Cisco Acquires Galileo to Boost Splunk’s AI Agent Monitoring

Quick Facts

• Cisco acquired Galileo Technologies, a $68.1 million-funded AI observability startup, to enhance Splunk’s monitoring capabilities
• 85% of enterprise customers experiment with AI agents but only 5% deploy them in production, according to Cisco survey
• Deal expected to close in Q4 fiscal 2026 with financial terms undisclosed

Cisco announced its acquisition of Galileo Technologies, a San Francisco startup that builds tools for monitoring and evaluating AI models in production environments. The deal strengthens Cisco’s Splunk Observability portfolio as enterprises struggle to deploy AI agents safely at scale.

Galileo raised $68.1 million across three funding rounds from investors including Battery Ventures and Scale Venture Partners. The company employs 153 people and was founded in 2021 by former executives from Google, Uber, and Apple.

“From day one, its platform has given AI teams the tools to evaluate AI quality, detect AI failures before they reach users, and continuously improve AI behavior in production,” said Kamal Hathi, senior vice president and general manager of Splunk, in a blog post.

The acquisition addresses a critical gap in enterprise AI deployment. A Cisco survey found 85% of major enterprise customers experiment with AI agents, but only 5% have moved the technology into production. Security and monitoring concerns remain major barriers to adoption.

Galileo’s platform monitors what the company calls the “agent development lifecycle,” providing real-time visibility into AI systems working autonomously. The startup’s founders built the company on the belief that AI evaluation infrastructure must be purpose-built rather than retrofitted from existing monitoring tools.

“AI doesn’t just change the way work gets done in enterprises, but also the rules of observability,” Holger Mueller of Constellation Research told SiliconANGLE. “Organizations need an efficient way of seeing what those AI agents are doing while they’re working unsupervised.”

The deal is part of Cisco’s broader AI security strategy. At RSA Conference 2026, the company introduced DefenseClaw, a framework for securing AI agent development. Cisco and Galileo previously collaborated through AGNTCY, a consortium creating open-source architecture for trustworthy AI agents.

Galileo will operate independently until the transaction closes in Q4 of Cisco’s fiscal year 2026. The startup recently released Agent Control under an Apache 2.0 license, expanding its open-source offerings.

Read more: Cisco buys Galileo to strengthen Splunk’s agentic monitoring capabilities