Once the world’s leading mobile phone company, Nokia now focuses on telecom infrastructure and services for carriers. The company’s latest move aims to bridge the gap between technology and telecom by acquiring Rapid (formerly RapidAPI), a startup known for its API marketplace. Nokia plans to integrate Rapid into a new platform it's building to enable 5G operators to open up their networks to more developers.
Raghav Sahgal, President of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, emphasized the necessity for operators to establish a connection with a vast network of developers to create value and capitalize on their networks.
This acquisition includes a public marketplace, enterprise services, and an enterprise-grade API hub designed for building, testing, and sharing APIs both internally and externally.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Rapid was previously valued at $1 billion and had a user base of 4 million with access to 40,000 APIs. Nokia has not disclosed current active users or API counts for Rapid, though it indicates the numbers are substantial. Since Nokia is publicly traded, more financial details may be disclosed in future filings.
The tech landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years, and many startups have struggled to meet the high expectations set during more optimistic times when they raised large amounts of funding. Rapid’s $1 billion valuation was based on a 2022 funding round.
Rapid gained fame about a decade ago during a rise in interest in APIs, as they became essential for connecting various apps and services. Rapid’s selling point was providing a one-stop shop for discovering and using APIs in a fragmented market.
However, it’s unclear if Rapid ever found a profitable path. The startup’s founder, Iddo Gino, who started the company at 17 in 2015, resigned as CEO in April 2023, succeeded by Marc Friend. Following his departure, the company saw two rounds of major layoffs, cutting 82% of its workforce and sparking headlines about its “rapid decline.”
San Francisco-based Rapid raised around $273 million in venture funding from high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Microsoft, and SoftBank.
The number of employees Rapid has retained and how many will transition to Nokia remains uncertain. Nokia's statement focused more on product assets, describing the acquisition as encompassing the world’s largest API hub, used by thousands of active developers worldwide, and a skilled R&D unit.
For Nokia, the acquisition marks a noteworthy pivot given its history in mobile technology. In the 1990s, Nokia set the global standard in mobile networks and became the leading handset maker. However, by the 2000s, it missed the shift to smartphones, where Apple, Google, and Android-based competitors took over. Some have cited Nokia’s failure to create an ecosystem for third-party apps as a significant shortcoming. Now, Nokia positions itself as a supporter of this very goal.
Nokia sees an opportunity to drive more development on 5G networks, which are mostly built but underutilized. Telecoms want more third-party applications and services on these networks, and Nokia has launched a new “Network as Code” platform for this purpose. Rapid’s API framework will be part of this platform. Nokia says the platform has already attracted carriers and service providers like BT, DISH, Google Cloud, Infobip, Orange, Telefónica, Telecom Argentina, and 20 others.
Marc Friend, CEO of Rapid, expressed excitement over the collaboration with Nokia, highlighting that merging Rapid's API technology and research and development prowess with Nokia's expansive network expertise will significantly enhance the overall API ecosystem.
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