Nirmata
Nirmata provides AI-powered SaaS for unified governance, security, and compliance of cloud-native Kubernetes infrastructure, built around Kyverno, the CNCF-graduated policy engine it created. It serves enterprise platform engineering, DevOps, and security teams across financial services, healthcare, energy, telecom, and technology.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersSanta Clara, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Nirmata does
Nirmata is a Santa Clara-based SaaS provider of unified governance, security, and compliance for cloud-native infrastructure, founded in 2016 by Jim Bugwadia, Ritesh Patel, and Damien Toledo. The company created and maintains Kyverno, the Kubernetes-native policy engine that joined the Cloud Native Computing Foundation as an incubating project in 2020 and graduated in March 2026 after surpassing 3.2 billion downloads. Nirmata's commercial product portfolio centers on Kyverno and extends through Nirmata Control Hub (an AI copilot-powered command center for multi-cluster policy-as-code governance), Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno (a hardened distribution with 18-month patch support, 0-CVE images, and 24/7 support), and AIControls (a per-identity AI governance product for monitoring and enforcing policy on LLM API calls). Underlying capabilities include natural-language policy authoring, autonomous remediation agents, infrastructure-as-code scanning via the NCTL CLI, and prebuilt compliance bundles for CIS, PCI, HIPAA, SOC 2, and NIST frameworks.
Nirmata operates a tiered SaaS subscription model with Nirmata Essentials at $1,800/month, Nirmata Advanced at $4,500/month, custom-priced Enterprise plans, Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno at $1,250/month, and AIControls priced at $5/identity/month for the Team tier with custom Enterprise pricing. The go-to-market combines product-led growth through the open-source Kyverno community (self-serve trials, free tier, GitHub and Slack engagement) with enterprise field sales targeting Fortune 500 organizations and global distribution via system integrators (Accenture, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Microland, SoftwareONE), hyperscaler partnerships (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Oracle Cloud), and cloud marketplaces (AWS Marketplace since November 2021). Deployment options include Nirmata Cloud Edition (SaaS, SOC 2 Type 2 compliant) and Nirmata Private Edition (self-hosted, supporting air-gapped and on-prem environments). Named enterprise customers span financial services (Robinhood), healthcare (IQVIA), energy (Duke Energy), gaming (Games24x7), telecommunications (Deutsche Telekom), and technology (LinkedIn), with the company also serving ProSoft Technology in IoT.
Nirmata firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nirmata
- Legal name
- Nirmata, Inc.
- Website
- https://nirmata.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Nirmata provides AI-powered SaaS for unified governance, security, and compliance of cloud-native Kubernetes infrastructure, built around Kyverno, the CNCF-graduated policy engine it created. It serves enterprise platform engineering, DevOps, and security teams across financial services, healthcare, energy, telecom, and technology.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nirmata industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cloud-Native Infrastructure Governance
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Kubernetes & Container Platform Management (Private Cloud) (HDABABAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Platforms (HDAAAMAA), Managed Container Platforms (Kubernetes & Container PaaS) (HDABAAAB), Container Platforms & Orchestration (Kubernetes) (HDABADAF)
Keywords
Where Nirmata is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Santa Clara
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Nirmata business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations
Revenue model
- SaaS Subscriptions: Tiered SaaS subscription model with Nirmata Essentials ($1,800/month), Nirmata Advanced ($4,500/month), and custom Enterprise plans. Includes centralized reporting, shift-left enforcement, and AI platform assistant.
- Enterprise Kyverno Licenses: Enterprise-grade Kyverno distribution with long-term support starting at $1,250/month. Includes 0-CVE images, 18-month patch support, and Kubernetes compatibility testing.
- AIControls Identity-Based Pricing: Per-identity pricing model at $5/identity/month for Team tier, with 10K requests included per identity. Enterprise tier with custom pricing for 150+ identities, self-hosted VPC deployment, SCIM, and extended audit retention.
