Cloudflare is acquiring Deno, the startup behind the JavaScript and TypeScript runtime, to improve its Workers programming model. The acquisition will support Cloudflare’s efforts to make it easier for developers to build and run applications across different computing environments.
According to Cloudflare’s announcement, the company was particularly interested in Deno’s recently launched celld project, an open-source implementation of Workers. Kenton Varda, principal engineer for Cloudflare Workers, said the project aligned with Cloudflare’s commitment to making its technology more accessible beyond its own infrastructure.
Cloudflare Expands Its Open-Source Workers Strategy
Varda rejected suggestions that Cloudflare designed Workers differently from competing cloud platforms to lock customers into its services. He argued that open-source development and giving customers the freedom to move their applications between platforms make good business sense.
Bert Belder and Ryan Dahl, creator of Node.js, co-founded Deno. Dahl said joining Cloudflare would help establish the Workers programming model as a mainstream approach to building servers.
The financial terms were not disclosed. Deno previously raised about $26 million, including a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital.
