Value in the API Economy: Insights from the world’s largest API Marketplace with Jed Ng, Head of Rakuten RapidAPI

1. Value in the API Economy:
Insights from the world’s largest API
Marketplace
Presented by: Jed Ng

2. It’s all about value
10.3%API adoption predicts a in a firm’s market value
- The Impact of APIs on Firm Performance
The Impact of APIs on Firm Performance, 2017, Benzell, Lagarda, Van Alstyne

3. Value in the API Economy
HBR.org: The Strategic Value of APIs

4. RevenueCost
Internal External
Reduce duplicative code
Simplified service access
Reduced R&D
expense
Infrastructure cost
efficiencies
Price
discrimination
Agility & time
to market
Prototyping
Products as
platforms
Direct
monetization
Data
Channels,
aggregators,
platforms
3rd party channels,
platforms
Lowering transaction
barriers (UX, discovery,
tooling)
API Value Creation
..
Agility & time-
to-market
Code/service
re-use
Innovation
ecosystem
Internal
cross use

5. API Casestudy: Amazon eCommerce vertical integration
Amazon used APIs and associated data to enter 3% of eCommerce segments in 10 months
Jeff Bezos’ 2002 Big
Mandate
• Teams will expose data &
functionality through service
interfaces
• Network service interface
calls are the ONLY form of
interprocess communication
• All service interfaces must
be built to be externalizable
The Impact of APIs on Firm Performance, 2017, Benzell, Lagarda, Van Alstyne
Competing with Complementors: An Empirical Look at Amazon.com,
• Data driven strategy:
– Observe demand (risk reduction)
– 3rd
parties invest to grow product
sales in platform
• Entry decision determined by:
– Higher sales
– Better reviews
– Not eligible by Amazon Fulfilment
• From June 2013 – April 2014, Amazon
enters 3% of 3rd
party sellers’ product
spaces

6. 6
Jed Ng
Head of Rakuten RapidAPI
Build and scale new tech ventures
Angel investor, startup advisor,
Techstars mentor
INSEAD MBA
jed.h.ng@gmail.com
Introduction
@jed_ng1

7. API
API
API
Find
API
Test/Connect
API
Dashboard
Payment/
Monetize
Authenticate
at proxy Web App
Mobile App
Enterprise App
Console App
Connected Device
(Provider/Consumer)
Rakuten RapidAPI: The world’s largest API Marketplace
Building the ‘app store’ for APIs

8. Global platform footprint
..
10,000
APIs
1,000,000
Developers
Billions
API calls/month

9. Value Proposition
API Providers
Discover
• Best-in-class API selection
• Live performance metrics
Connect
• Full-featured tooling (test &
connect, code gen., SDKs)
• Single API key
Pay
• Self-service subscriptions
• Single vendor
Manage
• ‘Teams’ for role-based
access control
• Single analytics dashboard
Developers
Discover
• Customized API gateway
• Featured in collections
Manage
• API Publishing & updates
• Rich dashboard (support &
analytics)
Community
• World’s largest API
Marketplace 1 MN users
• Enterprise Channel
Monetize
• Set own pricing structure
• Billing and collections

10. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1/4/04 1/4/05 1/4/06 1/4/07 1/4/08
Global Search Index
SOAP API
REST API
#1. APIs are a new business model
‘REST API’ surpassed ‘SOAP APIs’ in search volume in 2008
Google Trends data: ‘REST API’ and ‘SOAP API’

11. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Jan-04 Jan-05 Jan-06 Jan-07 Jan-08 Jan-09 Jan-10 Jan-11 Jan-12 Jan-13 Jan-14 Jan-15 Jan-16 Jan-17 Jan-18 Jan-19
Global Search Index
REST API
SOAP API
#1. APIs are a new business model
De-facto standard: REST protocol hits inflection point
Google Trends data: ‘REST API’ and ‘SOAP API’

12. $22.5 BN
Private
$19BN
Market cap
Seed: $1 MN
A round: $3.7 MN B round: $12 MN
$17BN
Market cap
Founded
2008
$1.1 BN valuation
E round - Apr 2015
Founded
2009
IPO
Nov 2017
$1.75 BN valuation
C round – Jan 2014
Founded
2009
$1 BN mkt cap
Apr 2018
7 yr
5 yr
9 yr
#1. APIs are a new business model
APIs emerge as a proven distribution & monetization technology in the last decade
Founded
2006
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 201920072006
$3BN
Acquired
$1.5 BN valuation
Dec 20148 yr $18 BN
Public

13. #1. APIs are a new business model
… AND we are only scratching the surface of available applications
Payment
Processing
eKYC SearchCommunications Email
Lead
enrichment

