Kong
Kong helps enterprises manage and secure APIs across distributed infrastructure.
Kong is an API platform that provides a centralized control plane for managing, securing, and observing APIs and microservices across clouds, Kubernetes, and data centers. The platform handles request routing, transformation, authentication, rate limiting, and real-time analytics to prevent API sprawl. Kong serves enterprise organizations dealing with complex API ecosystems, from Global 2000 companies to mid-market enterprises. The company is positioned as a leader in API management with both open-source and commercial offerings.
Problem solved
Organizations struggle to manage, secure, and observe APIs scattered across their infrastructure without a centralized control plane, leading to security gaps, performance issues, and operational complexity.
Target customer
Enterprise organizations and Global 2000 companies managing complex API ecosystems across multiple clouds and data centers; engineering teams building microservices and cloud-native architectures.
Founders
A
Augusto Marietti
CEO
Economist and entrepreneur; founded Mashape (largest API marketplace, acquired by RapidAPI in 2017) and earlier built MemboxX, Italy's first cloud document sharing platform.
M
Marco Palladino
CTO and Senior Vice President of Engineering
Software engineer who became head of engineering at Kong, leading technical architecture and product development.
M
Michele Zonica
Co-founder
Senior Java developer and co-founder of Kong with deep backend engineering expertise.
Funding history
Angel
$101K
April 2010
Led by Unknown
· Eric Schmidt, Jeff Bezos
Seed
$1.5M
2010
Led by Unknown
· Unknown
Seed
Unknown
August 2011
Led by Unknown
· New Enterprise Associates, Innovation Endeavors, Ignition Partners
Series B
$18M
2017
Led by Unknown
· Unknown
Series C
$43M
March 2019
Led by Unknown
· Unknown
Series D
$200M
December 2020 - February 2021
Led by Tiger Global Management
· Index Ventures, CRV, GGV Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs
Series E
$175M
November 2024
Led by Tiger Global Management
· Balderton, Teachers' Venture Growth, 137 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, CRV, Sapphire Ventures, Notable Capital
Total raised:
$345M
Pricing
Not publicly available. Kong operates open-source (free) and commercial models.
Notable customers
Cisco, GSK, PayPal, Security Bank, Moderna, Cigna Healthcare, British Airways, ANZ Bank, Vestas, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Papa John's, Siemens
Integrations
AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Stripe, Salesforce, Google Workspace, SendGrid
Tech stack
React (JavaScript frameworks)
Next.js (Web servers)
Webpack
Open Graph
DocuSign
VWO (Analytics)
reCAPTCHA (Security)
Node.js (Programming languages)
Apple iCloud Mail (Webmail)
Google Workspace (Email)
Imgix (CDN)
Amazon Cloudfront (CDN)
Marketo (Marketing automation)
salesforce m
Stripe (Payment processors)
Amazon Web Services (PaaS)
OneTrust (Cookie compliance)
AWS Certificate Manager (SSL/TLS certificate authorities)
Sendgrid (Email)
Mailgun (Email)
Priority Hints (Performance)
Segment (Customer data platform)
Website
Competitors
F5 Networks
Broader infrastructure security company with API management as one component; Kong is API-first.
Jitterbit
Integration platform with API management capabilities; Kong focuses more deeply on API gateway and microservices governance.
WSO2
Open-source API management platform; Kong has stronger enterprise adoption and funding backing.
Solo.io
Focuses on API gateway and service mesh solutions; Kong has broader API lifecycle management capabilities.
Postman
API development and testing platform; Kong is focused on API gateway, routing, and runtime governance rather than development workflows.
Why this matters: Kong raised $175M at a $2B valuation in 2024, demonstrating strong enterprise market demand for centralized API governance as organizations battle API sprawl. The company is a 6x Gartner Leader in API Management and counts major Global 2000 companies as customers, positioning it as the market leader in API platforms as AI agents and microservices architectures become increasingly complex.
Best for: Enterprise organizations managing hundreds of APIs across multiple environments who need centralized security, governance, and observability without fragmenting their infrastructure.
Use cases
API Security and Compliance at Scale
A financial services company uses Kong to enforce consistent authentication, authorization, encryption, and rate limiting across 500+ APIs. Security Bank reduced API-related incidents by 25% using Kong Konnect. This solves the problem of maintaining security posture across sprawling API ecosystems where manual governance becomes impossible.
Accelerating API-Driven Product Delivery
An enterprise reduced application delivery time from 7 months to 3 months by using Kong's centralized API control plane. Teams no longer need to rebuild routing and security logic for each microservice. This directly impacts time-to-market for new features in API-first architectures.
Real-time API Monitoring and Traffic Control
Organizations use Kong's real-time analytics, health checks, circuit breakers, and load balancing to prevent cascading failures during traffic spikes. This is critical for high-availability systems where a single API failure can impact downstream services across the platform.
Alternatives
F5 Networks
Choose if you need broader infrastructure security beyond just API management and have existing F5 investments.
Jitterbit
Choose if you need deep integration platform capabilities alongside API management for legacy system integration scenarios.
AWS API Gateway
Choose if your entire infrastructure is AWS-native and you want minimal external dependencies, though it offers less portability across clouds.
FAQ
What does Kong do? +
Kong is an API platform that acts as a centralized control plane for managing, securing, and observing APIs and microservices across clouds, Kubernetes, and data centers. It handles request routing, transformation, authentication, rate limiting, load balancing, and provides real-time analytics. Kong solves API sprawl by giving organizations one platform to manage all APIs instead of scattered point solutions.
How much does Kong cost? +
Kong's pricing is not publicly available. The platform offers both free open-source and commercial enterprise versions. Contact Kong directly for specific pricing based on your infrastructure scale and feature requirements.
What are alternatives to Kong? +
Top alternatives include F5 Networks (broader infrastructure security), Jitterbit (integration-focused API management), WSO2 (open-source alternative), Solo.io (service mesh and API gateway), and AWS API Gateway (cloud-native option for AWS environments).
Who uses Kong? +
Kong is used by Global 2000 companies and enterprises managing complex API ecosystems, including Cisco, GSK, PayPal, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Siemens, British Airways, ANZ Bank, and Moderna. Target customers are large organizations with hundreds or thousands of APIs across multiple infrastructure environments.
How does Kong compare to F5 Networks? +
Kong is purpose-built for API management and microservices with a cloud-native, API-first architecture. F5 is a broader infrastructure security company that includes API management as one component. Kong offers better portability across clouds and better fit for Kubernetes-native deployments, while F5 appeals to organizations with existing infrastructure investments.
Tags
API management
API gateway
microservices
cloud-native
Kubernetes
API security
traffic management