Microsoft announced today that it has acquired ally.io, for $76 million, a software service that helps companies measure their progress against OKR (objectives and key results), with a common methodology to measure both individual and business progress. The two companies did not officially share the purchase price.
Microsoft Incorporates ally.io to the portfolio of Microsoft Live products experience, culture and performance management for employees. Microsoft says the idea behind the acquisition of Ally is to provide a more transparent way of communicating company goals and objectives to employees.
“Aligning the work of employees with the strategic mission and core priorities of the company is a priority for all organizations. To do this, leaders must invest in tools that communicate transparency around big business stakes and create ways to chain aspirational goals and report results at all levels of an organization,” Kirk Koenigsbauer, chief operating officer and corporate vice president in charge of experiences and devices.
As for the Ally, CEO and founder Vetri Vellore says this will allow his company to grow the product much faster as part of Microsoft than it could have on its own. "What Microsoft Live, ally.io will continue to offer leaders, teams and individuals the ability to align and focus daily work with the most important objectives of the company. We will help bring goals and purpose to wherever the team is working, including Teams, Outlook, Slack, and the other systems you use every day.”
Understanding your work goals and how they fit in with broader company goals has become even more important in an age when many more people are working from home and not meeting face-to-face with managers. Having those goals and expectations set and built into the work tools people are using as remote employees should help keep everyone on track and pointing in the same direction.
While Microsoft refused to share the price of the transaction, the details of pitchbook indicate that ally.io obtained a capital valuation of 345 million dollars after the money theoretically received. That price was set when the company raised $50 million of capital earlier this year out of a total of $76 million currently.
Buying ally.io by Microsoft could signal the start of a consolidation in the OKR-focused software market. There are many players vying for leadership, including work board, Koan, gtmhub, sorry y WeekDone among others.
These startups have done incredibly well in terms of attracting venture capital and growing revenue in the early stages. And now, with news like ally.io to its credit, the group of companies will have to choose to keep its venture-funded growth approach intact or switch to double-tracking private rounds with potential exits to big tech companies.
With Microsoft buying ally.io, which is also based in Washington state, could lay the groundwork for other major platforms to buy and offer similar tools. It is not impossible to imagine any of the other usual acquisitive suspects, from Salesforce but also ServiceNow y SAP, considering making a similar move and taking one of these properties off the market.
For now, just ally.io it is off the game board, and we will have to watch how the rest of the market develops as a result of this move.
