Kong Inc. raises funding to enhance its cloud API technology and support businesses in adopting AI-driven, secure, and efficient API management solutions.
San Francisco-based Kong Inc., a pioneer in cloud API technology, has announced the successful closure of its $175M Series E funding round. The round, a combination of primary and secondary transactions, was led by Tiger Global and Balderton, with participation from new investors including Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) and 137 Ventures. Existing backers Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, CRV, Sapphire Ventures, and Notable Capital also reinforced their support. This latest infusion elevates Kong’s total funding to $346M and pushes its valuation beyond the $2B mark.
Augusto Marietti, CEO and co-founder of Kong Inc announced, “This funding will fuel our efforts to help organisations leverage our unified API platform, and embrace API-first securely, faster, and in an efficient way for small and large enterprises. As we continue to see a surge in demand for API calls, (driven even more recently by LLMs), Kong is uniquely positioned to drive innovation and help our customers to build and connect the next generation of intelligent applications.”
With a growing demand for API calls, accelerated by advancements like Large Language Models (LLMs), Kong is enabling businesses to build intelligent applications faster.
Riding the cloud API technology wave
Businesses in every sector are turning to unified API platforms to streamline digital experiences and reduce integration complexity. This is where Kong steps in, promising a unified, secure, and efficient API management platform that simplifies these complexities and ensures faster go-to-market solutions.
The Series E funding will drive Kong’s global go-to-market expansion, enhance its product innovation pipeline, and fuel its growing engineering and customer experience teams. A critical part of its roadmap includes advancing AI gateway capabilities, allowing developers to create secure, AI-driven applications with unmatched speed.
Empowering developers with AI-ready cloud APIs
Andrea Roda of Balderton praised Kong’s market leadership, “Kong has shown remarkable growth and vision, particularly with their focus on empowering developers and businesses to harness the power of AI through secure API adoption. Their commitment to innovation and customer success is unmatched, and we believe they are setting the standard for the future of critical digital infrastructure.”
The company’s unified API platform enables businesses to scale AI applications seamlessly while ensuring centralised security, governance, and visibility across services. As industries increasingly adopt API-first strategies, Kong is providing the foundational infrastructure that supports their transformation.
“Kong’s platform is the foundation that helps companies transition to an API-first future,” said Marco Palladino, CTO and co-founder of Kong Inc. “We’re helping customers across industries – from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises – accelerate their time to market, scale AI capabilities, and reduce operational risks through secure and comprehensive API management.”
Shaping the API-first, AI-driven future
APIs provide the infrastructure needed to accelerate intelligent application development, Kong’s mission to enable API-first adoption aligns with a global push towards faster, smarter, and safer digital experiences. The funding marks another milestone in Kong’s journey to empower developers and businesses with tools to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving, AI-integrated world.
With $175M now powering its vision, Kong is poised to set the benchmark for cloud API technology management and AI integration, showing it as a leader in critical digital infrastructure.
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