Isovalent
Isovalent develops open-source networking and security software for cloud infrastructure, with its Cilium technology used by major tech firms like Adobe, AWS, and Google. The company was acquired by Cisco in April 2024 after raising $69M in funding.
The growth story
Isovalent grew from 49 to 166 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $69M along the way, most recently a Series B in September 2022.
About
Isovalent's core product is Cilium, an open-source tool that handles networking, security, and monitoring for cloud-native systems. Large enterprises adopt it to manage complex infrastructure across providers like AWS and Google.
The company grew to 166 employees before its Cisco acquisition, having last raised a $69M Series B in 2022 with backing from Andreessen Horowitz and Google. Its technology became a de facto standard, with adoption by major cloud platforms prior to the exit.
Founders and leadership
Engineering dominates Isovalent's workforce, making up nearly half of its 166 employees. The team was led by the creators of Cilium and eBPF before the Cisco acquisition.
The Isovalent org chart
Thomas Graf (CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Vice President Security Cisco) leads 55 mapped leaders with 6 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 91 (+6% YoY), Operations 17 (+21% YoY), Sales 14 (-18% YoY), Marketing 11 (0% YoY), Information Technology 10 (+11% YoY), Product Management 6 (+100% YoY).
Talent flow
Isovalent heavily recruited from VMware and Cisco, which together supplied nearly a third of its staff. After the acquisition, Cisco became the top destination for departing employees.
Most common previous employers of Isovalent staff: VMware (26), Cisco (25), Red Hat (16), IBM (8), Google (8), Kong (6). Former Isovalent employees most often moved to Cisco (5), CoreWeave (2), Spectro Cloud (2), Chainguard (2), Google (2), Red Hat (2).
Alumni worth knowing
Web traffic
Traffic mix: 34% direct, 34% search, 4% social, 2% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Isovalent: Linux (81), Kubernetes (77), Python (Programming Language) (69), Cloud Computing (58), Go (Programming Language) (50), Networking (49), Docker Products (44), Git (43).
Where the team actually sits
Isovalent people are concentrated in Zurich, Switzerland (14), California, United States (10), England, United Kingdom (8), United Kingdom (5).
Search footprint
Isovalent attracts about 1,161 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $4K a month if bought through ads. It gained 154 ranking keywords and lost 192 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.80 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 5.00 / 5
- Senior management
- 5.00 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 5.00 / 5
Frequently asked
Isovalent has 166 employees as of September 2026.
Isovalent has raised $69M in total, most recently a Series B round in September 2022.
Isovalent was founded in 2017 by Thomas Graf.
Thomas Graf (CTO & Co-Founder Isovalent, Vice President Security Cisco) sits at the top of Isovalent's reporting structure, with 6 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Isovalent staff are VMware (26 people), Cisco (25 people), Red Hat (16 people).
Former Isovalent employees most often move to Cisco (5), CoreWeave (2), Spectro Cloud (2).
Isovalent attracts about 1,161 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $4K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Isovalent staff are Linux, Kubernetes, Python (Programming Language), Cloud Computing, Go (Programming Language).
Isovalent staff are concentrated in Zurich, Switzerland (14), California, United States (10), England, United Kingdom (8).
Isovalent has about 91 people in Engineering, up 6% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Isovalent has about 17 people in Operations, up 21% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 160 current and 68 former Isovalent profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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