Company Overview

Kong (formerly Mashape) was founded in 2007 by Augusto Marietti and Marco Palladino in San Francisco, California, originally as an API marketplace. In 2015, the company pivoted to launch the open-source Kong API Gateway, becoming a leader in the cloud-native API gateway space. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, the company also maintains offices in Austin, TX and London, UK.

Kong has raised over $100 million in funding. Its core product, Kong Gateway, is licensed under Apache 2.0 and also offers an Enterprise edition. The company's mission is to connect APIs and microservices, helping organizations efficiently manage, secure, and monitor API traffic in cloud-native architectures.

Related provider: Kong API Gateway

Product Matrix

πŸšͺ API Gateway

  • Kong Gateway (OSS): Open-source API gateway built on OpenResty/Lua, high performance, low latency, 200+ plugins
  • Kong Gateway (Enterprise): Enterprise edition adding Dev Portal, RBAC, audit logging, enterprise-grade plugins
  • Kong Manager: GUI management console for visual configuration of routes, services, upstreams, and plugins

☁️ API Management Platform

  • Kong Konnect: SaaS API management platform for full API lifecycle management, governance, security, and observability
  • Kong DecK: Declarative configuration tool supporting GitOps workflows, managing gateway config as YAML files

πŸ› οΈ API Client & Design

  • Kong Insomnia: Open-source API client supporting REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSocket debugging and design
  • Kong Plugin Hub: 200+ official and community plugins covering auth, rate limiting, logging, transformation, security

πŸ”— Service Mesh

  • Kong Mesh: Service mesh based on Kuma, enabling cross-cloud, cross-cluster microservice communication and governance

Core Strengths

API Gateway Pioneer: Launched one of the first cloud-native API gateways in 2015, defining the API gateway technology standard
Rich Plugin Ecosystem: 200+ plug-and-play plugins covering authentication, security, traffic control, and logging
Cloud-Native Native: Natively integrates with Kubernetes via Kong Ingress Controller, a key CNCF ecosystem component
Full-Stack API Platform: Complete API lifecycle coverage from gateway, management (Konnect) to client (Insomnia)

Key Milestones

  • 2007: Founded as Mashape by Augusto Marietti and Marco Palladino (API marketplace platform)
  • 2015: Launched open-source Kong API Gateway, pivoted to API infrastructure company
  • 2020: Acquired Insomnia (API client tool), expanding API development ecosystem
  • 2022: Launched Kong Konnect, SaaS API management platform
  • 2026: Continues to lead the cloud-native API gateway market, serving enterprise customers globally