How MuleSoft founder Ross Mason turned free software into a $1.5 billion company | ||
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You know how startups are always going on and on about how they are going to "disrupt the legacy" vendors, those older, giant multi-billion dollar companies? As we predicted, for hot San Francisco startup MuleSoft, that's what's actually happening. And investors continue to throw money at the company. MuleSoft just raised a new $128 million investment, at a $1.5 billion valuation, founder Ross Mason tells us. The round was lead by Salesforce's investment arm, Salesforce Ventures. Total raised to date is $259 million. This validation is sweet success for Mason. This company started as a small project in 2003 when he and his wife were living on the island of Malta. He was working as a corporate IT developer, struggling to make applications talk to each other, and complaining about it, until his wife told him to stop complaining and do something. Big corporations like Tibco and Informatica charged a lot of money to big enterprise clients for products to make that easier. So Ross wrote a project called MuleSoft to connect apps, data and devices. (In geek speak, MuleSoft helps different application programming interfaces work together.) And he gave it away for free. As the project grew, it became a business. MuleSoft offers the software as a paid cloud service. He spent four years commuting from Malta to San Francisco, where some of his employees and early investors were. In 2010, he was on a plane (as he always was) and he was caught in the ash from the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull. It was terrifying. He decided to stop the crazy commute and move to San Francisco. And MuleSoft has been going gangbusters ever since. Earlier investors included rivals Salesforce and SAP. And now Salesforce has doubled down with help from a slew of other VC firms like NEA, Lightspeed Venture, Hummer Winblad. Meanwhile, both Tibco and Informatica have ceased to be public companies, going private in leveraged buy-out deals. MuleSoft, which is likely marching toward an eventual IPO, is now doing the bubble 2.0 thing and taking gobs of VC money to stay in growth mode, postponing an IPO until its even bigger. MuleSoft will use the money to hire people, build out its product, expand its reach internationally. The free and open source project is still there and hugely popular on GitHub. But so is MuleSoft's cloud service, which is on track to bring in $100 million, Mason tells us, having grown 2015 Q1 revenues 110% year over year, he says. The company employs 500 people and has over 700 customers. And Mason has given up commuting for good. About 10 months ago, he bought a house in San Francisco. SEE ALSO: Why a $5.3 billion leveraged buyout is VERY good for hot startup MuleSoft Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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2 startups that are trying to destroy the banks just joined forces | ||
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Bad news for banks: Two startups trying to reinvent finance and destroy traditional lending just teamed up. The challenger bank Metro Bank has just struck a deal with Zopa, one of the UK's biggest peer-to-peer consumer lenders, to lend money over Zopa's platform. The amount lent wasn't disclosed, but a source told Business Insider it was around "millions a month." The pair signalled their ambition in the release announcing the deal, writing: "Zopa and Metro Bank believe this partnership is a great example of how disruptive financial challengers can collaborate to provide additional value and revolutionise the UK banking sector." 'Signals our intent'Both companies want not only to steal market share from the UK's traditional banks, but also to force them to reinvent their business by doing so. Metro Bank, known for its strong focus on customer service, has previously labelled the UK's five dominant high-street banks "a cartel," and Zopa CEO Giles Andrews has chided banks for overlooking customers. Clearly these are two companies that aren't just happy to work alongside traditional lenders. Andrews said in a statement: "This partnership brings together two key challengers to the traditional financial services landscape and signals our intent to become a mainstream service." Metro Bank CEO Craig Donaldson echoed Andrews' sentiment, saying: "At Metro Bank we're committed to revolutionising UK banking, and we're delighted to have partnered with Zopa, a fellow financial challenger." Why banks should be worriedPeer-to-peer (P2P) lending poses a big threat to traditional high-street lenders. Traditional banks take deposits from customers and then loan that money out to those who want to borrow it. Banks will lend at an interest rate that allows them to give depositors a decent return while also allowing the banks to make a profit, taking a cut as the middleman. P2P lenders like Zopa cut these middlemen out. They allow online savers to lend money directly to those who want to borrow. Borrowers typically get a better rate, while interest rates for