Startup profile for Kong: latest funding, latest known valuation, total disclosed funding, investors, status, sources, and why the company is interesting. Part of the Venture Capital Tracker startup directory.

Startup profile · funding coverage

Kong funding, valuation and investors

Cloud API gateway and connectivity platform built on open-source Kong.

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Funding, valuation & investors

Answer-first snapshot

Latest funding

Series E

$175M · November 2024

Latest known valuation

$2B

Series E · November 2024

Total disclosed equity funding

$275M

Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.

Current status

private

growth · San Francisco, California

Investors in latest funding

Lead: Tiger Global Management , Balderton Capital

Sources: latest funding Last verified: 2026-07-25

Overview

Kong builds cloud API gateway and service-connectivity software based on widely adopted open-source Kong Gateway. Enterprises use Kong to manage, secure, observe, and monetize APIs across microservices and hybrid cloud environments. Tiger Global led a $100M Series D in February 2021 and a $175M Series E in November 2024 at a $2B valuation, with Index Ventures, CRV, NEA, GGV, Balderton, and a16z among backers.

Why Kong is interesting

Kong's open-source gateway is among the most deployed API management layers — Tiger led D and E rounds totaling $275M, reaching $2B valuation in November 2024.

Product & use cases

Kong Gateway (open source) plus Kong Konnect (cloud control plane) provide API management, service mesh ingress, AI gateway, and developer portal capabilities for enterprise API traffic.

  • Microservices API gateway and routing
  • API security, rate limiting, and authentication
  • AI/LLM API gateway and traffic management
  • Hybrid cloud and multi-cloud API connectivity

Key facts

  • Series E (Nov 2024): $175M at $2B — Kong press
  • Series D (Feb 2021): $100M led by Tiger Global
  • Open-source Kong Gateway widely deployed

Funding history (newest first)

Investors in our directory

Funds linked from Kong's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.

Competitive landscape

Edge: Open-source community adoption creates bottom-up enterprise pipeline — developers already know Kong before procurement.

API traffic grows with microservices and AI API calls. Kong competes on open-source adoption and multi-cloud neutrality vs. hyperscaler-native gateways. $2B valuation reflects API infrastructure criticality.

  • Apigee (Google) incumbent

    Enterprise API management acquired by Google.

  • MuleSoft (Salesforce) incumbent

    Integration platform with API management.

  • AWS API Gateway incumbent

    Cloud-native API gateway tied to AWS.

  • Tyk direct

    Open-source API gateway competitor.

Notable stories

  • Kong reached $2B valuation at Series E in November 2024 — Tiger Global led both D and E, signaling API infrastructure as critical enterprise plumbing.
  • Kong spun out of Mashape (CEO Augusto Marietti) — open-source gateway became the product while Mashape's API marketplace wound down.

Industries

Developer Tools Infrastructure & Cloud Enterprise SaaS

FAQs about Kong

Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.

API gateway and service connectivity platform built on open-source Kong Gateway.
Tiger Global (/fund/tiger-global-management) led D and E; Index (/fund/index-ventures), CRV (/fund/crv), NEA (/fund/new-enterprise-associates), a16z (/fund/andreessen-horowitz), Balderton (/fund/balderton-capital) participated.
Kong Gateway is open source; Kong Konnect is commercial cloud control plane.
Kong is open-source-first multi-cloud; Apigee is Google enterprise API management.
$2B — November 2024.
Kong added AI/LLM API gateway features for enterprise AI traffic management.
Augusto Marietti and Marco Palladino.
$275M+ in D and E alone; total higher with earlier rounds.
Cloud SaaS control plane for managing Kong Gateway deployments.
No — private as of July 2026.

By Venture Capital Tracker

Last updated:

Editorial note: AI tools assisted with research, structure, or drafting. Venture Capital Tracker retains human editorial responsibility for factual accuracy, relevance, and source quality before publication.