Fastly

{{Infobox company

| name = Fastly, Inc.

| logo = Fastly logo.svg

| caption =

| founded = {{Start date and age|2011|03}}

| type = Public

| traded_as = {{ubl|{{NYSE|FSLY}} (Class A)|Russell 2000 component}}

| founder = Artur Bergman

| hq_location = {{nowrap|San Francisco, California, U.S.}}

| key_people = {{plainlist|

Todd Nightingale (CEO)
David Hornik (Chairman)
Tyler McMullen (CTO)
Ronald W. Kisling (CFO)}}

| industry = Internet

| services = {{Plainlist|

| website = {{Official URL}}

| revenue = {{increase}} {{US$|506 million|link=yes}} (2023)

| operating_income = {{increasenegative}} {{US$|−198 million}} (2023)

| net_income = {{increasenegative}} {{US$|−133 million}} (2023)

| assets = {{decrease}} {{US$|1.53 billion}} (2023)

| equity = {{increase}} {{US$|979 million}} (2023)

| num_employees = 1,207 (2023)

| footnotes = {{cite web |url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001517413/000151741324000048/fsly-20231231.htm |title=US SEC: Form 10-K Fastly, Inc. |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |date=22 February 2024}}

|module={{infobox network service provider|child=yes|asn=54113}}

}}

Fastly, Inc. is an American company based in San Francisco, which describes itself as a cloud computing company.{{Cite web |title=S-1 Registration Statement, Fastly Inc |url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1517413/000119312519111675/d702138ds1.htm |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=www.sec.gov}} Fastly provides content delivery network services, image optimization, and load balancing services. Fastly's cloud security services include denial-of-service attack protection, bot mitigation, and a web application firewall.{{cite web|title=Discontent and disruption in the world of content delivery networks|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/01/discontent-and-disruption-in-the-world-of-content-delivery-networks/|work=TechCrunch|date=June 2017 }}

History

= Founding and IPO (2011-2019) =

Fastly was founded in 2011 by the Swedish-American entrepreneur Artur Bergman, previously chief technical officer at Wikia (now Fandom).{{cite web|last=Novet|first=Jordan|date=September 16, 2014|title=Fastly grabs $40M on its quest to build a big, cool content-delivery network|url=https://venturebeat.com/2014/09/16/fastly-funding/|access-date=December 23, 2020|work=VentureBeat}}{{Cite web |url=https://open.nytimes.com/open-questions-a-conversation-with-fastly-ceo-artur-bergman-9c5e023baf57 |title=Open Questions: A Conversation with Fastly CEO Artur Bergman |date=2018-09-07 |access-date=2022-05-30 |website=The New York Times |last=Rockwell |first=Nick}} In June 2013, Fastly raised $10 million in Series B funding.{{Cite web |date=June 6, 2013|title=Fastly Raises $10M for Content Delivery Network Built for Mobile, Real-Time World|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/05/fastly-raises-10m-for-content-delivery-network-built-for-mobile-real-time-world/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch }} In April 2014, the company announced that it had acquired CDN Sumo, a CDN add-on for Heroku.{{Cite web|last=Richards|first=Ryan|date=April 16, 2014|title=Ruby on Rails on Fastly|url=https://www.fastly.com/blog/ruby-on-rails-on-fastly|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223092344/https://www.fastly.com/blog/ruby-on-rails-on-fastly|archive-date=December 23, 2020|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=www.fastly.com}} In September 2014, Fastly raised a further $40 million in Series C funding,{{Cite web|last=Miller|first=Ron|date=September 16, 2014|title=Fastly Growing Quickly Snags $40M As VCs Give Generously|url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/09/16/fastly-growing-quickly-snags-40m-as-vcs-give-generously/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch}} followed by a $75 million Series D round in August 2015.{{Cite web|last=Lardinois|first=Frederic|date=August 5, 2015|title=Fastly Raises $75M For Its Real-Time CDN|url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/08/05/fastly-raises-75m-series-d-round-for-its-real-time-cdn/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch}}

In September 2015, Google partnered with Fastly and other content delivery network providers to offer services to its users.{{cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/09/google-partners-with-cloudflare-fastly-level-3-and-highwinds-to-help-developers-push-google-cloud-content-to-users-faster/|title=Google Partners With CloudFlare, Fastly, Level 3 And Highwinds To Help Developers Push Google Cloud Content To Users Faster|work=TechCrunch|date=9 September 2015 }} In April 2017, Fastly launched its edge cloud platform along with image optimization, load balancing, and a web application firewall.{{cite web | last=Kepes | first=Ben | title=In the need for speed, Fastly goes all the way to the edge | website=Computerworld | date=April 18, 2017 | url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/3189666/internet/in-the-need-for-speed-fastly-goes-all-the-way-to-the-edge.html | access-date=October 10, 2017 | archive-date=April 19, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419130323/http://computerworld.com/article/3189666/internet/in-the-need-for-speed-fastly-goes-all-the-way-to-the-edge.html | url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=https://www.bizety.com/2017/04/18/fastly-releases-edge-cloud-platform/|title=Fastly Releases Edge Cloud Platform|work=Bizty}}