- Professional Services: Migration assistance, proof-of-concept support, and training services. Includes implementation support for OPA to Kyverno migrations and custom enterprise deployments.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Nirmata Essentials - Centralized visibility and control for teams |
| Subscription | Monthly | Nirmata Advanced - Mission-critical production workloads |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Nirmata Enterprise - Large enterprises with tailored governance |
| Subscription | Annual | Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno - Trusted distribution with solid security |
| Per seat | Annual | AIControls Team - Identity and cost governance |
| Per seat | Multi-year contract | AIControls Enterprise - Scale and advanced features |
Go-to-market motion4 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels7 records
Nirmata product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nirmata provides a unified governance platform for cloud-native and AI infrastructure, built around Kyverno, the Kubernetes-native policy engine the company created and maintains. Its core commercial products include Nirmata Control Hub (AI-powered multi-cluster governance command center), Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno (production-ready enterprise Kyverno distribution with long-term support), and AIControls (real-time policy enforcement on AI API calls). Customers buy subscriptions to manage security, compliance, and policy-as-code automation across Kubernetes environments.
Product overview
Nirmata is a unified governance platform for the AI era, offering a multi-product portfolio built around Kyverno, the Kubernetes-native policy engine the company created and maintains. The core offering consists of four main products: AIControls (AI infrastructure governance), Nirmata Control Hub (enterprise AI-powered control plane), Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno (enterprise-grade Kyverno distribution), and Kyverno OSS (open-source policy engine). These are complemented by AI agents including Policy Authoring Agent, Remediation Agent, NCTL AI, and AI Copilot. The platform is delivered via Cloud Edition (SaaS) or Private Edition (self-hosted) and offered through three pricing tiers: Essentials ($1,800/month), Advanced ($4,500/month), and Enterprise (custom). Solutions address Policy-as-Code, Pod Security, Multi-Tenancy, Pipeline IaC Scanning, Supply Chain Security, Workload Protection, and Cost Governance.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Kyverno: Open-source Kubernetes-native policy engine created by Nirmata, now a CNCF graduated project with over 3.2 billion downloads
- AIControls
- Nirmata Control Hub
- Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno
Products and services
- AIControls AI infrastructure governance product providing real-time visibility and policy enforcement on every AI API call. Governs identities, budgets, and access across LLM providers with sub-2μs proxy overhead and zero code changes required. Supports EU AI Act and NIST 800-71 compliance exports.
- Nirmata Control Hub Enterprise AI-powered command center for automating policy-as-code governance across any Kubernetes infrastructure. Incorporates AI copilot, Policy Studio, dashboards, account controls, analytics, and integrations for multi-cluster policy management across EKS, AKS, GKE, Rancher, and OpenShift.
- Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno Production-ready enterprise-grade distribution of Kyverno with long-term support (18-month patch support), 0-CVE images with enterprise SLA, Kubernetes compatibility testing, and 24/7 enterprise support.
- Kyverno OSS Open-source Kubernetes-native policy engine created and maintained by Nirmata. Validates, mutates, and generates Kubernetes resources using YAML and CEL policies. CNCF graduated project with over 3.2 billion downloads and active community contribution.
- AI Platform Engineering Assistant AI-powered platform engineering solution that combines the Kyverno policy engine with multiple AI agents to automate policy authoring, detection, remediation, and continuous compliance across infrastructure. Delivers find-to-fix automation that reduces MTTR by up to 80%.
Quantifiable outcome
- Cut MTTR up to 80% with find-to-fix automation
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Nirmata
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Nirmata technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration24 records
AI capability9 records
Feature7 records
Nirmata partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.
- BroadcomcoreNirmata collaborates with Broadcom to deliver enterprise Kubernetes governance for VMware Cloud Foundation, bringing policy governance to organizations running VMware-based Kubernetes environments.
- ChainguardcoreNirmata partnered with Chainguard as an initial program partner in the Commercial Builds initiative. Nirmata provides zero-CVE hardened Kyverno images through Chainguard's Factory platform, enabling verifiable secure software artifacts for platform engineering teams.
- Amazon Web ServicesflagshipAWS is a cloud provider partner with Nirmata's Kyverno solutions available in AWS Marketplace. Nirmata holds AWS Container Competency Partner status and provides solutions for Amazon EKS fleet governance.
- Google CloudcoreTechnology partnership for Google Cloud Platform integration, including GKE support and policy governance solutions.
- Microsoft AzurecoreAzure partnership including AKS support, solution integrations, and enterprise Kubernetes governance for Azure environments.
- Red HatcoreRed Hat OpenShift partnership with solution brief for enabling automation and governance using Kyverno on OpenShift.
