Apigee, a developer and provider of application programming interface (API) technology and services for digital business applications has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google. The news came just after Google signed a pact with content management platform Box in order to offer cloud services to enterprises. Apigee that claims itself as a leader in APIs delivers a digital experience to its customer and with this acquisition Google will be using Apigee’s platform to help enterprises interact digitally in a better way.
Google will acquire Apigee for $17.40 per share in cash, for a total value of approximately $625 million. The companies expect the transaction to close by the end of 2016. Both the companies agree on the fact that the benefits of interacting digitally drives a large market opportunity and Forrester predicts that US companies alone will spend nearly $3 billion on API management by 2020.
What Google will get?
Apigee claims that it has a strong customer base in the API marketspace and it is already used by Walgreens, AT&T, Bechtel, Burberry, First Data and Live Nation. This platform will benefit Google to expand its customer list and make it much easier for the requisite APIs to be implemented and published.
In a blogpost, Diane Greene, Senior Vice President, Google, said:
“The transition toward cloud, mobile and digital interaction with customers and partners via APIs is happening, and fast. It’s happening because customers of every stripe in the consumer realm and in the enterprise are demanding it, and because it translates to engaging and valuable businesses. We’re thrilled to be bringing these new capabilities to our customers, and we look forward to welcoming the talented Apigee team to Google.”
Google cloud customers are already benefiting from no sys-ops dev environments, including Google App Engine and Google Container Engine. With Apigee’s API management platform Google will be able to front these secure and scalable services with a simple way to provide the exported APIs. Also Google will be getting Amazon Web Services and Pivotal Cloud Foundry ecosystem with Apigee.
A good API needs to support security, give developers the freedom to work in the development environment of their choice and allow the company to continue to innovate its service while supporting a stable interface to the apps and services using the API. Google along with Apigee is aiming to provide good API that also includes testing support and usage analytics to guide the company’s developers.
Chet Kapoor, CEO, Apigee, said, “Many companies understand the importance of using digital technologies to transform business models and processes, but often they pursue digital and cloud independently. Not only are they trying to deliver digital experiences that are fast and convenient for their customers and partners, but their IT organizations are also shifting infrastructure to the cloud to increase agility and lower costs. Smart companies realize that these are two sides of the same coin; that digital strategy must converge with cloud strategy.”
After the acquisition, there will be no change in Apigee’s business and its products and services will continue to be available. Until the transaction closes, Apigee will continue to operate independently.