StackPath

StackPath, an American edge computing platform provider, was founded in 2015 by a team led by Lance Crosby, who previously co-founded and led SoftLayer Technologies until its acquisition by IBM in 2013. Joining Crosby in the founding were Ryan Carter and Jason Gulledge, among others. The company was established with the goal of creating a comprehensive security platform to address the fragmented nature of internet security solutions.

StackPath pursued an aggressive growth strategy centered on acquisitions to build a holistic platform. In 2016, shortly after its launch and securing a significant investment from ABRY Partners, the company acquired four companies: MaxCDN (a content delivery network), Fireblade (web application firewall technology), Cloak (VPN technology), and Staminus (DDoS mitigation). The acquisition spree continued with Highwinds Network Group (CDN and VPN) in 2017 and Server Density (monitoring) in 2018. The business operated in the edge computing, edge delivery, and edge security markets, serving a diverse client base that ranged from Fortune 100 companies to startups, including publishers and game developers. Its service portfolio included a content delivery network (CDN), web application firewall (WAF), DDoS mitigation, virtual machines, and containers. Revenue was generated through tiered subscription plans for its various services.

Despite raising a total of $396 million, including a Series B round in 2020 led by Juniper Networks and Cox Communications, StackPath faced significant challenges. The company struggled with integrating the diverse technologies from its acquisitions, a lack of clear product focus, and frequent management changes. In August 2023, StackPath ceased its CDN operations and sold its enterprise CDN customer contracts to Akamai Technologies for a reported $20 million. This move did not include StackPath's personnel or technology. Ultimately, in June 2024, StackPath announced it was shutting down the company entirely and would liquidate its assets, decommissioning all remaining services, including Edge Compute, DNS, and Object Storage.

Keywords: edge computing, content delivery network, CDN, cybersecurity, web application firewall, WAF, DDoS mitigation, virtual machines, containers, edge security, cloud computing, Lance Crosby, Akamai, Highwinds, MaxCDN, serverless applications, edge delivery, network security, asset liquidation, technology shutdown