Akamai plans to buy LayerX for $285.5m

Akamai has announced an intent to acquire browser-based AI usage control and secure enterprise browser technology provider LayerX for around US$205 million (AU$285.5 million). Akamai is pursuing the acquisition of the Tel Aviv-based company as part of an effort to evolve its Zero Trust security credentials for the AI era.

Unlike proprietary enterprise browsers, LayerX is designed to support the most popular browsers, allowing users to continue with their preferred choice without disruption. The solution also supports a new generation of agentic browsers including Atlas and Comet.

Accommodating existing browsers enables security teams to gain real-time visibility and control over browser usage habits, including when users interact with web content, prompts, file uploads and SaaS applications.

Akamai plans to incorporate these functions into its Zero Trust portfolio capabilities, which include zero trust network access, runtime protection of AI applications, and workload-level AI inference segmentation. Akamai Executive Vice President and General Manager for Security Technology Mani Sundaram said the acquisition is aimed at fulfilling customer demands.

“Our customers are adopting AI at record speed, and they’re telling us the same thing: their existing controls cannot see how employees are interacting with AI tools and sharing with large language models,” he said. “The acquisition of LayerX helps close that gap, providing Akamai with a control layer that governs AI at the point of use so enterprises can move at AI speed without compromising safety and compliance.”

Under the terms of the acquisition, which, subject to approvals, is expected to close in the third quarter, LayerX employees will join Akamai’s Zero Trust organisation. The LayerX business is expected to have annual recurring revenue at year-end of roughly US$10 million.

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