The stealth cybersecurity startup was Shape Security. SecurityWeek reported on April 26, 2012, that the company raised a $6 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and TomorrowVentures. Shape was later acquired by F5, with the deal completed in January 2020.
Who raised the $6 million?
SecurityWeek identified the company as Shape Security in its April 26, 2012 report. The article described its founders as former employees of Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, and major defense contractors. SecurityWeek reported that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and TomorrowVentures led the $6 million Series A; it also named former Accel partner Peter Wagner, Baseline Ventures, and executives from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook among the participants. These investor details come from the contemporaneous report, not a financing announcement from Shape or its investors. SecurityWeek’s 2012 report.
What was known about Shape’s technology in 2012?
The report did not give detailed product specifications or explain the technology’s mechanics. It summarized Shape’s public description as an effort to make the economics of web hacking favor defenders, without relying on past attack signatures. Shape CEO Derek Smith said, “Shape’s technology will shift the burden of attack from defenders to attackers.” That was the company’s stated ambition, not a detailed technical demonstration.
Kleiner Perkins general partner Ted Schlein called Shape a potential disruptive company in security, comparing its opportunity with the early days of antivirus technology. This was an investor’s opinion, rather than an independent assessment of the product.
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What happened to Shape Security?
F5 announced an agreement to acquire Shape in December 2019. The proposed value was approximately $1 billion in cash, subject to adjustments; it was an acquisition figure, not Shape’s valuation in its 2012 funding round. F5 completed the acquisition on January 24, 2020. F5’s acquisition announcement and the announcement filed as an SEC exhibit.
F5 described Shape as protecting applications from fraud and abuse, including automated attacks, botnets, and credential stuffing. In a December 2019 announcement letter, F5 CEO François Locoh-Donou said the company had signed an agreement to acquire Shape, which he called a leader in application security against fraud and abuse. Kleiner Perkins’ portfolio archive also records Shape as a 2012 enterprise investment acquired by F5; it does not establish the terms of the 2012 round. Kleiner Perkins’ Shape Security portfolio entry.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to interpret the figures F5 cited
In its 2019 acquisition announcement, F5 attributed two operating figures to Shape: one billion application attacks mitigated per day and 150 million legitimate human transactions protected per day. These are company-reported figures from F5’s announcement, not independently audited measurements. They describe Shape’s later business and do not indicate the size or performance of its 2012 financing. F5’s December 2019 announcement letter.
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