Akamai Technologies today announced its plan to acquire API security startup Noname Security for about $450 million, aiming to enhance its existing API Security solution as API usage continues to grow.

“Akamai has seen a growing need for API protection with our own data showing 109% year-over-year growth in API attacks,” Mani Sundaram, executive VP and GM of security technology group at Akamai Technologies, said in a statement. “With the addition of Noname, Akamai believes it will have the breadth of integrations and deployment choices needed to deliver comprehensive API protection for customers across all environments.”

Headquartered in San Jose, California, Noname Security has raised a total of $220 million over three funding rounds. It banked $135 million in its Series C round in December 2021, led by Georgian and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Noname Security currently has more than 200 employees. All of them, including CEO and co-founder Oz Golan, are expected to join Akamai's Security Technology Group following the acquisition.

Akamai also expects to gain greater scale with Noname’s additional sales and marketing resources and established channel and alliance relationships.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024. For the first year of 2024, Akamai anticipates the acquisition will deliver about $20 million of revenue.

Noname enhances Akamai's API Security to reduce threats

The integration of Noname into Akamai’s portfolio is expected to expand Akamai's existing API Security suite and add capabilities to help customers discover “shadow” APIs — undisclosed ones that might be vulnerable to attacks.

“API development continues to proliferate as customers prioritize their investments in application modernization and digital transformation initiatives,” said Noname CEO Oz Golan.

Akamai plans to integrate Noname into its portfolio to provide greater flexibility and support through a wide range of integrations and deployment options and offer Noname capabilities to customers of Akamai’s Application and API platform shortly following the acquisition.

“Combining Noname with Akamai’s API Security offering will provide a solution for any type of customer. No matter where the customer’s applications reside – be it in the cloud, natively on the edge, on-premises, or on other vendor platforms — they will be protected,” Golan said.