lenders can be as much as double what they would get simply depositing cash with banks. Zopa and other P2P lenders make their money by charging a fee, but these are much more competitive than the cuts banks are taking. Metro Bank, however, doesn't like to think of itself as a traditional lender and sees Zopa as an opportunity simply to reach more customers. FormidableZopa and Metro Bank are already well established in the "alternative finance" world. Zopa is part of a wave of financial technology, or FinTech, companies that have come to prominence since the 2008 financial crisis. The company has built a service that allows people to lend money to other individuals at competitive rates. Since its founding in 2005 Zopa has lent over £850 million to consumers and is tipped to IPO soon. Metro Bank, meanwhile, is one of a number of so-called challenger banks — along with the likes of Aldermore and OneSavings Bank — aiming to introduce more competition to the UK banking sector. Since launch in 2010 it has signed up over half a million customers. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's what 'Game of Thrones' stars look like in real life  | ||
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Don't embarrass yourself — make your Excel spreadsheet look more professional with drop-down menus | ||
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Data validation in Excel allows you to create drop-down menus right inside individual cells. You can also restrict the types of values entered into different cells. This makes spreadsheets safer to share because you can avoid errors caused by invalid data entries. Produced by Sara Silverstein Follow BI Video: On Facebook Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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MORGAN STANLEY: 'It's too early to call the top' | ||
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The US stock market is at a record high. On Monday, the S&P 500 closed at a record 2,129.20 after touching an intraday high of 2,131.78. That's up 220% from its March 2009 low of 666. There are plenty of worrywarts out there warning the market has come to far, but Morgan Stanley's Adam Parker isn't one of them. "It's too early to call the top," Parker said in a note to clients on Monday. "We think it is very difficult to call the top based on economic data, corporate behaviors, and the credit cycle." He elaborates: "Our signposts include economic factors like consumer obligations, delinquencies, and housing, most of which appear to be improving. Signs of management hubris in the form of capital spending, hiring, inventory, and frothy M&A seem about mid-cycle in aggregate. Capital spending remains relatively constrained, growing at roughly the pace of sales. Inventory doesn't appear to be an impediment to margin expansion, as backlogs aren't swollen and book- to-bill ratios appear steady, which typically means management aggression to attract customer orders is tame. Hiring outside of a few areas remains constrained, and our judgment is that wage inflation has been primarily limited to the low end. M&A has been largely immediately accretive as opposed to speculative as in prior cycles. While we see a few signs of excess in management compensation and new corporate headquarters emerging, we certainly don't think we are late-cycle on these elements. Lastly, corporates have pushed out their financial obligations for several years, making broad near-term credit risk unlikely. We would need to see deterioration in the economic outlook, particularly for the US consumer, increased management hubris, or a burgeoning debt crisis to have increased conviction in a ten percent or greater US stock market decline." So everything from fundamentals like capital spending to anecdotes like shiny new HQs tell Parker this market still has legs. Parker boiled down three reasons why investors should keep buying:
So, there you have it. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This simple exercise will work out every muscle in your body  | ||
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The 10 most-purchased brands in the world (KO, ULVR, PG, NSRGY, PEP) | ||
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Every year, research company Kantar Worldpanel launches its annual Brand Footprint study, revealing the most-chosen and fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands in the world. The study analyzes 11,000 brands in 35 countries and ranks them based on Consumer Reach Points: A metric based on how many households around the world are buying a brand, and how often. Kantar Worldpanel also provides data on the most-bought brand in each of the countries it looks at. Some you may never have come across before. 10. Tide — owned by P&G. The detergent brand is also known as Alo, Vizir, or Ace in some countries. Consumer Reach Points: 1.44 million. 9. Dove — owned by Unilever. The toiletries brand has moved up three positions in the rankings since last year's report. Consumer Reach Points: 1.46 million. 8. Knorr — owned by Unilever. Knorr's stock cubes, flavor pots, and powder mixes are popular the world over, but the brand's ranking has fallen one place since last year's study. Consumer Reach Points: 1.65 million. See the rest of the story at Business Insider  | ||
