INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
F5 got an expensive holiday present today, snagging startup Shape Security for approximately $1 billion.What the networking company gets
with a shiny red ribbon is a security product that helps stop automated attacks like credential stuffing
In an article earlier this year, Shape CTO Shuman Ghosemajumder explained what the company does:We’re an enterprise-focused company that
protects the majority of large U.S
banks, the majority of the largest airlines, similar kinds of profiles with major retailers, hotel chains, government agencies and so on
We specifically protect them against automated fraud and abuse on their consumer-facing applications — their websites and their mobile
apps.F5 president and CEO François Locoh-Donou sees a way to protect his customers in a comprehensive way
“With Shape, we will deliver end-to-end application protection, which means revenue generating, brand-anchoring applications are protected
from the point at which they are created through to the point where consumers interact with them—from code to customer,” Locoh-Donou
said in a statement.As for Shape, CEO Derek Smith said that it wasn’t a huge coincidence that F5 was the buyer, given his company was
seeing F5 consistently in its customers
Now they can work together as a single platform.Shape launched in 2011 and raised $183 million, according to Crunchbase data
Investors included Kleiner Perkins, Tomorrow Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Baseline Ventures and C5 Capital
In its most recent round in September, the company raised $51 million on a valuation of $1 billion.F5 has been in a spending mood this year
It also acquired NGINX in March for $670 million
NGINX is the commercial company behind the open-source web server of the same name
It’s worth noting that prior to that, F5 had not made an acquisition since 2014.It was a big year in security M-A
Consider that in June, four security companies sold in one three-day period
That included Insight Partners buying Recorded Future for $780 million and FireEye buying Verodin for $250 million
Palo Alto Networks bought two companies in the period: Twistlock for $400 million and PureSec for between $60 and $70 million.This deal is
expected to close in mid-2020, and is of course, subject to standard regulatory approval
Upon closing Shape’s Smith will join the F5 management team and Shape employees will be folded into F5
The company will remain in its Santa Clara headquarters.
