Gravitee raises $60M to help developers tame API complexity – News

Digital traffic pipeline management startup Gravitee Topco Ltd. said today it has closed on a $60 million Series C funding round, bringing its total amount raised to date to more than $125 million.

The latest round was led by Sixth Street Growth and saw participation from previous investors Riverside Acceleration Capital and Albion VC.

The company is the creator of an open-source application programming interface management platform that provides developers with the tools they need to easily manage both legacy and newer data streaming protocols. It also provides a wealth of API security tools with its platform.

Gravitee’s core offering is split into two products, with the Gravitee API Management tool designed for API publishers, and the Gravitee Access Management offering aimed at the developers who need to use those APIs. Through the two platforms, it provides tools that span API design, access, management, deployment and security.

APIs are the protocols that enable different applications to talk with one another and share information, without the developer of one understanding how the other works. They dramatically simplify application integration.

Gravitee can therefore be thought of as a kind of control plane for APIs, which often come with a confusing array of protocols and tools that can quickly overwhelm developers, despite their intention of making life simpler.

Gravitee co-founder and Chief Executive Rory Blundell said companies that don’t use a control plane to manage all of the APIs they’re dealing with risk creating blind spots that could potentially slow down innovation. Modern data systems and applications are increasingly complex, he argues, and these days companies are integrating everything from APIs to streaming data to artificial intelligence at rapid speeds.

“Many companies face major risks around security, observability and control of their APIs and event infrastructure, which isn’t built for this new, dynamic world,” Blundell said.

Founded in 2015, Gravitee began life as an open-source project that was founded by Blundell and five friends. It evolved rapidly to become a full-fledged business, and though its core software is still freely available, it also has various paid services that help pay for the development of its open tools.

Companies can deploy Gravitee’s core, open-source offering in the cloud or on-premises, or they can access the premium platform through the startup’s software-as-a-service offering. Its core features include a tool for designing and deploying APIs, mock testing and a dashboard that provides an overview of team’s API deployments.

The startup competes against the likes of Blobr SAS, which sells software for monetizing enterprise APIs, and StepZen Inc., which has developed a graph technology offering that helps to visualize connected APIs. But what makes Gravitee different is that it supports both asynchronous and synchronous APIs, meaning APIs that deliver data at a later point in time, and those that deliver data immediately, in real time.

Sixth Street Growth’s managing director Michael Bauer said Gravitee’s offering is becoming increasingly important to enterprises, integrating the governance and controls needed to safely deploy AI agents and event streaming applications.

“Gravitee is well positioned to meet the complex demands of tomorrow’s digital infrastructure with its combination of end-to-end functionality, ease of use and pace of innovation,” he said.

The startup claims hundreds of enterprise customers already, including big companies such as Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA, Blue Yonder Group Inc. and F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG. In its last financial year, it reached $22 million in annual recurring revenue.

Looking forward, Gravitee wants to grow its team from around 130 employees now to about 200 by the end of the year. The money from today’s round will also be used to fund product development and help the company expand into new markets.

Image: Gravitee