Okta, Inc.

CybersecurityFounded 2009

Market Data Current As Of: September 12, 2026

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Okta, Inc.

CybersecurityFounded 2009

Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya

Last reviewed: September 12, 2026

Market Data Current As Of: September 12, 2026

Company History

Okta: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones

Founded 2009 in San Francisco, California, United States

Founding Story

In 2008, Todd McKinnon was Head of Engineering at Salesforce, where he witnessed the explosive early migration of enterprise applications to the cloud. McKinnon realized that as companies adopted dozens of separate SaaS tools (Salesforce, Google Apps, Box), employees were overwhelmed by dozens of different passwords, while corporate IT departments had zero centralized visibility into who had access to corporate data. McKinnon teamed up with Salesforce colleague Frederic Kerrest to build a cloud-native identity platform originally named 'Saaspass' before renaming it 'Okta' (a meteorological term for cloud cover). Launching during the depths of the 2009 Great Recession, McKinnon presented his wife with a 30-slide PowerPoint business plan to justify leaving his lucrative executive job. By engineering a reliable single sign-on engine that worked across any web browser and cloud vendor, Todd and Frederic created the modern cloud identity category.

Founders

Todd McKinnon

Todd McKinnon is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Okta. In 2009, McKinnon left Salesforce to create the cloud-native identity management category. McKinnon guided Okta from inception through its 2017 NASDAQ IPO, executed the $6.5B Auth0 acquisition, and established Okta as the defining Zero Trust identity standard.

Frederic Kerrest

Frederic Kerrest is the Co-Founder and former Executive Vice Chairman of Okta. Kerrest architected Okta's enterprise sales strategy, corporate operations, and global partner ecosystem.

Key Milestones

2009

Okta Founded in San Francisco by Todd McKinnon & Frederic Kerrest

Established as Saaspass before renaming to Okta to solve multi-cloud user login fragmentation.

2014

Launch of the Okta Integration Network (OIN)

Built thousands of pre-configured application integrations, establishing cloud-neutral network effects.

2017

Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ (Ticker: OKTA)

Raised $187 million in its IPO, accelerating enterprise market share expansion.

2021

Acquisition of Developer Authentication Leader Auth0 ($6.5B)

Completed landmark all-stock merger, uniting workforce and customer identity (CIAM).

2022

Launch of Okta FastPass Passwordless Authentication

Pioneered biometric, device-bound, phishing-resistant passwordless authentication.

2024

Launch of Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI

Introduced real-time AI security engine to detect session hijacking and dynamically revoke SaaS tokens.

2026

Surpasses $2.6B in Revenue with $500M+ Free Cash Flow

Achieved annual revenue exceeding $2.6 billion USD across 18,800+ enterprise clients.

Major Acquisitions

Auth0

2021

Acquired leading developer-first customer identity and access management (CIAM) platform.

Spera Security

2023

Acquired identity threat and posture management company to secure identity hygiene across SaaS apps.

Okta Company History FAQ

What are the defining historical milestones for Okta, Inc.?

Since its establishment in 2009, Okta, Inc. expanded from an early-stage venture into a recognized leader in Cybersecurity, Enterprise Identity & Access Management (IAM), Cloud Security, Customer Identity (CIAM) & Zero Trust Architecture, overcoming key market challenges.

What major strategic pivots shaped Okta, Inc.'s evolution?

Over its history, Okta, Inc. executed decisive strategic pivots toward scalable monetization and digital distribution, securing its current market leadership.

How has Okta, Inc. adapted to recent industry disruptions?

By continually modernizing operations and embracing workflow automation, Okta, Inc. maintains resilience through changing technological and economic cycles.

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Explore Okta

Core profile pages, annual revenue records, and related research hubs for this company.

Founding Story

Founders

Todd McKinnon

Frederic Kerrest

Frederic Kerrest is the Co-Founder and former Executive Vice Chairman of Okta. Kerrest architected Okta's enterprise sales strategy, corporate operations, and global partner ecosystem.

Key Milestones

2009

Okta Founded in San Francisco by Todd McKinnon & Frederic Kerrest

Established as Saaspass before renaming to Okta to solve multi-cloud user login fragmentation.

2014

Launch of the Okta Integration Network (OIN)

Built thousands of pre-configured application integrations, establishing cloud-neutral network effects.

2017

Initial Public Offering on NASDAQ (Ticker: OKTA)

Raised $187 million in its IPO, accelerating enterprise market share expansion.

2021

Acquisition of Developer Authentication Leader Auth0 ($6.5B)

Completed landmark all-stock merger, uniting workforce and customer identity (CIAM).

2022

Launch of Okta FastPass Passwordless Authentication

Pioneered biometric, device-bound, phishing-resistant passwordless authentication.

2024

Launch of Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI

Introduced real-time AI security engine to detect session hijacking and dynamically revoke SaaS tokens.

2026

Surpasses $2.6B in Revenue with $500M+ Free Cash Flow

Achieved annual revenue exceeding $2.6 billion USD across 18,800+ enterprise clients.

Okta Company History FAQ

What are the defining historical milestones for Okta, Inc.?

What major strategic pivots shaped Okta, Inc.'s evolution?

Over its history, Okta, Inc. executed decisive strategic pivots toward scalable monetization and digital distribution, securing its current market leadership.

How has Okta, Inc. adapted to recent industry disruptions?

By continually modernizing operations and embracing workflow automation, Okta, Inc. maintains resilience through changing technological and economic cycles.