Appraisal Rights in a Merger

I recently learnt that my previous place of work (a non public software startup) is getting merged into a different company. I have a decent number of exercised options and it appears that they all become worthless upon the merger. The acquisition price is about ~1 ARR which seems low considering the company does not have much debt and was profitable not too long ago. From what I can tell, the merger is done by a private equity company looking to expand the product line of one of their portfolio companies.

The merger agreement mentions that certain stockholders are entitled to have the fair value of their shares judicially determined and paid to them by complying with Section 262 of the DGCL. I wasn't asked to vote on the merger, so not sure if the section applies to me.

I am no longer employed with the company, so it is hard to understand what any of that means and if I can do anything to get some money for my shares.

Did anyone have experience with mergers and going through with the fair value evaluation? Or maybe someone can recommend a law firm that may offer a paid consultation?