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 snapshotLatest 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
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)
Series E
2024-11 $175M Valuation: $2BSeries D
2021-02 $100M- Tiger Global Management (lead)
- Index Ventures (participant)
- CRV (participant)
- Andreessen Horowitz (participant)
Source: https://konghq.com/blog/series-d
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.
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Apigee (Google) incumbent
Enterprise API management acquired by Google.
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MuleSoft (Salesforce) incumbent
Integration platform with API management.
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AWS API Gateway incumbent
Cloud-native API gateway tied to AWS.
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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
FAQs about Kong
Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.
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