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This analyst thinks Plus500's account freeze could cost it £25 million | ||
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Plus500, a company that lets people effectively bet on stock and currency markets, had a terrible day yesterday. The Israel-based but London listed company's shares went into free fall after Plus500 said it suspended around 55% of its UK trading accounts as it re-ran anti-money laundering checks. Around £300 million ($465.56 million) was knocked off Plus500's value after shares closed down 37%. They're still falling today, down a further 8%. But analysts at Liberum have tried to work out a more concrete estimate of what the freeze will cost the company, beyond lost value. Analyst Cormac Leech thinks the incident could lose Plus500 between $25-39 million (£16.11-£25.13 million) in revenue this year. That's between 9-14% of the total $280 million (£180.43 million) revenue Plus500 told investors to expect this year — a big chunk. Leech's estimate is based on forecasting how many customers affected by the freeze could leave. He estimates up to half of those hit might abandon the site — mainly casual users with little in their trading accounts who can't be bothered to send off documents to re-verify their identities. His minimum assumption is 33% of those frozen will leave. There's also the harder to calculate cost of what this could do to Plus500's business in the future. Leech says: "The broader question is the reputational impact on the Plus500 brand which may, for at least a couple of months, adversely impact average user acquisition costs, churn and valuation multiples." But Liberum still thinks Plus500's extreme price crash yesterday was an over reaction and the investment bank keeps a 'buy' recommendation on the company. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 'Game of Thrones': The Iron Throne is a terrible investment  | ||
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Airbus warns of glitch that could affect A400M engines | ||
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Paris (AFP) - Airbus on Tuesday warned of a technical glitch potentially affecting the engines of its A400M that was discovered during an internal test after one of the military planes crashed in Spain. The company said in a statement it had sent out an alert to its clients urging them to carry out "specific checks of the Electronic Control Units (ECU) on each of the aircraft's engines." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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What are traders chatting about this morning? A global stock rally ... (DIA, SPX, SPY, QQQ) | ||
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Via Dave Lutz at JonesTrading, here's a quick overview of what traders are chatting about this morning. Good Morning - Global stocks are at record levels, and the Euro is getting hit sharply and German Bunds well bid as ECB's Coeure Says ECB to Moderately Front-Load QE Buying in May, June before Summer Lull. Coupled with a crabby German ZEW we have Bund Yields off 7bp early and EU Stoxx up almost 2%. The DAX is adding nearly 2% as the Weaker Euro propelling Autos again over in Germany – and Consumer Discretionary shares leap almost 3%. Volumes are heavy across the continent, with most exchanges trading 20% heavier than recent levels. Over in Asia, Shanghai leaps over 3%, biggest gain since January - policymakers' guidelines for economic reform the main driver there, while Aussie was hit for 80bp as Miners lost ground with ore back below $60 a tonne. The Nikkei added about 70bp, driven by the exporters as $/Yen hits 2M highs overnight. The US 10YY is 5bp lower, and the curve flattening sharply, as a trifecta of headlines (Coeure, UK in Deflation, and German ZEW) all drive flows back towards Sovereigns. The Euro has initially cracked below 1.12, but is staging a minor rally as FX traders focus shifts toward 4 Central Banks later this week (Minutes from Fed, Boe, Aussie along with BOJ decision). The DXY was rejected from 95 overnight, but the bid under the greenback is causing a headwind for commodities – there is a sharp retreat in Metals, with Copper, Silver and Nickel all 1%+ lower – and a sharp move lower in Wheat (Record Short there). The Energy complex is mixed, with Brent and WTI lower ahead of API data tonight, while Natty is 1%+ higher as it continues to build a base over $3. Ahead of us today we get Housing Starts and Permits for April at 8:30; Bank of Canada's Poloz speaks at 11:30, and after the close we get API data for Crude, Gasoline and Distillates. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Watch these giant container ships collide near the Suez Canal  | ||
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Here are Bank of America's 12 big calls for the rest of 2015 (SPY, DJI, IXIC, UST, USO, WTI, OIL, VDE, USD, EUR) | ||
