuation of $5.5 billion, with a 49% increase from its previous valuation of $3.7 billion in April 2022 [3][4] - Harness aims to automate the "post-code" phase of software development, which currently consumes nearly 70% of engineering time due to testing, security checks, and deployment [5] Funding and Valuation - The Series E funding included a $200 million lead investment from Goldman Sachs and a planned $40 million tender offer for long-term employee liquidity [3] - Total equity funding raised by Harness to date amounts to $570 million [4] Product and Technology - Harness utilizes AI Agents to automate testing, validation, security, and governance, built on a software delivery knowledge graph that maps code changes, services, deployments, tests, environments, events, policies, and costs [7] - The knowledge graph provides context for AI Agents, enabling them to generate pipelines tailored to each customer's specific strategies, architectures, and operational requirements [9] Market Position and Competition - Major competitors include Microsoft’s GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, and CloudBees, but Harness claims to have over 1,000 enterprise customers, including United Airlines, Morningstar, Keller Williams, and National Australia Bank [10] - The company has processed 128 million deployments, 81 million builds, and protected 1.2 trillion API calls, helping clients optimize $1.9 billion in cloud spending over the past year [10] Growth and Expansion Plans - Harness plans to use the new funding to expand R&D efforts, hiring hundreds of engineers in its Bangalore office to enhance automation testing, deployment, and security capabilities [11] - The company also aims to strengthen its market expansion in the U.S. and significantly grow its international business [11] Strategic Moves - Earlier this year, Bansal merged his observability company Traceable with Harness, enhancing the ARR outlook and reflecting the deepening integration of DevOps and application security [12] - Bansal expressed intentions for a future IPO, contingent on the company's goals and plans, emphasizing the health and growth potential of the business [12]

Group 1: Banking Industry Changes - High street lenders are reverting to mandatory physical meetings for account openings due to rising identity fraud and mule account challenges [2][16][18] - This shift aims to foster closer relationships with customers, enhancing account profitability through face-to-face interactions [2][18] - The move represents a significant reversal from previous investments in digital onboarding processes, which utilized Aadhaar and video KYC [6][18] Group 2: Cognizant's AI Growth Strategy - Cognizant is entering a "breakaway" growth phase driven by AI, focusing on generative and agentic AI capabilities [8][18] - The company anticipates improved demand for technology services by 2026 as clients recalibrate their spending towards AI [8][18] - Cognizant plans to pursue a secondary listing in the Indian public market to connect with new investors [10][18] Group 3: Harness Funding and Growth Plans - Harness has secured $240 million in funding, positioning itself for cash flow positivity and aiming for $250 million in annualized recurring revenue by 2025 [12][13][18] - The company is aggressively hiring in India, with plans to increase its workforce to 600-700 employees by the end of 2025 [15][18] - Harness's valuation reached $5.5 billion following the funding round, indicating strong investor confidence [15][18] Group 4: Honasa Consumer's Expansion - Honasa Consumer has acquired a 95% stake in BTM Ventures for Rs 195 crore, entering the men's grooming market [16][18] - The company plans to acquire the remaining stake next year, indicating a strategic expansion in its product offerings [16][18]

New billionaire Jyoti Bansal left Delhi with a few hundred dollars and built two billion-dollar companies, including Harness, which just raised $240 million at a huge valuation. https://t.co/KDldBb4qn9 ...

Core Insights - Harness, co-founded by Jyoti Bansal, has achieved a valuation of $5.5 billion after raising $200 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs, surpassing the $3.7 billion sale of AppDynamics to Cisco nearly nine years ago [1][4] - The company specializes in technology that helps manage and monitor AI-generated code, ensuring it remains functional, secure, and cost-effective, aligning with the growing trend of "vibe coding" in the generative AI space [2][3] - Harness is projected to exceed $250 million in annualized revenue, reflecting over 50% year-over-year growth, making it larger than AppDynamics at the time of its acquisition [4] Company Developments - The recent funding round is complemented by a planned $40 million tender offer aimed at providing liquidity to long-standing employees [5] - Earlier this year, Harness enhanced its cybersecurity capabilities by merging with Traceable, another company co-founded by Bansal, resulting in a combined workforce of approximately 1,300 employees [3] Market Position - Bansal expresses a desire for Harness to operate as a public company at the right market timing to facilitate long-term growth [4]

Harness hits $5.5B valuation with $240M raise to automate AI’s ‘after-code’ gap https://t.co/61W4rHcS4e ...

Core Insights - The Trump administration's decision to impose a $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications has led to widespread confusion among HR leaders, executives, and legal experts [1] Group 1: Impact on Talent Acquisition - The additional fee for H-1B visas could hinder the ability of U.S. tech companies to attract top talent, as many rely on these visas for high-skilled workers [3] - The H-1B visa has served as a retention tool for tech companies, complicating the mobility of in-demand tech workers [3] Group 2: Employer Responses - Some tech employers are considering whether the $100,000 fee is justifiable due to the significant talent shortage in the U.S. [4] - Companies are exploring alternative strategies, such as relocating parts of their workforce to locations outside the U.S. [4] Group 3: Advice for Executives - Executives are encouraged to show empathy towards H-1B employees during this period of uncertainty, as top talent may seek opportunities elsewhere if they feel insecure [5]

Medha Agarwal, https://t.co/oDj2aEvPLE, Jyoti Bansal, Harness, and Jennifer Neundorfer, January Ventures share what makes a pitch land at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. Register. https://t.co/ADfMqnVwNo ...