Fastly raised $50 million in funding in April 2017,{{Cite web|title=Fastly raises another $50 million for its content delivery networking technology|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/23/marching-to-pied-pipers-fictional-tune-fastly-raises-50-million/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch |date=23 May 2017 }} and another $40 million in July 2018.{{Cite web|last=Dillet|first=Romain|date=July 17, 2018|title=Fastly raises another $40 million before an IPO|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/16/fastly-raises-another-40-million-before-an-ipo/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch }} The company filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in April 2019 and debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on May 17, 2019.{{Cite web|last=Shieber|first=Jonathan|date=April 20, 2019|title=Fastly, the content delivery network, files for an IPO|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/19/fastly-the-content-delivery-network-files-for-an-ipo/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch }}{{Cite web|last=Novet|first=Jordan|date=May 17, 2019|title=Fastly shares rocket as much as 60% in IPO debut|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/17/fastly-starts-trading-on-nyse.html|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=CNBC }}

= Joshua Bixby as CEO (2020-2022) =

In February 2020, Bergman stepped down as CEO and assumed the role of chief architect and executive chairperson; Joshua Bixby took over the CEO role.{{Cite web|last=Hernbroth|first=Megan|date=February 23, 2020|title='I like being in the trenches': Fastly CEO steps down after disappointing market debuts, citing his 'true strengths and passions' as a developer instead of company leader|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/fastly-ceo-artur-bergman-stepping-down-joshua-bixby-2020-2|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=Business Insider Australia}}

In August 2020, Fastly announced it was acquiring cybersecurity company Signal Sciences for $775 million ($200 million in cash and $575 million in stock).{{Cite web|last=Shieber|first=Jonathan|date=August 27, 2020|title=LA gets a big SaaS exit as Fastly nabs the Culver City-based Signal Sciences for $775M|url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/27/la-gets-a-big-saas-exit-as-fastly-nabs-the-culver-city-based-signal-sciences-for-775m/|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=TechCrunch}}

In June 2021, Ronald W. Kisling, previously employed by Alphabet as the CFO of the Fitbit division, was hired to serve as Fastly's CFO, succeeding Adriel Lares. He assumed the position in August 2021.{{Cite web|date=2021-06-29|title=Fastly Appoints Ron Kisling as CFO|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210629006004/en/Fastly-Appoints-Ron-Kisling-as-CFO|access-date=2021-07-07|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Maurer|first=Mark|date=2021-06-29|title=Cloud-Services Firm Fastly Hires Google Executive as CFO|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/cloud-services-firm-fastly-hires-google-executive-as-cfo-11625009576|access-date=2021-07-07|issn=0099-9660}}

On 8 June 2021, Fastly reported problems with their CDN service which caused many major websites, such as Reddit, gov.uk, and Amazon, along with major news sources such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and the BBC, to become unavailable.{{Cite web |last1=Singh |first1=Manish |last2=Dillet |first2=Romain |date=8 June 2021 |title=Twitch, Pinterest, Reddit and more go down in Fastly CDN outage |url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/08/numerous-popular-websites-are-facing-an-outage/ |access-date=2021-06-08 |website=TechCrunch |language=en-US}} The outage was resolved by Fastly after a few hours. Fastly reported that the cause of the outage was a software bug triggered by a specific user configuration.{{Cite web |last=Rockwell |first=Nick |date=2021-06-08 |title=Summary of June 8 outage |url=https://www.fastly.com/blog/summary-of-june-8-outage |access-date=2021-06-09 |website=Fastly Blog |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=9 June 2021 |title=How One Fastly Customer Broke The Internet |url=https://gizmodo.com/how-one-fastly-customer-broke-the-internet-1847061755 |access-date=2021-06-13 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us}}

In May 2022, Fastly announced it had acquired Glitch, a web coding platform with more than 1.8 million developers.{{Cite web |last=Kastrenakes |first=Jacob |date=2022-05-19 |title=Glitch acquired by cloud service provider Fastly |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/19/23126349/glitch-fastly-acquired-coding-anil-dash-fog-creek |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=The Verge |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Robison |first=Kylie |title=$1.3 billion cloud company Fastly is acquiring popular developer startup Glitch in a push to help coders build bigger, better apps |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/fastly-acquire-glitch-no-code-developers-cloud-computing-2022-5 |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}

