Aklivity
8 employees on LinkedIn · 4 known investors
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Aklivity builds Zilla, a stateless, declarative, multi-protocol event-driven proxy that connects clients to Apache Kafka and other Kafka-compatible brokers using protocols like HTTP, SSE, MQTT, and gRPC. It targets engineering teams building real-time, event-driven applications, handling protocol translation, schema validation, idempotency, and edge-level data governance.
Also known as Aklivity Inc. · Zilla
Founders & leadership
Investors · 4
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements$4.1M disclosed across 1 round · 2022
- $4.1MSeedMay 2022 · 3 sources
468 Capital (lead), Alumni Ventures, Pear VC
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Aklivity is the developer of Zilla Gateway, a stateless gateway deployed inside a customer's own perimeter that mediates and governs traffic between consumers and backend systems and data. On the consumer side, Zilla exposes real-time data over the protocols that clients already use, including HTTP/OpenAPI for partners, server-sent events for web and mobile applications, MQTT and WebSockets for devices and IoT, gRPC and REST for internal services, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI agents. On the system side it connects to Apache Kafka (including Amazon MSK, Confluent and open-source deployments), REST and OpenAPI services, databases and caches, and packaged "data products" consisting of governed streams. Behavior is defined through configuration rather than application code.
The product line is organized into a data plane and a control plane. The data plane comprises the Zilla Kafka Gateway, which exposes and secures Kafka to external apps, partners and clients without changes to existing clusters, and the Zilla MCP Gateway, which turns REST, OpenAPI and Kafka-backed data into tools that AI agents can call over MCP without wrapper code. The control plane consists of the Zilla Console for setting access rules, identities and environments, deploying data products and observing gateways. Governance features include per-request identity propagation using OAuth, mTLS and JWT, allow/deny and role-based policy per topic, API and tool, and metrics, traces and logs for observability and audit, including metrics per toolkit, tool and outcome. A commercial edition, Zilla Plus, is offered for Amazon MSK and is available through the AWS Marketplace.
Business model
Aklivity sells software that customers deploy in their own infrastructure, with a commercial Zilla Plus offering distributed directly through the AWS Marketplace alongside a self-service free entry point and demo-led sales motion.
The company states usage-based pricing for its offering and lists a "Start for Free" option, with Zilla Plus also purchasable and deployable via AWS Marketplace.
Traction
Public customer stories cite KONE, whose platform owner describes using Zilla Plus for Kafka-native connectivity to private Amazon MSK clusters, and N Brown/Castle Fintech, which reports secure endpoints for partner integrations and reduced lead time. Reported outcomes include connecting MSK clusters without public exposure and eliminating custom integrations.
Latest developments
Aklivity has launched the Zilla MCP Gateway, adding governed AI agent access to APIs, services and real-time data over Model Context Protocol, and published a report titled "The State of AI Gateways in 2026." Roadmap items mentioned alongside the MCP capability are LLM and A2A support.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography
Market position
Positioned as a single gateway spanning both Kafka connectivity and AI agent access, combining a Kafka gateway with an MCP-based AI gateway under one runtime, identity model and audit record, with LLM and A2A support described as planned.
Aklivity emphasizes a single stateless runtime that runs inside the customer perimeter and serves all consumer classes, including AI agents, using one identity model and one audit record; access rules and protocol exposure are defined through configuration instead of rebuilt application code, and existing REST, OpenAPI and Kafka assets can be exposed as agent tools without wrapper code.
Technology
Zilla is a stateless gateway runtime configured declaratively rather than through code. It performs multi-protocol mediation across Kafka, HTTP, SSE, gRPC, WebSocket, MQTT and MCP, carries end-to-end identity via OAuth, mTLS and JWT, enforces policy per topic, API and tool, and emits metrics, traces and logs. It integrates with Apache Kafka distributions including Amazon MSK and Confluent, and with AWS services such as Glue Schema Registry and Secrets Manager.
Go-to-market
Self-service sign-up and demo requests via the company website, distribution through the AWS Marketplace, developer-oriented content such as launch posts and an industry report, and customer case studies covering Amazon MSK connectivity use cases.
Engineering and platform teams at data-driven enterprises, with named focus verticals in financial services and capital markets, industrials and manufacturing, and online sports betting; referenced customers include KONE and N Brown (Castle Fintech).
Geography
The company markets to global organizations and distributes through the AWS Marketplace; specific office locations are not stated.
Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsZilla Plus, including an offering for Amazon MSK, can be bought and deployed directly through the AWS Marketplace.
Aklivity announced the Zilla MCP Gateway, which gives AI agents governed access to APIs, services and real-time data over Model Context Protocol without application code changes, exposing REST, OpenAPI and Kafka-backed data as agent tools.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
▸Research sources · 1
primary sources listed
- Aklivityaklivity.io · web
1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Aklivity do?
- Aklivity develops Zilla, a stateless gateway that gives apps, devices, partners and AI agents governed access to Kafka and APIs.
- Who founded Aklivity?
- Aklivity was founded by Leonid Lukyanov, John Fallows.
- Who are Aklivity's investors?
- Aklivity's investors include Alumni Ventures, Basecamp Fund, 468 Capital, Pear VC.
- How much funding has Aklivity raised?
- Aklivity has disclosed $4.1M raised across 1 round.