Noname Security, a cybersecurity startup that protects APIs, is in advanced talks with Akamai Technologies to sell itself for $500 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.
Noname was founded in 2020 by Oz Golan and Shai Levy and is headquartered in Palo Alto but has Israeli roots. The startup has raised $220 million from venture investors and It was last estimated at $1 billion In December 2021 when it raised $135 million in Series C led by Georgian and Lightspeed. While the sale price represents a significant discount from that valuation, the deal as it stands will be cash, the person said. The deal is not final and may change or not happen at all.
Other investors backing Noname include Insight Partners, ForgePoint, Cyberstarts, Next47, and The Syndicate Group.
While the potential deal price is half of Noname's recent private valuation, those who invested in the early stage will receive a significant return from the sale. At the same time, the deal should allow later-stage investors, especially those who invested in the last round, to get a full return on the capital they invested, if not the profit they were hoping for during those euphoric days of 2021 when the money was Streaming reviews are optimistic.
The deal values the company at about 15 times annual recurring revenue, the person said. About 200 Noname employees are expected to move to Akamai if the sale closes.
Akamai declined to comment. A Noname Security spokesperson told TechCrunch, He added: “As a policy, we refrain from commenting on rumors or speculation.”
the information mentioned In January, Noname was trying to raise another funding round at a much lower valuation. In February, Israeli news outlet Calcalist reported that Noname was in negotiations with several potential buyers, including Akamai.
Many venture capital-backed companies that raised capital at the height of the tech boom saw their valuations collapse after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Many are now simultaneously looking for buyers and a new round of financing, known in the world of finance as a dual-track process. Meanwhile, many later-stage venture capital firms are searching for liquidity more than a year after the IPO market froze. So the mood in the venture industry is that if strong IPOs don't return soon, it will be a time to shop for M&A activity.