= Todd Nightingale as CEO (2022-Present) =

In August 2022, Todd Nightingale, previously employed by Cisco as Executive Vice President of Enterprise Networking and Cloud business, was hired to serve as Fastly's CEO, succeeding Joshua Bixby.{{Cite web|date=2022-08-03|title=Cisco Networking And Cloud Leader Todd Nightingale to join Fastly as CEO|url=https://www.crn.com/news/networking/cisco-networking-and-cloud-leader-todd-nightingale-to-join-fastly-as-ceo|access-date=2022-08-03|work=CRN |first=Gina |last=Narcisi}}

In August 2023, it was announced Fastly has acquired the domain status API provider, Domainr.{{Cite web |date=2023-08-17 |title=Fastly acquires Domainr and launches new TLS Certification Authority |url=https://siliconangle.com/2023/08/17/fastly-acquires-domainr-launches-new-tls-certification-authority/ |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=SiliconANGLE |language=en-US}} In November 2023, Brett Shirk resigned as CRO,{{Cite web |last=MarketScreener |date=2023-11-29 |title=Fastly, Inc. Announces Resignation of Brett Shirk as Chief Revenue Officer, Effective on December 1, 2023 - MarketScreener |url=https://uk.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/FASTLY-INC-58136331/news/Fastly-Inc-Announces-Resignation-of-Brett-Shirk-as-Chief-Revenue-Officer-Effective-on-December-1-45470337/ |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=uk.marketscreener.com |language=en-GB}} he was replaced 6 months later by Scott Lovett.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-28 |title=Fastly Names Scott R. Lovett as Chief Revenue Officer |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fastly-names-scott-r-lovett-120000669.html |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}}

In August of 2024, Fastly laid off 11% of its work force. {{Cite web |last=Datta |first=Tiyashi |date=2024-08-08 |title=Fastly to reduce global headcount by 11% (NYSE:FSLY) {{!}} Seeking Alpha |url=https://seekingalpha.com/news/4137719-fastly-to-reduce-global-headcount-by-11 |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=seekingalpha.com |language=en}} Later in December 2024, Fastly issued $150 million in convertible senior notes with a 7.75% yield as part of a major debt restructuring. {{cite web | url=https://www.ainvest.com/news/fastly-s-debt-restructuring-an-analytical-study-24121010f4b7d08bd246b512/ | title=Fastly's Debt Restructuring: An Analytical Study }}

Operation

Fastly's CDN service follows the reverse proxy model, routing all website traffic through their own servers instead of providing a 'cdn.mydomain.com' address to store site-specific files. It then fetches content from the point of presence nearest to the location of the requesting user. Content is not directly uploaded to their servers, rather it is pulled periodically from the origin server and cached in order to reduce the time required for an end-user to access the content.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Mike |date=15 February 2021 |title=Fastly review |url=https://www.techradar.com/uk/reviews/fastly |work=TechRadar}} Fastly offers semantic web caching as a feature.{{cite news |last=Dotson |first=Kyt |date=June 13, 2024 |title=Fastly releases global cloud AI accelerator to help developers reduce costs and boost performance |url=https://siliconangle.com/2024/06/13/fastly-releases-global-cloud-ai-accelerator-help-developers-reduce-costs-boost-performance/ |access-date=July 8, 2024 |work=Silicon Angle}}

Fastly supports the UDP-based HTTP/3 protocol, as well as DRM enabled content, encryption and secure tokens to restrict media access.{{Cite web |last=Sudia |first=David |date=2023-01-05 |title=How to Get Started with HTTP/3 |url=https://thenewstack.io/how-to-get-started-with-http3/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=The New Stack |language=en-US}}

The Fastly platform is built on top of Varnish.{{Cite web|title=The benefits of using Varnish|url=https://www.fastly.com/blog/benefits-using-varnish|access-date=December 23, 2020|website=Fastly.com|date=30 March 2015 }} {{As of|2024|03|post=,}} Fastly transfers 336 Tbps of data.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastly.com/blog/fastly-is-faster-at-time-to-first-byte/|title = FastlyNetworkCapcity| date=2 November 2023 }}{{Cite web |title=Fastly Inc (FSLY) Stock Price & News |url=https://www.google.com/finance/quote/FSLY:NYSE |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Google Finance |language=en}}{{Better source needed|date=September 2022}}

In March 2023, Fastly made all of its network services and web application security products available to its partners. Previously, some of the company's partners had only been able to sell specific Fastly products, such as its web application firewall.{{cite news |last=Dee |first=Katie |date=March 27, 2023 |title=Fastly Revamps Partner Program To Harness 'Huge Untapped Potential' In The Channel |url=https://www.crn.com/news/channel-programs/fastly-revamps-partner-program-to-harness-huge-untapped-potential-in-the-channel |access-date=May 29, 2024 |work=CRN |publisher=The Channel Company}}