Startups > Alkira

Alkira

Alkira helps enterprises unify multi-cloud networking via a single control plane.

Series C $184M total Founded 2018 San Jose, California 144 employees

Alkira is a cloud-native network infrastructure-as-a-service platform that unifies connectivity across multiple clouds, data centers, and on-premises environments through a single control plane. It solves the fragmentation of east-west traffic between clouds by providing enterprises with an intuitive design canvas to deploy and manage network connectivity in minutes without hardware or agents. Founded by the team behind Viptela (acquired by Cisco for $610M), Alkira has raised $184M from top-tier investors including Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global Management.

Problem solved

Enterprises struggle to manage fragmented, manually-configured east-west connectivity between clouds and data centers, leading to operational complexity, slow deployments, and inability to scale elastically.

Target customer

Fortune 100 enterprises, system integrators, and managed service providers in financial services, technology, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors requiring multi-cloud network orchestration.

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Founders

Amir Khan

Founder, President & CEO

Serial entrepreneur who founded Viptela (acquired by Cisco in 2017) and previously held roles at Cisco. MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Colorado Boulder, 4 patents.

Atif Khan

Co-Founder & CTO

Renowned routing expert and founding team member at Viptela where he served as VP Technology. Extensive experience architecting global sophisticated networks.

Funding history

Series A $30M Unknown Led by Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital · GV (formerly Google Ventures)

Series B $54M Unknown Led by Koch Disruptive Technologies · Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, GV

Series C $100M May 2024 Led by Tiger Global Management · Dallas Venture Capital, Geodesic Capital, LIAN Group, NextEquity Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Sequoia Capital

Total raised: $184M

Industries

Cloud Infrastructure Cloud Security Information Services Information Technology Network Security

Pricing

Flexible consumption-based (pay-as-you-go) and commitment-based (fixed hourly rate) models with zero upfront costs. Pricing based on network resources (sites, cloud instances, network services), security elements, and bandwidth consumed. Custom pricing tailored per customer.

Notable customers

Michaels, Koch Industries, Warner Hotels, SITA

Integrations

REST APIs, Terraform, existing cloud and on-premises environments

Tech stack

LazySizes (JavaScript libraries) Open Graph WordPress (Blogs) Linkedin Insight Tag (Analytics) Atlassian Statuspage (PaaS) reCAPTCHA (Security) HSTS (Security) Detectify (Security) Google Font API (Font scripts) NitroPack (Caching) PHP (Programming languages) Google Workspace (Email) Cloudflare (CDN) MySQL (Databases) Linkedin Ads (Advertising) Google Tag Manager (Tag managers) Salesforce (CRM) Yoast SEO (SEO) CookieYes (Cookie compliance) BambooHR (Recruitment & staffing)

Website

alkira.com/

Competitors

Netskope

Broader cloud security platform focused on cloud access security; less specialized in multi-cloud network orchestration.

Cato Networks

SD-WAN and cloud security platform with different architectural approach; competes on networking but with different positioning.

Cradlepoint

Mobile and branch connectivity focus with different use case emphasis; less focused on multi-cloud orchestration.

Why this matters: Alkira was founded by the team that created Viptela and the SD-WAN market (sold to Cisco for $610M+), bringing proven expertise in network transformation to the multi-cloud era. The company's $184M in funding from top investors and Fortune 100 customer adoption demonstrates strong market validation for cloud-native network infrastructure as a critical layer.

Best for: Large enterprises managing multi-cloud infrastructure who need to reduce deployment times from months to hours and eliminate manual network configuration across distributed environments.

Use cases

Rapid Multi-Cloud Deployment for Retail

A retail customer with 1,000+ stores deployed Alkira's solution in just two weeks, dramatically reducing time-to-market compared to traditional networking approaches. The intuitive design canvas allowed the team to visualize and provision the entire network topology without extensive networking expertise.

Cost Reduction for Global Manufacturing

Koch Industries reduced global network operational costs by 40% using Alkira, while cutting deployment times from years and months down to hours and minutes. The elastic, as-a-service model eliminated expensive hardware refreshes and manual provisioning.

Multi-Region Cloud Migration

Financial services and technology companies use Alkira to seamlessly connect workloads across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud without re-architecting their networks. The carrier-agnostic control plane provides consistent connectivity policies across all clouds.

Alternatives

Netskope Choose Netskope if you need integrated cloud security and access controls as primary concern; Alkira is better for pure network orchestration.

Cato Networks Choose Cato if you want consolidated SD-WAN and security in one vendor; Alkira excels at multi-cloud network design and management.

Cisco SD-WAN (via acquisition of Viptela) Choose Cisco SD-WAN if you want tight integration with Cisco ecosystem; Alkira offers carrier-agnostic, cloud-native approach.

FAQ

What does Alkira do? +

Alkira is a network infrastructure-as-a-service platform that unifies connectivity across multiple clouds, data centers, and on-premises environments through a single control plane. It eliminates manual network configuration and fragmentation, allowing enterprises to design, deploy, and manage multi-cloud networks through an intuitive digital canvas that provisions in minutes.

How much does Alkira cost? +

Alkira offers flexible consumption-based and commitment-based pricing with zero upfront costs. Pricing is customized based on network resources (sites, cloud instances, services) and bandwidth consumed, calculated as hourly rates for network elements and bandwidth usage.

What are alternatives to Alkira? +

Top alternatives include Netskope (broader cloud security platform), Cato Networks (SD-WAN and security focus), and Cradlepoint (mobile and branch connectivity). Each has different strengths depending on whether you prioritize security integration, branch connectivity, or pure network orchestration.

Who uses Alkira? +

Fortune 100 enterprises and managed service providers across financial services, technology, retail, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Named customers include Michaels, Koch Industries, Warner Hotels, and SITA.

How does Alkira compare to Cato Networks? +

Both solve multi-cloud connectivity but with different emphases. Cato is positioned as an integrated SD-WAN and cloud security platform, while Alkira focuses specifically on cloud-native network orchestration across multi-cloud environments. Alkira's strength is in rapid deployment and elastic scaling for complex multi-cloud topologies.