Akamai to buy LayerX for USD $205 million in AI push

Akamai has agreed to acquire LayerX in a deal valued at about USD $205 million.

The transaction would add browser-based AI usage controls and secure enterprise browser technology to Akamai's security portfolio, extending protection into web browsers, where employees increasingly use generative AI tools, software-as-a-service applications and AI agents.

The agreement comes as companies try to tighten oversight of how staff use AI systems at work. Security teams have struggled with limited visibility into prompts, file uploads and interactions with large language models, especially when those activities take place through standard consumer and workplace browsers.

LayerX develops tools that work with widely used browsers rather than requiring companies to adopt a separate proprietary browser. That approach would let organisations apply controls to web and AI use without asking employees to switch software or make broader infrastructure changes.

The acquisition also fits Akamai's wider Zero Trust security strategy. LayerX's browser-level controls would sit alongside Akamai's existing Zero Trust Network Access products, runtime protection for AI applications and controls for AI inference workloads.

Mani Sundaram, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Akamai's Security Technology Group, outlined the rationale for the purchase.

"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," Sundaram 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."

Browser focus

Much of the recent security debate around workplace AI has focused on the browser because it has become the main interface for many business tasks. Employees often access external chatbots, embedded AI assistants and cloud software through the browser, creating a single point where data can be entered, uploaded or copied into third-party systems.

That has increased interest in products that can monitor and restrict activity directly at that layer. LayerX gives security teams visibility and control when users interact with web content, prompts, file uploads and SaaS applications, including newer so-called agentic browsers.

LayerX's management team is also set to join Akamai after the transaction closes. Employees, including co-founders Or Eshed and David Vaisbrud, would become part of Akamai's Zero Trust organisation.

For Akamai, the deal adds to a run of cybersecurity acquisitions in Israel. LayerX is its fourth Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity acquisition in the past five years, further expanding a regional hub that has become an important source of security engineering talent for global technology companies.

Or Eshed,Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of LayerX, said the company sees the combination as a response to a growing enterprise security problem.

"Securing human and agentic AI usage has become one of the defining challenges in enterprise security," Eshed said. "We're giving enterprises the foundation to deploy AI safely at a global scale by bringing LayerX's technology together with Akamai's Zero Trust portfolio and the world's most distributed edge platform. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to accelerate our security vision through this deal."

Financial terms

Under the announced terms, Akamai will acquire all outstanding equity in LayerX for about USD $205 million, subject to expected purchase price adjustments. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions.

The acquisition is expected to reduce Akamai's non-GAAP earnings per share by about USD $0.12 in the 2026 financial year. LayerX is also expected to have annual recurring revenue of about USD $10 million by the end of that year.

The purchase comes amid broader investor attention on Akamai's AI-related positioning. The company has also signed an agreement worth USD $1.8 billion with a leading frontier model provider, a development that helped lift its share price by more than 25% to a new 52-week high.

While the LayerX transaction is small relative to that larger agreement, it indicates where Akamai sees customer demand developing. Rather than focusing only on protecting networks, infrastructure or applications, security vendors are also moving to govern how employees and software agents interact with AI services through everyday workplace tools.

That shift has created a new market around AI usage control, particularly for companies that want to permit AI adoption while limiting data leakage, policy breaches and unapproved use. Akamai's move into that area through LayerX shows how established security groups are trying to fill a gap between browser activity and corporate security controls.

LayerX supports popular browsers rather than asking organisations to replace them, letting users continue with their preferred software while giving security teams more real-time visibility and control.