Kong Inc. is a San Francisco-based technology company that develops a unified cloud API platform, built on the world's most adopted open-source API gateway, to deliver fast, reliable, and secure digital experiences.[1][2][3][4] Its mission is to enable every company to become "API-first," helping organizations from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises unleash developer productivity, enhance security, accelerate time to market, and manage APIs, service meshes, ingress controllers, AI gateways, and more at scale.[1][2][3] Kong serves enterprises like United Airlines, BT Group, and Goldman Sachs, solving challenges from API complexity, scale, compliance, and security amid the explosion of APIs powering modern applications and AI-driven experiences.[1][3]
The platform powers billions of API calls daily, supports a large customer base and community, and focuses on AI modernization by providing tools to build, run, discover, govern, and monetize APIs, LLMs, MCP servers, and real-time data feeds.[2][3]
Kong was co-founded by Augusto Marietti (CEO) and Marco Palladino (CTO), with roots in the open-source community around the Kong API gateway, which became the most widely adopted in the world.[2] The company emerged to address the growing complexity of APIs in modern architectures, evolving from a core API gateway into a comprehensive cloud platform that now includes service meshes, ingress controllers, and AI-specific capabilities like AI gateways and MCP integration.[1][2][3] Early traction came from its open-source foundation, attracting developers and enterprises needing scalable API management, leading to widespread adoption and expansion into securing AI connectivity and event data productization.[3]
Headquartered in San Francisco, Kong has grown into a certified Great Place to Work, emphasizing positive employee experiences that support its global operations.[4]
Kong rides the API explosion trend central to modern applications, microservices, cloud-native architectures, and AI modernization, where APIs fuel everything from customer experiences to AI agents and real-time data signals.[1][3] Timing is ideal amid generative AI growth, as organizations need secure, scalable platforms to expose, govern, and monetize APIs, LLMs, and event data without silos or fragmentation—challenges Kong directly solves for enterprises transitioning to cloud-native and AI-first models.[3] Market forces like rising compliance demands, developer velocity needs, and AI connectivity complexity favor Kong, influencing the ecosystem by setting standards for API platforms that power productivity and innovation at scale.[1][2][3]
Kong is poised to expand as the "API journey becomes the AI journey," deepening AI trust layers, MCP integrations, and event-driven architectures to capitalize on AI app proliferation and agent economies.[3] Trends like real-time data productization, cross-platform observability, and monetizing AI assets will shape its path, potentially growing its customer base and community further amid cloud-native shifts. Its influence may evolve from API gateway leader to indispensable AI connectivity platform, reinforcing why Kong runs APIs—the foundation for secure, API-first companies in an AI-powered world.[1][2][3]
Kong has raised $350.0M in total across 6 funding rounds.
Kong's investors include Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, AirAngels, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Balderton Capital, C2 Investment, Citi Ventures, CRV, Earl Grey Capital, Framework Ventures.
Kong has raised $350.0M across 6 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $180.0M Series E in November 2024.