- AccenturecoreAccenture Strategy and Consulting provides business strategy, technology strategy, and implementation services for Nirmata solutions.
- WiprocoreGlobal technology services and consulting company reselling and implementing Nirmata solutions for enterprise clients.
- LTIMindtreecoreGlobal technology consulting company offering Nirmata solutions as part of digital transformation services.
- MicrolandminorDigital infrastructure services company providing implementation support for Nirmata Kubernetes governance solutions.
- SoftwareONEminorGlobal software and cloud technology solutions provider offering Nirmata products through their portfolio.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Nirmata competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Styra: Creator of Open Policy Agent (OPA) and Gatekeeper for Kubernetes, the primary open-source policy engine competitor to Kyverno. Direct overlap in policy-as-code for Kubernetes with enterprise control-plane offerings.
- Fairwinds: Kubernetes governance and policy automation platform targeting platform engineering teams. Overlaps with Nirmata Control Hub on multi-cluster policy management, security benchmarking, and remediation workflows.
Broad incumbents
- SUSE (Rancher): Enterprise Kubernetes management platform via Rancher, with adjacent policy and security capabilities. Nirmata is a listed technology partner with Rancher, indicating overlapping customer bases in multi-cluster Kubernetes.
- Red Hat (Advanced Cluster Security): OpenShift ecosystem incumbent offering Kubernetes-native security and policy enforcement. Nirmata has an explicit Red Hat OpenShift partnership and competes for similar platform engineering budgets.
- Sysdig: Cloud-native security and monitoring platform with Kubernetes runtime security and policy features. Competes for similar enterprise security budgets and overlaps on compliance use cases.
- Aqua Security: Container and cloud-native security platform with policy enforcement, image scanning, and runtime protection. Listed as a Nirmata partner but competes on overlapping Kubernetes security functionality.
- Wiz: Cloud security platform extending into Kubernetes and AI workload protection. Represents the well-capitalized cloud-security incumbent that could expand into Nirmata's policy/governance niche.
- Palo Alto Prisma Cloud: Enterprise cloud security suite with Kubernetes policy and compliance modules. Competes for the same Fortune 500 platform engineering budgets and CIS/NIST compliance mandates.
- Datadog: Cloud monitoring and security platform with Kubernetes visibility and policy features. Adjacent competitive threat given enterprise install base and platform breadth.
Emerging players
- Kubewarden: CNCF-sandboxed Kubernetes policy engine using WebAssembly and Rego. Emerging alternative to Kyverno with growing community traction in multi-tenancy and policy-as-code scenarios.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Nirmata social profiles
Digital presenceNirmata compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance9 records
Nirmata financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nirmata leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Nirmata funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors8 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nirmata 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 Nirmata
What does Nirmata do?
Nirmata provides a unified governance platform for cloud-native and AI infrastructure, built around Kyverno, the Kubernetes-native policy engine the company created and maintains. Its core commercial products include Nirmata Control Hub (AI-powered multi-cluster governance command center), Nirmata Enterprise Kyverno (production-ready enterprise Kyverno distribution with long-term support), and AIControls (real-time policy enforcement on AI API calls). Customers buy subscriptions to manage security, compliance, and policy-as-code automation across Kubernetes environments.
Is Nirmata a public or private company?
Nirmata is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Nirmata founded?
Nirmata was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Nirmata based?
Nirmata is headquartered in Santa Clara, United States, in the North America region.
How does Nirmata make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. SaaS Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are enterprise Kyverno Licenses, AIControls Identity-Based Pricing and professional Services.
Who are Nirmata's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Styra and Fairwinds. Broad incumbents are SUSE (Rancher), Red Hat (Advanced Cluster Security), Sysdig, Aqua Security, Wiz, Palo Alto Prisma Cloud and Datadog. Kubewarden is listed as an emerging player.
Does Nirmata have an API?
Yes. Nirmata offers a REST API for integration and automation. The API documentation is available at docs.nirmata.io/docs/restapi/. The API enables programmatic access to Nirmata's policy management and governance features. Developer documentation is at docs.nirmata.io/docs/restapi.
What industry is Nirmata in?
Nirmata's product category is Cloud-Native Infrastructure Governance. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABABAC, Kubernetes & Container Platform Management (Private Cloud), with a secondary code of HDAAAMAA, AI Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.