Noname Security, a cybersecurity startup that protects APIs, is in advanced talks with Akamai Technologies to be sold for $500 million, according to a person familiar with the deal.
without a name was founded in 2020 by Oz Golan and Shay Levi and is based in Palo Alto, but has Israeli roots. The startup raised $220 million from venture investors and last valued at $1 billion in December 2021, when it raised $135 million in a Series C led by Georgia and Lightspeed. While the sale price is a significant discount from that valuation, the deal as it currently stands would be all cash, the person said. The deal is not final and may change or not happen at all.
Other investors who have backed Noname include Insight Partners, ForgePoint, Cyberstarts, Next47 and The Syndicate Group.
While the potential deal price is half the valuation of Noname’s last private valuation, those who invested in the early stage will receive a significant return from the sale. Meanwhile, the deal will allow later-stage investors, particularly those who invested in the last round, to get a full return on their capital, if not the profit they were hoping for in those heady days of 2021 when money was flowing and valuations were bullish.
The deal values the company at about 15 times annual recurring revenue, the person said. Noname’s approximately 200 employees are expected to transfer to Akamai if the sale closes.
Akamai declined to comment. A spokesperson for Noname Security told TechCrunch, “As a matter of policy, we refrain from commenting on rumors or speculation.”
The information mentionted in January that Noname was looking to raise another round of funding at a significantly lower valuation. In February, Israeli news agency Calcalist reported that Noname was in negotiations with many potential buyersincluding Akamai.
Many VC-backed companies that raised capital at the height of the tech boom saw their valuations fall when the US Fed raised interest rates. Many are now simultaneously looking for buyers and a new round of financing, known in the financial world as a two-way process. Meanwhile, many later-stage VCs are looking for liquidity after more than a year of a frozen IPO market. So the general sentiment in the venture industry is that if strong IPOs don’t pick up again soon, it will be bargain shopping time for M&A activity.
