Tigera
Tigera provides Kubernetes-native networking and security software, anchored by the open-source Calico platform deployed across 1M+ clusters, with commercial offerings (Calico Enterprise, Calico Cloud) and the recently launched Tigera Lynx for AI agent governance. The company serves enterprise platform engineering and security teams across financial services, healthcare, technology, and telecom.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSan Jose, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Tigera does
Tigera is a private infrastructure software company founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Jose, California, that provides Kubernetes-native networking and security solutions under the Calico and Tigera Lynx brands. Its core product portfolio is anchored by the Calico Platform, which delivers Container Network Interface (CNI) networking, network policy enforcement, observability, and workload protection across any Kubernetes distribution, and is offered in three tiers: Calico Open Source (Apache 2.0 licensed with 1M+ clusters under management globally), Calico Enterprise (commercial self-hosted edition with advanced features including KubeVirt live migration), and Calico Cloud (SaaS offering hosted on AWS). The technology stack is built on eBPF for high-performance data plane networking, Istio Ambient Mode and Envoy for service mesh, WireGuard for encryption, and Cedar policy language for default-deny authorization. In June 2026, Tigera launched Tigera Lynx, a new control plane for Kubernetes-native AI agents that provides discovery, authentication, authorization, governance, and behavioral auditing of autonomous AI workloads without requiring code changes to the agents.
The company's commercial model is enterprise subscription-based, priced per core, vCPU, or vCPU-hour, with quote-based pricing for enterprise tiers and a free tier for Calico Cloud that supports a product-led growth motion. Tigera combines community-led growth through the Project Calico open-source ecosystem (200+ contributors) with direct enterprise field sales targeting platform engineering and security teams in financial services, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, and insurance. Notable customers include NVIDIA, RBC, Bloomberg (referenced), NBC Universal, Siemens Healthineers, GoDaddy, Orange, Box, Upwork, and Fiserv. The company maintains a broad partner ecosystem across hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, Google), Kubernetes distributions (Red Hat OpenShift, SUSE Rancher, Mirantis), and security vendors (Fortinet). As of the input data, Tigera has raised approximately $53M in disclosed venture funding across three rounds (2016-2018) and operates with 101-250 employees, securing 8M+ nodes daily.
Tigera firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Tigera
- Legal name
- Tigera, Inc.
- Website
- https://tigera.io
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Tigera provides Kubernetes-native networking and security software, anchored by the open-source Calico platform deployed across 1M+ clusters, with commercial offerings (Calico Enterprise, Calico Cloud) and the recently launched Tigera Lynx for AI agent governance. The company serves enterprise platform engineering and security teams across financial services, healthcare, technology, and telecom.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Tigera industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Kubernetes Networking and Security
- NAICS
- Security Systems Services (except Locksmiths) (561621)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Container & Kubernetes Application Security (HDADACAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Cloud Security for Containers & Kubernetes (KSPM/Kubernetes Security) (HDABAHAO), Container Platforms & Orchestration (Kubernetes) (HDABADAF), Kubernetes & Container Security (KSPM/KCSPM, Runtime) (HDADADAE)
Keywords
Where Tigera is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Jose
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Tigera business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- Software Subscriptions (Calico Cloud / Calico Enterprise): Annual subscription licenses for commercial editions of Calico. Licenses based on physical or virtual CPU cores (Cores or vCPUs) or number of vCPU-hours consumed. Includes Support Services at no additional charge.
- Support Services: Technical support services bundled with every subscription at no additional charge. Includes access to support portal, security bulletins, and technical assistance.
- Professional Services: Training and consulting services provided pursuant to Order Forms. Must be fully utilized within six months of purchase date.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Calico Cloud Free Tier |
| Subscription | Annual | Calico Cloud / Calico Enterprise Commercial Subscription |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Tigera product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Tigera provides unified Kubernetes networking and security through the Calico platform (Calico Open Source, Calico Enterprise, and Calico Cloud) and Tigera Lynx for AI agent governance. The products deliver Container Network Interface (CNI) connectivity, network policy enforcement, observability, microsegmentation, and compliance across any Kubernetes distribution, with kernel-level monitoring via eBPF and LSM technologies and Cedar-based policy enforcement for AI agents.
