Tailscale builds identity-first secure networking intended to eliminate the need to manage NAT traversal and traditional VPN configurations. Launched in 2019, its product lets users connect homelabs, apps, AI workloads, and services by identity rather than IP addresses. Millions of people depend on Tailscale every day, and customers include SAP, Telus, Motorola, and Duolingo. The company plans to scale the network without scaling complexity and to expand into more markets. It will grow engineering and product teams and invest further in free customer support and a “backward compatibility forever” platform. Tailscale says business is booming and is taking investment to stay focused on making the network just work for startups, enterprises, and individuals. Tailscale builds a zero-trust VPN based on WireGuard and BeyondCorp that simplifies private network connectivity for developers, DevOps teams, enterprises, and hobbyists. It integrates with identity providers including Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Okta and delivers an all-in-one Zero Trust solution covering SASE, IAM, and PAM. The product emphasizes ease-of-use — near-instant setup, end-to-end encryption, no single point of failure — and integrates with developer tooling and remote development platforms like GitPod, Coder, and GitHub Codespaces. Tailscale has experienced rapid adoption with 1,200% year-over-year growth and sustaining roughly 20% quarter-over-quarter growth in active monthly users, driven primarily by organic word-of-mouth. The company plans to use new funding to hire engineering talent and scale its product-led growth, go-to-market efforts, and strategic partner initiatives. Enterprises including Oxide Computing, Dusty Robotics, and VersaBank are cited as customers, and the company describes itself as fully distributed. Tailscale offers a software-only corporate VPN that orchestrates a mesh network using WireGuard and BeyondCorp-style zero-trust architecture to connect nodes directly without passing traffic through intermediaries. It integrates with identity providers such as GSuite, Microsoft 365, and Okta for seamless authentication and claims rapid setup times versus traditional VPNs. The company says it has served tens of thousands of customers a month and has been adding tens of thousands of new nodes each month. Tailscale launched in April with a Seed round and was founded in 2019 by ex-Google engineers. The startup plans to use the new funding to scale its engineering team and build its first marketing and sales teams after strong word-of-mouth traction. Tailscale is a corporate VPN that enables remote teams to securely access services with minimal setup, using the WireGuard protocol and Google’s BeyondCorp zero-trust architecture. The product integrates with existing identity providers such as GSuite and Office365 to authorize devices in a peer-to-peer mesh, reducing VPN setup from weeks to minutes and simplifying onboarding and offboarding. Its peer-to-peer mesh design aims to minimize latency and improve reliability while allowing teams to use existing client/server applications. Founded in 2019 by ex-Google engineers and operating as a fully remote team, the founding team includes Avery Pennarun (CEO), David Crawshaw (CTO), and David Carney (COO). The company announced a $3M seed round alongside its launch and is backed by Heavybit and Uncork Capital. Tailscale says its mission is to make every app secure by default and positions the product as suitable for teams of any size, citing customers like VersaBank using it for business continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Total raised

$284M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Apr 2025