Oracle acquires API development startup Apiary

Oracle has announced plans to acquire Apiary, a startup that helps developers design and create documentation for application programming interfaces (APIs). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded out of San Francisco in 2011, Apiary had raised more than $8 million in equity funding, including a $6.8 million tranche back in August 2015. The company offers a suite of tools for companies to build web APIs at speed, while allowing them to test and monitor those APIs.

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APIs have emerged as big business, as they enable companies and developers to unlock additional revenue streams beyond their own closed silos. In August last year, Google dropped $625 million to buy API management provider Apigee, a company that offers software for predictive analytics and management of APIs.

As for what Oracle has in store for Apiary, well, the company is keeping some of its cards close to its chest, saying that it’s “currently reviewing” the Apiary product roadmap and will be “providing guidance to customers” in the future, according to a statement.

However, Oracle has given some indication of how it plans to leverage Apiary as part of its own product range. The database software tech titan already allows companies to monetize and analyze their APIs, and with Apiary serving up the front-end for designing, creating, and managing their APIs, Oracle hopes to deliver “the most complete API creation and management platform in the cloud,” according to a FAQ posted by the company.

“Oracle’s API Integration Cloud enables companies to secure, consume, monetize, and analyze APIs,” said Amit Zavery, senior vice president for integration cloud at Oracle, in a press release. “With Apiary, Oracle will also provide customers advanced capabilities to design and govern API’s, allowing companies to manage the entire API lifecycle and deliver integrated applications.”

Crucially, Apiary isn’t being shuttered, and its products will continue to be offered to other companies. Oracle says:

Oracle is committed to protecting and enhancing customer investments in Apiary solutions. After the close of the transaction, Oracle plans to continue investing in Apiary and Oracle’s API Integration Cloud. We expect this will include more functionality and capabilities at a quicker pace. In addition, Apiary customers will benefit from better integration and alignment with Oracle’s other product offerings.

As noted by Oracle, the transaction isn’t yet complete, and there’s no indication as to when this may happen — Apiary is a privately owned company, so one would assume that concluding the deal would be fairly straightforward.