Privately held Episerver Inc. said it would acquire Optimizely Inc., a technology startup backed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and actor Ashton Kutcher.

Optimizely, which helps companies manage and test different versions of websites, raised funding last June at a US$600 million valuation, according to PitchBook.

No financial terms of the deal were disclosed in a statement provided to Bloomberg News.

It has raised about US$146 million in venture capital from Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, and Index Ventures, a blog post by one its founders showed.

Optimizely said it had cut 40 people, or about 10 per cent of its employees in July.

Insight Venture Partners bought Episerver for US$1.16 billion in 2018, according to a statement at the time.

Episerver Chief Executive Officer Alex Atzberger said the Optimizely deal was the “the most significant transformation in our company’s history – one that will set a new industry standard for digital experience platforms.”

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs advised Optimizely.