Product overview
Tigera offers a unified product portfolio for Kubernetes networking and security, anchored by two core products: the Calico Platform (encompassing Calico Open Source, Calico Enterprise, and Calico Cloud as commercial editions) and Tigera Lynx (an AI Agent Security platform launched in June 2026). Calico provides CNI networking, network policy enforcement, observability, and workload protection across any Kubernetes distribution, while Lynx extends these capabilities to secure autonomous AI agents running in Kubernetes environments. The products share a common foundation built on Calico Open Source and leverage technologies including eBPF, LSM, WireGuard encryption, and Istio Ambient Mode. Calico Enterprise and Calico Cloud offer progressively enhanced commercial features including KubeVirt migration, policy recommendations, and load balancer management.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Calico Open Source: Open-source networking, network security, and observability solution for Kubernetes that works across any distribution.
- Calico Cloud
- Calico Enterprise
- Calico Platform
- Lynx
- Project Calico
Products and services
- Calico Open Source Open-source networking, network security, and observability solution for Kubernetes that works across any distribution. Provides pluggable data planes (eBPF, iptables, nftables, Windows, VPP), Kubernetes network policy support, staged policies, Whisker observability UI, workload interoperability, Calico Ingress Gateway, and WireGuard encryption.
- Calico Enterprise Commercial self-managed edition of Calico with advanced enterprise features including KubeVirt Live Migration, Last Evaluated Metrics, Egress Gateway Layer 2 Advertisements, Policy Recommendations for VMs and Hosts, Calico Load Balancer with Maintenance Mode, and enhanced compliance and security features for demanding enterprise Kubernetes environments.
- Calico Cloud Cloud-hosted SaaS version of Calico providing managed Kubernetes networking and security with the same enterprise features as Calico Enterprise, hosted on AWS. Available with a free tier and quote-based commercial subscriptions.
- Tigera Lynx AI Agent Security, Observability & Enforcement platform for Kubernetes. A unified control plane for Kubernetes-native AI agents providing discovery, authentication, authorization, governance, and auditing capabilities without requiring agent code changes. Uses eBPF and LSM for kernel-level behavioral monitoring and Cedar policy language for default-deny enforcement at the gateway level.
- Project Calico Open-source project with 200+ contributors providing the core networking and security technology that powers Calico Platform, Calico Enterprise, and Calico Cloud. Licensed under Apache License v2 with active development and user community.
Quantifiable outcome
- 8 million+ nodes secured daily
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Tigera
Customer profileNamed customers20 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Tigera technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration10 records
AI capability5 records
Feature8 records
Tigera partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreIntegration partnership for Calico Cloud availability on AWS. Calico Cloud is hosted on AWS, and Tigera provides native integration with AWS EKS for seamless Kubernetes networking and security on AWS infrastructure.
- Microsoft AzurecoreIntegration partnership for native support of Azure AKS. Tigera provides networking and security solutions optimized for Azure Kubernetes Service environments.
- Google CloudcoreIntegration partnership for native support of Google GKE. Tigera's solutions integrate with Google Kubernetes Engine for enterprise Kubernetes deployments.
- Red HatmajorPartnership for Red Hat OpenShift integration. Tigera provides networking and security capabilities for OpenShift Kubernetes deployments, addressing enterprise container platform needs.
- SUSE RanchermajorPartnership for SUSE Rancher Kubernetes management integration. Tigera's Calico provides networking and security for Rancher-managed Kubernetes clusters.
- FortinetmajorTechnology partnership for Fortinet security solutions integration. Combines Tigera's Kubernetes networking and security with Fortinet's broader security platform.
