Duo Security (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
When Duo Security cofounders Dug Song and Jon Oberheide first pitched venture capitalists on their startup in 2010, they were told that they needed to relocate to Silicon Valley to create a successful company. Nearly seven years later, Song and Oberheide proved their critics wrong when Duo Security became Ann Arbor’s first unicorn company after raising $70 million in October. According to a company spokesman, Duo Security has more than doubled its revenue for the past four consecutive years.
Duo Security creates a two-factor authentication app for enterprise companies and counts Etsy, Facebook, and Yelp among its customers. Thanks to the University of Michigan’s plethora of engineers, Duo Security has been able to scale while hiring local — the company has 550 full-time employees, more than 350 of whom are in Michigan.