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Bank of America Merrill Lynch is bullish on US growth in 2015. From a note on Monday, here are the firm's 12 big calls for the rest of the year (all language sic):
So there you have it. SEE ALSO: Here's the story behind that huge disconnect in the stock market Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here's the trick to being more productive  | ||
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10 things you need to know before the opening bell (DIA, SPY, SPX, QQQ, WMT, URBN, HD) | ||
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Here is what you need to know. The UK slipped into deflation for the 1st time in at least 55 years. Consumer prices slipped 0.1% year-over-year in the UK, marking an unexpected return to deflation. The UK has not experienced falling prices since the 1950s and 1960s, but its most recent extended bout with deflation was in the 1930s, amid the Great Depression. The British pound is lower by 0.9% at 1.5520. The ECB will 'front load' QE. European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said the central bank would "front load" its quantitative-easing (QE) program in May and June because of low liquidity in July and August. He also suggested the recent sell-off in government bonds was normal, but he worried of "extreme volatility." The euro is down 1.0% at 1.1208. Greece is closing in on a deal with its creditors. Greece Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told business leaders that a deal with creditors would come "very soon." But that has not stopped citizens from pulling money out of banks as they fear capital controls similar to those implemented in Cyprus. "People are taking more or less everything they have got out of their accounts for fear that the government will be dipping into them next," a Greek bank official speaking on the condition of anonymity told Reuters. "Many see it as the logical next step, and after today's statement we expect the outflows to increase." Greece's two-year yield is off 67 basis points at 22.82%. China seeks to open up capital markets in 2015. China's State Council called 2015 a "crucial year for deepening reform." According to Reuters, Beijing looks to target "state enterprises, taxation, the Shenzhen Hong Kong stock connect, deposit rates, the initial public offering system, and boosting the global status of the yuan among others." China's yuan finished little changed at 6.2069 per dollar. Bank Indonesia kept policy on hold. Indonesia's central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 7.50%, as expected. Governor Agus Martowardojo announced that the central bank would ease some lending restrictions but did not give any details. Bank Indonesia has been under political pressure to cut interest rates to boost the economy but fears a return of inflation. Indonesia's rupiah gained 0.3% to 13,098 per dollar. Wal-Mart earnings and revenue missed. The world's largest retailer announced earnings of $1.03 per share, missing the Wall Street estimate of $1.05. Revenue came in at $114 billion, shy of the $116.2 billion that was anticipated. The closely followed comparable-store-sales metric was up 1.1%, coming in at the lower end of the guidance of 1% to 2%. Home Depot earnings topped estimates. The world's largest home-improvement chain earned $1.16 per share, adjusted for nonrecurring items, slightly outpacing the $1.15 that was anticipated. Revenue matched the Wall Street estimate, rising 6.1% YoY to $20.89 billion. Home Depot upped its full-year 2016 EPS guidance to between $5.24 and $5.27 from between $5.11 and $5.17 and its full-year 2016 revenue guidance to between $86.67 billion and $87.1 billion versus $86.8 billion. Both were better than expected. Urban Outfitters missed on the top and bottom lines. The retailer announced earnings of $0.25 per share, missing the $0.30 that was expected. Revenue climbed 7.7% to $739 million, short of the $757.58 million Wall Street was anticipating. Same-store sales also disappointed, up 4% versus the up 5.1% estimate. Stocks are higher around the world. China's Shanghai Composite (+3.0%) led the overnight advance in Asia. Germany's DAX (+1.8%) paces the gains in Europe. S&P 500 futures are up 5.50 points at 2131.50. US economic data flows. Housing starts and building permits are due out at 8:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 4 basis points at 2.20%. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Incredible video shows 51 workers crammed into a 6-seater minibus in China  | ||
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Wal-Mart whiffs on earnings (WMT, XRT) | ||