- MirantismajorPartnership for Mirantis Kubernetes platform integration. Tigera provides networking and security capabilities for Mirantis-managed Kubernetes environments.
- NVIDIAmajorTechnology partnership with NVIDIA as a customer and technology partner. NVIDIA uses Tigera for Kubernetes security in GPU computing infrastructure environments.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Tigera competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Cloud): Broad CNAPP from Palo Alto Networks covering containers, Kubernetes, cloud posture, and runtime — a much larger incumbent competing for the same Kubernetes security wallet as Calico Enterprise.
- Wiz: Cloud security platform (CNAPP) with strong Kubernetes and container posture capabilities, serving large enterprises — competes with Calico for platform-engineering and cloud-security budgets at the high end.
- SUSE (Rancher / NeuVector): Enterprise Kubernetes platform vendor (Rancher) that acquired NeuVector for container security and partners with Tigera — competes indirectly via an integrated, distribution-controlled stack for the same platform-engineering buyers.
Emerging players
- Solo.io: Istio and Envoy-based service mesh, API gateway, and AI gateway vendor — adjacent to Calico's networking stack and overlapping where enterprises standardize on Istio Ambient Mode for east-west traffic.
- Snyk: Developer security platform with container and Kubernetes scanning capabilities — partial overlap with Calico's compliance and posture features in CI/CD and supply chain workflows.
- Kong: API gateway and service mesh provider with Kubernetes-native ingress/egress capabilities — competes in the same gateways and ingress layer as Calico Ingress Gateway and Egress Gateway.
- Tetrate: Enterprise service mesh built on Istio/Envoy with zero-trust security features — overlaps with Calico's service mesh and zero-trust workload security positioning for regulated buyers.
Direct peers
- Aqua Security: Cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) focused on container and Kubernetes security, runtime protection, and vulnerability management — overlapping directly with Calico Enterprise and Lynx's runtime posture.
- Isovalent (Cilium, now Cisco): Creator of Cilium, the leading eBPF-based Kubernetes CNI and networking/security data plane — directly competes with Calico on networking, observability, and policy enforcement, and is now backed by Cisco's enterprise distribution.
- Sysdig: Container and Kubernetes security platform offering runtime threat detection, vulnerability management, and compliance built on Falco — competes with Calico Enterprise for the same platform-engineering and security buyers.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Tigera social profiles
Digital presenceTigera compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Tigera financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Tigera leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
Tigera funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Tigera M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Tigera
What does Tigera do?
Tigera provides unified Kubernetes networking and security through the Calico platform (Calico Open Source, Calico Enterprise, and Calico Cloud) and Tigera Lynx for AI agent governance. The products deliver Container Network Interface (CNI) connectivity, network policy enforcement, observability, microsegmentation, and compliance across any Kubernetes distribution, with kernel-level monitoring via eBPF and LSM technologies and Cedar-based policy enforcement for AI agents.
Is Tigera a public or private company?
Tigera is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Tigera founded?
Tigera was founded in 2016. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Tigera based?
Tigera is headquartered in San Jose, United States, in the North America region.
How does Tigera make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Software Subscriptions (Calico Cloud / Calico Enterprise) is the primary driver. The others are support Services and professional Services.
Who are Tigera's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Cloud), Wiz and SUSE (Rancher / NeuVector). Emerging players are Solo.io, Snyk, Kong and Tetrate. Direct peers are Aqua Security, Isovalent (Cilium, now Cisco) and Sysdig.
Does Tigera have an API?
Yes. Tigera provides a REST API for Calico Enterprise. The REST API Reference is available at docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/rest-api-reference. The documentation section includes Tigera Client library for programmatic access. Developer documentation is at docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/rest-api-reference.
What industry is Tigera in?
Tigera's product category is Kubernetes Networking and Security. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDADACAE, Container & Kubernetes Application Security, with a secondary code of HDABAHAO, Cloud Security for Containers & Kubernetes (KSPM/Kubernetes Security). Its NAICS code is 561621 and its SIC code is 7373.