Tyk Raises $35M to Revolutionize Enterprise API Management

The Growing Complexity of API Management

APIs are fundamental to the operation of many organizations’ IT infrastructure today. However, as the number and utilization of APIs increase, managing their interactions can become remarkably complex. This complexity presents a critical challenge, particularly when issues arise.

Tyk Secures $35 Million in Funding

Tyk, a startup specializing in innovative API management solutions, has announced a $35 million funding round. This investment will be allocated to both expanding its team and further developing its suite of tools for users.

Tyk provides a universal interface, leveraging GraphQL, to access and manage multiple internal enterprise APIs. The company has pioneered a concept it terms the “universal data graph,” and its tools are currently employed by approximately 10,000 businesses.

Investment Details and Company Background

Scottish Equity Partners spearheaded the funding round, with participation from MMC Ventures, their existing investor from a 2019 round. Tyk had previously operated in a bootstrapped manner for its initial five years.

To date, the startup has raised over $40 million in funding. Tyk maintains a distributed work model, with co-founders located in London and New Zealand, and intends to continue growing its team based on this principle.

From Open Source Project to Startup

Tyk originated as a personal open-source project for co-founder and CEO, Martin Buhr, initially conceived as a “load testing thing.”

The evolution of IT towards service-oriented architectures and the increasing reliance on APIs for internal application connectivity prompted Buhr to reconsider the code’s potential for API control.

Existing API management platforms – including Kong, Apigee (Google), 3scale (RedHat/IBM), and MuleSoft (Salesforce) – were deemed insufficiently flexible for his requirements. “So I built my own,” Buhr stated.

The Birth of Tyk

The open-source tool gained traction among engineers, leading to inquiries about monetization. This signaled a potential business opportunity and increased credibility.

“We made the gateway open source, and the management part went into a licensing model,” Buhr explained. This marked the official launch of Tyk, co-founded with James Hirst, now the COO, a former colleague from a digital agency.

Addressing Modern API Management Challenges

Tyk’s core value proposition centers on addressing the shortcomings of current API management practices in complex environments.

“Companies were unhappy with API management as it exists today,” Buhr observed, citing the challenges posed by multi-cloud and containerized architectures. “The way we approach the multi-data and multi-vendor cloud model is super flexible and resilient to partitions.”

Hirst added, “You engage developers and deliver real value and it’s up to them to make the choice. We are responding to a clear shift in the market.”

Future Development: Conflict Resolution

Tyk’s future development efforts will focus on managing potential conflicts arising from API changes.

“When a team using a microservice makes a breaking change, we want to bring that up and report that to the system,” Buhr said. “The plan is to flag the issue and test against it, and to identify why a schema won’t work.”

Looking Ahead

Tyk’s growing customer base and rapid expansion demonstrate its potential for significant future growth.

Martin Brennan, a director at SEP, stated, “Martin and James have built a world-class team and the addition of this new capital will enable Tyk to accelerate the growth of its API management platform, particularly around the GraphQL focused Universal Data Graph product.”

Keith Davidson, a partner at SEP, will join the Tyk board as a non-executive director following this funding round.