Inktomi Corporation was an American Internet service provider (ISP) software developer based in Foster City, California. Customers included Microsoft, HotBot, Amazon.com, eBay, and Walmart.

The company developed Traffic Server, a proxy server web cache for World Wide Web traffic and on-demand streaming media which transcoded images down to a smaller size for users of dial-up Internet access. Traffic Server was deployed by several large ISPs including AOL.

In 2003, after the bursting of the dot-com bubble, the company was acquired by Yahoo! for $241 million.

The company's name, pronounced "INK-tuh-me", was derived from a Lakota legend about the trickster spider Iktomi, known for his ability to outsmart larger adversaries. The tri-color nested cube logo was created by Tom Lamar in 1996.

Inktomi was founded in January 1996 by University of California, Berkeley professor Eric Brewer and graduate student Paul Gauthier at the University of California, Berkeley. The company was initially founded based on the web search engine that was developed at the university. HotBot was the first search engine that made use of Inktomi's search technology.

In June 1998, the company raised $36 million in an initial public offering. Its success in making HotBot the top rated search engine led to Microsoft, Yahoo! and Disney all partnering with Inktomi.

In September 1998, the company acquired C2B Technologies for $95 million in stock, adding shopping engine technology to its portfolio.

In November 1998, the company raised additional capital at a 688% premium to its IPO price five months earlier.