Kong Inc. Joins The 2021 Forbes Cloud 100

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Kong Inc., the cloud connectivity company, has been named to the Forbes 2021 Cloud 100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies in the world, published by Forbes in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures.

"Kong is honored to be part of the Cloud 100 for the first time and to be in the company of such a distinguished group of market leaders and innovators," said Augusto Marietti, CEO and co-founder of Kong Inc. "It's never been more critical for companies to create new digital services via APIs and to ensure their connectivity can run in a reliable and seamless way. We've seen record adoption of our open source technologies over the past year, followed by an acceleration in customers joining our connectivity journey." 

For the sixth straight year, the Cloud 100 reviews submissions from hundreds of cloud startups and private companies each year. The Cloud 100 evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: market leadership (35%), estimated valuation (30%), operating metrics (20%), and people & culture (15%). For market leadership, the Cloud 100 enlists the help of a judging panel of 34 public cloud company CEOs who assist in evaluating and ranking their private company peers.

"The companies of the Cloud 100 list represent the best and brightest emerging companies in the cloud sector," said Alex Konrad, senior editor at Forbes. "Every year, it gets more difficult to make this list — meaning even more elite company for those who do. Congratulations to each of the 2021 Cloud 100 honorees and to our 20 Rising Stars up-and-comers poised to join their ranks."

"The private cloud ecosystem continues to see historic rates of digital transformation," said Byron Deeter, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "Private cloud valuations are getting bigger as the market's appetite for cloud continues to grow. These founders represent the absolute best in cloud computing today, and they appear likely to follow in the footsteps of our esteemed Cloud 100 alumni. Congratulations to these cloud leaders!"

"How we work has undergone a paradigm shift and businesses of all shapes and sizes are reimagining the tools that are needed to ensure working from anywhere is a sustainable, long-lasting solution," said Alex Kayyal, Managing Partner, Salesforce Ventures. "The last 18 months have made digital transformation an urgent imperative and the cloud has never been more pivotal in powering our new digital economy. The companies on this list represent the leaders and businesses shaping the future of the cloud ecosystem and we are excited to partner with Bessemer Venture Partners and Forbes to honor these trailblazers of the industry."

The Forbes 2021 Cloud 100 and 20 Rising Stars lists are published online at www.forbes.com/cloud100. Highlights of the list appear in the September 2021 issue of Forbes magazine.

About Kong Inc.

Kong creates software and managed services that connect APIs and microservices natively across and within clouds, Kubernetes, data centers and more using intelligent automation. Built on an open source core, Kong's service connectivity platform enables digital innovation by allowing organizations to reliably and securely manage the full lifecycle of APIs and services for modern architectures, including microservices, serverless and service mesh. By providing developer teams with unprecedented architectural freedom, Kong accelerates innovation cycles, increases productivity, and seamlessly bridges legacy and modern systems and applications. For more information about Kong, please visit konghq.com or follow @thekonginc on Twitter.

Media Contacts:   
Pauline Louie, Kong, 628-243-7512, [email protected]
Jill Reed, Sift Communications for Kong, [email protected]

SOURCE Kong Inc.