Nginx (pronounced “engine-x”), a US-based open source web server publisher with Russian origins, has been acquired by F5, a global leader in multi-cloud application services. The transaction amounted to “approximately $670 million,” the companies announced, for the full acquisition of Nginx.
By this acquisition F5 aims to “bridge the divide between NetOps and DevOps with consistent application services across an enterprise’s multi-cloud environment,” said François Locoh-Donou, President & CEO of F5.
“The combined company will enable every customer — from the app developer to the network engineer to the security specialist — with the tools they need to ensure their apps are available and secure across every platform, from the enterprise data center to private and public clouds,” he added.
F5 hopes this acquisition will “accelerate its product integrations with leading open source projects and will enhance its strong technology partnerships with open source vendors.” Among Nginx’s most appealing assets is its huge open source community, which F5 is committed to involve further.
“F5 is committed to keeping the Nginx brand and open source technology alive. Without this commitment, the deal wouldn’t have happened for either side,” commented Nginx CEO Gus Robertson.
Robertson, along with Nginx founders Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov, will join F5 and will continue to lead Nginx, and Robertson will join F5’s senior management team, F5 announced.
A global tech success
Nginx is one of the most successful Russian Internet technologies of the past twenty years. Its solution is currently used by more than 374 million websites across the world, including two thirds of the highest‑traffic sites. “Whether you know it or not, you use Nginx every day of your life when you post a photo, watch streaming video, purchase goods online, or log into your applications at work,” the company justly claims.
Nginx’s founder, Igor Sysoev, is a former system administrator at Rambler, a pioneer Russian web company. He initially released his server software in 2004 and has been developing his web server solution since that time. Nginx was formally incorporated as a company in August 2011. Founded in Moscow, the startup later moved its headquarters to San Francisco.
Nginx raised a Series A round in 2011, receiving $3 million from e.ventures, Moscow-based Runa Capital, and US fund MDS Capital.
The company then secured several additional rounds of funding, which involved US-Russian PE firm Russia Partners (2014) as well as Goldman Sachs Growth Equity ($43 million capital injection in 2018).
