F5 Networks Reaches $500 Million Deal for Startup Volterra (1)

F5 Networks Inc. has reached an agreement to buy the privately owned software startup Volterra for $500 million.

Seattle-based F5 will pay $440 million in cash, plus about $60 million in deferred stock payments and incentives to Volterra’s founders and employees, according to a statement confirming an earlier report by Bloomberg.

“We’re not acquiring Volterra for what it’s going to do for us today, meaning what it’s going to do for revenue in the 2021 financial year, F5 Chief Executive Officer François Locoh-Donou said in an interview. “We are really acquiring Volterra because it transforms our competitive position.”

F5 has ...