Cagiva was founded in 1978 by brothers Claudio and Gianfranco Castiglioni. Primarily a racing company Cagiva very quickly found success on track. Cagiva's meteoric rise culminted with them challenging the big Japanese manufacturers in the early 1990s with GP wins for Jon Kocinski in the 1994 championship.

Sales models have been mainly 125cc two strokes up until recent times. The Mito has probably been the biggest success. The early Eddie Lawson version and the updated Mito which looks almost exactly like a Ducati 998 have been the fantasy of many a teenage rider. The Planet has also been a popular model for it's superb looks, handling and relatively powerful engine.

New models such as the Raptor and Navigator have been built around Suzuki's TL1000 V twin engine.