Demonstrates Union Square Advisors’ continued momentum in providing strategic M&A advice to leading enterprise and security software companies
On August 27, 2020, Fastly, Inc. (NYSE: FSLY), provider of an edge cloud platform, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Signal Sciences (“Signal Sciences”), for approximately $775 million in cash and stock. The acquisition will expand Fastly’s robust security portfolio at a time when security at the edge has never been more critical. Signal Sciences’ strong, developer-first web application and API protection solutions will bolster Fastly’s existing security offerings to bring customers a unified edge security solution.
Signal Sciences’ technology combined with Fastly’s current solutions will form Fastly’s upcoming new security offering, Secure@Edge. Secure@Edge will be a modern, unified web application and API protection solution that will power and protect companies looking to further or begin their digital transformation. The acquisition supports Fastly’s mission to provide simplified, secure, and frictionless solutions at scale, and to transform the security landscape by offering an alternative to the existing array of opaque, fragmented and inflexible solutions needed to protect web applications and APIs.
“Fastly was founded to meet developers’ need for greater visibility and control. Now, as the digital transformation movement continues to accelerate, DevOps teams are struggling with inadequate and inflexible security tools,” said Joshua Bixby, Chief Executive Officer of Fastly. “Together with Signal Sciences, we will give developers modern security tools designed for the way they work. This new solution will integrate with our Compute@Edge platform, accelerating the adoption of edge computing, while simultaneously solving for modern security challenges. We look forward to working with the talented team at Signal Sciences as we continue to innovate and deliver revolutionary security and edge-computing solutions together.”
“Our mission has always been to secure web applications and APIs through a developer-first approach. Together with Fastly, we will be able to offer enhanced protection to a broader set of customers across multiple verticals and geographies,” said Andrew Peterson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Signal Sciences. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Fastly, an ideal partner who shares our values, deep technical knowledge, and commitment to extending the DevOps movement into the realm of security.”
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Fastly will acquire Signal Sciences for $200 million in cash and approximately $575 million worth of Class A Common Stock, subject to customary adjustments for transactions of this nature. The per share portion of the stock consideration will be based, subject to a two-way price collar, on the volume-weighted average price of a share of Class A Common Stock over the ten (10) consecutive trading day period ended on and including the third trading day immediately prior to the date of the Closing. Fastly will also establish a retention pool of $50 million worth of restricted stock units to be granted to Signal Sciences employees.
The transaction is subject to certain customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in 2020.
Read the full press release here.
About Fastly
Fastly helps people stay better connected with the things they love. Fastly’s edge cloud platform enables customers to create great digital experiences quickly, securely, and reliably by processing, serving, and securing our customers’ applications as close to their end-users as possible — at the edge of the Internet. The platform is designed to take advantage of the modern internet, to be programmable, and to support agile software development. Fastly’s customers include many of the world’s most prominent companies, including Vimeo, Pinterest, The New York Times, and GitHub.
About Signal Sciences
Signal Sciences is the fastest growing web application security company in the world. With its award-winning next-gen WAF and RASP solution, Signal Sciences protects more than 40,000 applications and over a trillion production requests per month. Signal Sciences’ patented architecture provides organizations working in a modern development environment with comprehensive and scalable threat protection and security visibility. The company works with some of the world’s most recognizable companies, as indicated on the company’s website, including Duo Security, DataDog, Under Armour, Twilio SendGrid, and Doordash. Signal Sciences is also named a Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startup and received the 451 Firestarter award, InfoWorld’s Technology of the Year, and Computing’s DevOps Excellence Award for Best DevOps Security Tool. For more information, visit Signal Sciences website or follow @Signal Sciences.
About Union Square Advisors
Union Square Advisors is a leading technology-focused investment bank that offers strategic mergers & acquisitions advice and execution, agented private capital financing, and debt capital markets advisory services. Founded in 2007, with offices in San Francisco and New York, Union Square Advisors works with leading public and private technology companies, private equity, venture capital, and family offices across the technology landscape with a primary focus on Software, Software-Enabled Services, IT Infrastructure and Internet/Digital Media/Marketing Technology. Since inception, Union Square Advisors has advised on over 115 transactions, valued in excess of $100 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.usadvisors.com.
