Fastly Inc (FSLY)

History and Background

Fastly Inc. was founded in 2011. Originally known as SkyCache, it rebranded to Fastly in 2012. Fastly focused on providing a modern, developer-centric Content Delivery Network (CDN). It went public in May 2019.

Core Business Areas

• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Fastly's CDN accelerates the delivery of digital content, including websites, applications, and streaming media. It caches content closer to users, reducing latency and improving performance.
• Edge Cloud Platform: Fastly's platform offers various edge computing services, including image optimization, video and streaming solutions, security, and load balancing.
• Security: Fastly offers a suite of security solutions, including Web Application Firewall (WAF), DDoS protection, and bot mitigation, to protect web applications from cyber threats.

Leadership and Structure

Todd Nightingale is the CEO. The company is structured around product, engineering, sales, marketing, and customer success departments.

Key Offerings

• CDN: Fastly's core CDN service delivers static and dynamic content. Market share data fluctuates, but it's considered a significant player. Competitors: Akamai, Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront.
• Web Application Firewall (WAF): Fastly's WAF protects web applications from common attacks. Competitors: Cloudflare, Akamai, Imperva.
• Compute@Edge: Allows developers to run custom code on Fastly's edge servers. Competitors: Cloudflare Workers, AWS Lambda@Edge.

Industry Overview

The CDN and edge computing market is growing rapidly, driven by increasing demand for faster and more secure online experiences. Growth is fueled by video streaming, cloud adoption, and increasing cyber threats.

Positioning

Fastly positions itself as a modern, developer-focused CDN and edge cloud platform, emphasizing performance, flexibility, and security. Its focus on developers gives them an edge over traditional CDN providers.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

The global CDN market is expected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years. Fastly is positioned to capture a significant portion of this TAM with its focus on developers and edge computing.

Key Competitors

• AKAM
• NET
• AMZN

Competitive Landscape

Fastly offers a competitive platform but lags behind Akamai and Cloudflare in market share. Fastlyu2019s strength lies in their focus on cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions and their ability to cater directly to developers and software engineers. Cloudflare and Akamai both have a larger enterprise presence and can often win bids from larger organizations due to their size and longer history.

Signal Sciences

• Year: 2020
• Acquisition Price (USD millions): 775
• Strategic Rationale: Enhanced Fastly's security capabilities with a modern web application firewall (WAF).

Historical Growth: Fastly has experienced rapid revenue growth in the past, but profitability has been a challenge.

Future Projections: Analyst estimates vary, but generally project continued revenue growth driven by the CDN and edge computing markets. Check analyst ratings for revenue and earnings per share predictions.

Recent Initiatives: Focus on expanding edge computing services, improving security offerings, and expanding its customer base.

Fastly is an innovative company in the CDN and edge computing space, however, it faces stiff competition. While its developer-focused approach and high-performance network are strengths, inconsistent profitability and smaller market share are challenges. Future growth hinges on capitalizing on the burgeoning edge computing market and managing customer concentration risk. Its success depends on its ability to manage profitability while capturing greater market share.

Data Sources:

• Company SEC filings
• Analyst reports
• Industry publications
• Market research reports

Disclaimers:

This analysis is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Market conditions and company performance can change rapidly.