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The world's largest retailer reported first quarter diluted earnings per share of $1.03, missing expectations for $1.05, according to Bloomberg. It noted that the foreign currency impact erased 3 cents per share from its earnings. The company posted revenues of $114.88 billion, below the consensus forecast for $116.23 billion. Excluding the FX impact of $3.3 billion, revenues rose 2.7% from the previous year. "We had a solid first quarter," CEO Doug McMillon wrote in the release. "We took some important strategic steps to strengthen the foundation of our business for the future. We need to continue to get better at consistently running great stores, clubs and e-commerce everywhere .. and we are." Comparable store sales rose 1.1%, versus prior guidance of 1% - 2%, and the estimate for 1.5%. The stock fell by as much as 2% in pre-market trading. The company said it expects second quarter earnings per share of between $1.06 and $1.18. In February, the retailer announced a raise in the hourly pay of 500,000 of its associates. Other retailers including Target and TJ Maxx made similar moves shortly after. And last week, Wal-Mart confirmed that it is planning a subscription service for fast shipping to compete with Amazon Prime. Amazon's offering costs $99 per year, and Wal-Mart's will be cheaper, at $50 annually, although it won't include free music and video streaming at first. SEE ALSO: GOLDMAN: 'Wal-Mart's cost of doing business is clearly rising' Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 5 Ways Retailers Trick You Into Spending More Money  | ||
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Wal-Mart reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday morning, and it was a miss on the top and bottom line. How MuleSoft founder Ross Mason turned free software into a $1.5 billion company | ||
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You know how startups are always going on and on about how they are going to "disrupt the legacy" vendors, those older, giant multi-billion dollar companies? As we predicted, for hot San Francisco startup MuleSoft, that's what's actually happening. And investors continue to throw money at the company. MuleSoft just raised a new $128 million investment, at a $1.5 billion valuation, founder Ross Mason tells us. The round was lead by Salesforce's investment arm, Salesforce Ventures. Total raised to date is $259 million. This validation is sweet success for Mason. This company started as a small project in 2003 when he and his wife were living on the island of Malta. He was working as a corporate IT developer, struggling to make applications talk to each other, and complaining about it, until his wife told him to stop complaining and do something. Big corporations like Tibco and Informatica charged a lot of money to big enterprise clients for products to make that easier. So Ross wrote a project called MuleSoft to connect apps, data and devices. (In geek speak, MuleSoft helps different application programming interfaces work together.) And he gave it away for free. As the project grew, it became a business. MuleSoft offers the software as a paid cloud service. He spent four years commuting from Malta to San Francisco, where some of his employees and early investors were. In 2010, he was on a plane (as he always was) and he was caught in the ash from the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull. It was terrifying. He decided to stop the crazy commute and move to San Francisco. And MuleSoft has been going gangbusters ever since. Earlier investors included rivals Salesforce and SAP. And now Salesforce has doubled down with help from a slew of other VC firms like NEA, Lightspeed Venture, Hummer Winblad. Meanwhile, both Tibco and Informatica have ceased to be public companies, going private in leveraged buy-out deals. MuleSoft, which is likely marching toward an eventual IPO, is now doing the bubble 2.0 thing and taking gobs of VC money to stay in growth mode, postponing an IPO until its even bigger. MuleSoft will use the money to hire people, build out its product, expand its reach internationally. The free and open source project is still there and hugely popular on GitHub. But so is MuleSoft's cloud service, which is on track to bring in $100 million, Mason tells us, having grown 2015 Q1 revenues 110% year over year, he says. The company employs 500 people and has over 700 customers. And Mason has given up commuting for good. About 10 months ago, he bought a house in San Francisco. SEE ALSO: Why a $5.3 billion leveraged buyout is VERY good for hot startup MuleSoft Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions  | ||
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I saw where the F-35 gets one of its most classified features, and it's amazing | ||
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The Aircraft Final Finishes bay is where America's most expensive weapons system gets coated with a highly classified stealth technology, which makes it invisible to radar. After the jet is assembled and before it can take flight, three laser-guided robots apply the "Radar-Absorbing Material" (RAM) to each of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II variant aircrafts. Here's all we know (and can share) about how the F-35 gets its invisibility cloak: First, each of the F-35 variant aircrafts are assembled in Lockheed Martin's mile long production facility. | ||
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"This room is the most advanced painting facility in the world," retired US Air Force pilot and F-35 simulation instructor 
