It can be difficult to connect to all the microservices and services that modern cloud native enterprise applications require. Solo.io, a startup, is trying to disrupt this area with its new Gloo Mesh Enterprise platform.
Solo is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has been focusing since its foundation on a concept called a service mesh. Service meshes are an efficient way to connect various components in an automated manner, often within a Kubernetes cloud-native environment.
Solo founder and CEO Idit Levine explained to TechCrunch how she knew right from the beginning that the market would take some time to understand the service mesh concept and why it was necessary. Her company has an API gateway technology to help developers connect APIs. APIs can come from different data sources and services.
Solos Gloo Mesh Enterprise's API and service mesh components were two separate technologies that had different configurations. This is changing now with the integration of API and service mesh capabilities into one service. This integration should make it much easier to create and configure any service in the cloud that runs on Kubernetes.
The Solos service mesh, also known as Gloo Mesh is built on the open-source Istio project that was created by Google. Gloo Edge is the API product. It uses the open-source Envoy project originally created by Lyft, a ridesharing company. Levine said that her team now uses Istios plugin architecture for Envoy connectivity in an optimized way.
Levine pointed out that many customers start with an API gateway, and then move on to the service mesh. Solo will be able differentiate itself from rivals in the API management and service mesh markets with the Gloo Mesh Enterprise update. She expects customer adoption to accelerate.
Although the service mesh market is still in its infancy, including competitors like Tetrate and others, API gateways are an established technology. There are many established vendors in API management, including Kong, which has raised $71million in funding. In 2016, Google bought API vendor Apigee and has continued to expand the technology over the years, including the ApigeeX platform in February 2017.
Solo has not yet covered all bases in API technology with the integration of Gloo Edge API management into Gloo Mesh Enterprise. Gloo Edge supports REST-based APIs which are the most popular today. However, it does not support the emerging GraphQL standard. Levine advised us to keep checking for a future GraphQL announcement regarding Solo and its platform.
Solo has raised $36.5 million in two rounds. There was a $11 million Series A and a $23million Series B in 2018, respectively. Solo's October 2020 announcement announced a $23 million Series C. Redpoint Ventures and True Ventures are the company's investors.
