API management firm Apigee moves into the UK to get closer to the EU market

Apigee, the provider of API management and infrastructure tools, products, and technology platforms is setting up shop in London.

The company is headed to there to better serve its UK and European markets and to find a base for further global growth.

Apigee was founded in 2005 and since then has been working to build scalable technologies. Today it gets around 100 billion API calls per month and CEO Chet Kapoor says that this is growing rapidly.

“We’re kicking ass and having a lot fun while we’re doing it,” he says. The company does appear to be doing well, it employs about 240 people and has a global customer base of more than 300.

Kapoor feels that the way that computing is rapidly changing has ensured that his company is doing well. With a high demand for most businesses to have a mobile presence, it seems that he has the right idea on how to manage this shift and make the move a little easier.

He also notes that his business is driven by large companies and brand names, “ We work with close to 20% of the Fortune 100, ATT, Netflix world bank whole foods,” he says. “So it’s not just the forward-looking companies that are on the edge of tech, there’s also companies that are in what we call ‘bricks and mortar’ industries. It’s across the board.”

Why API?

There are of course still businesses who are contemplating the mobile move. It can seem like an expensive idea, but Kapoor says that with planning and an API, things can be made a lot simpler.

“Companies want to build mobile apps, but the only sane way to do this is off an API. Otherwise it just does not scale, you have a different flavour for iOS, for android, it doesn’t work”.

“What mobile has done to enterprises and all of computing, for developers and executives is that it’s completely taken all existing infrastructure and exploded it,” he says. “With so many different device types wanting to access all systems you work out very quickly that you need an API strategy.”

“When you look at this strategy you realise what flows through it is data”, he continues. “Not your grandfather’s – put it in a data warehouse type data – it’s small pieces of data that are moving through your API. So we’ve created an infrastructure that powers the app economy.”

EU OK

The move into Europe makes sense for Apigee as it has an existing customer base here. But initially the firm chose growth that was closer to home. “When we were first headed to market it was clear to us that Europe was coming along at the same speed as the US. But we made a decision to stay in our back yard to get our act together,” Kapoor explained. “We looked at our offering and learned how to sell it, scale it and service customers first.”

The company has offices in Bangalore, Palo Alto and the Eat Coast of America. The purpose of this at the moment is to service customers in those areas but to also abide by data laws where some information is not allowed to cross borders.

“We process in the cloud,” says Kapoor. “But there is a part of our technology that sits on-premise. The gateway sits within countries where sensitive data cannot leave. In the future there will be specific things we plan to do, like payments, that will be also be location specific.”

The new European offices are based in Paddington near London. It’s a handy area for Apigee which works with Telefonica and Vodafone which are also situated nearby. As part of the move, the company will also be hiring in the UK.

Kapoor sees the London office as a hub for further European business. The firm already works with Telenor and Yota which will be serviced from this location.

London also seems to have a particular draw for Kapoor. “The talent is available,” he says. “We start everything with a talent search. In London it’s easier to set up shop and there’s a great diversity.”

Apigee is a fast growing player in API management and is bound to be a big part of the future for corporate mobile development. Hopefully with a new hub in London, this will also help to boost the mobile movement in the UK.

Image Credit: Dru Bloomfield