Remote-Work Boom Mints Another Internet Billionaire

  • Businesses, schools tap firm’s tools to secure online access
  • McKinnon stays cautious on outlook as investors seek growth
Okta co-founders Todd McKinnon, left, and Frederic Kerrest stand in Times Square after the company’s IPO on April 7, 2017 in New York.Photographer: Charles Sykes/FR170266 AP
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

The coronavirus pandemic, for all its human and economic tragedy, has spurred a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the technology industry, seized most visibly by the sector’s giants such as Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and productivity players like Zoom Video Communications Inc. and Slack Technologies Inc.

A lesser-known beneficiary is Okta Inc., a decade-old cloud computing company based in San Francisco. Its software gives corporate customers a kind of border control for the internet, helping them authenticate the identity of their employees and customers as they connect remotely to a sprawling system of online applications.