Nokia, the former mobile phone giant, has acquired RapidAPI, a startup operating an API marketplace, to bridge the gap between the tech and telecoms industries. The acquisition is part of Nokia's effort to help 5G operators open their networks to more developers, driving enterprise and consumer value creation.

The deal will integrate Rapid into Nokia's platform, providing a public marketplace, enterprise services, and an enterprise-grade API hub for building, testing, and sharing APIs internally and externally. Although the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Rapid was previously valued at $1 billion and had around 4 million users tapping into 40,000 APIs.

The acquisition is significant for Nokia, which is positioning itself as an enabler for developers to build applications and services on 5G networks. This move marks a shift for the Finnish company, which once dominated the mobile phone market but struggled to adapt to the shift to smartphones. Nokia's new "Network as Code" platform, which includes Rapid's API framework, aims to encourage more developments on 5G networks, with carriers such as BT, DISH, and Google Cloud already on board.