14. #2. Growth of APIs will continue
Public APIs will continue to proliferate…
Public APIs
30,000 public APIs exist today
40% YoY growth on ProgrammableWeb directory
Programmableweb.com, ‘APIs show faster growth rate in 2019 than Previous years’

15. API traffic volume - 2016
The Impact of APIs on Firm Performance 2017, API Frenzy: API Strategy 101, The State of APIs 2016
#2. Growth of public APIs will continue
…But API Providers risk being trapped in a ‘digital ocean’

16. #3. Multiple friction points through entire Developer journey
3.1 API proliferation and diversity exacerbates DISCOVERY problem…Last Update: November 2018
The API Landscape
DESIGNED BY
Mehdi Medjaoui
SocketLabs
Rebel
Moosend
SendinBlue
Dyn
CritSend
Pepipost
Authmailer
LeaderSend
Sendwithus Mailjet
Campaign MonitorCustomer.io
SparkPost Mailgun
Postmark
Context.IO
Amazon SES
Elastic Email
PostageApp
JangoSMTP
ShuttleCloudNylas
Email APIs (23)
LucidWorks
Elastic
Sinequa
Algolia
EXALEAD
Search Engine (API) (5)
PassKit
thethings.iO
OpenHAB
IoT API’s (3)
Typeform
Form.io
Picatic
Online Forms (3)
aWhere
OpenDataSoft
WhoAPI
Calcfox
Lingk
Timekit
PredictHQ
Chaos Sumo Omnivore
Data Management API (9)
Payment APIs (32)
Dwolla Quovo BlueSnap Recurly 2Checkout
Kash
Plaid Adyen Lemon Way Mangopay Wirecard
Authorize.Net Marqeta Invoiced SecurionPay
JudoPay
Spreedly Payfirma Paynova Pin Payments
Tramonex
Conekta Payscape PayHub CardConnect
Mastercard API
Flutterwave Payment Rails Push Payments Apply Financial
CulqiWeCashUpGv
Elastic Path BigCommerce
Moltin commercetools
Chec Schema
Semantics3
Campus Credit
Impala
OpenChannel
Ecommerce APIs (10)
Figure Eight Dell EMC ScaleIO
Scale
Checkr
Onfido
Human as a service APIs (5)
BigML
PredictionIO
Nstack
Myra Labs
craft ai
Infermedica
Nexosis
Traitify
Clarifai
Fuzzy.ai
Qloo
Restb.ai
ATN.io
MARKABLE
MonkeyLearn
indico Data
Attentive
Elastic Beam
Spectrum Labs
Seentient
SpazioDati
Wit.ai
Dialogflow
Hutoma
Pingup
Feature Labs
Skim.it
AI APIs (27)
Bings Map
Esri
Google Fit
Intrinio
Withings (formerly Nokia
Health)
Quandl
Smartlane
CB Insights
Estimize
Google Maps
Klappo
OpenLayers
RootAnt
StrikeIron
CINEPASS
Etools
Human API
Mapbox
Page2Images
S&P Capital IQ
UtilityAPI
Clearbit
Factual
Hunter
Mappy
People Data Labs
Samsung Digital Health
WINGIT
Datahoard
Finicity
Infobip
MapQuest
Planet
science.ai
Xignite
Dow Jones
FullContact
InfoChimps
Mattermark
Premise
Skedgo
Motor Data
Envestnet | Yodlee
Geoportail
InfoTrie
OpenStreetMap
Data-as-a-service (46)
C2Call
Clique API
Gupshup
Voxeo
Ambiverse
Stride
Sinch
2600Hz
Italtel
VoiceLayer
Vidyo
Tropo
Esendex
Ryver
Routee
Clickatell
Agora
46elks
Microsoft Teams
Sezion
Nexmo
SendBird
CALLRFacebook Workplace
Telesocial
Bitext
Zang
FlowrouteWavecell
Weibo
Hoiio
TeleStax
Clarify
Plivo
CallFire
Aculab
Apidaze
BrowseTel
4PSAMatrix
Africa’s TalkingRingCaptcha
Cloudonix
Messaging APIs/CPaas (43)
Expensify
FreeAgent
Sage Intacct
KashFlow
e-conomic
Subledger
Debitoor
TrueLayer
Billecta
Accounting (API) (9)Fax/Mail/Voice (14)
TokBox Lob
Bandwidth Interfax
Phaxio VoiceBase
IPerity Sipwise
hSenid Mobile Solutions
Gini
TouchNote Actual Reports
Pwinty Cloudprinter.com
Business processes as an API/API-as a Products (229)
API Lifecycle Platform (129)
Oracle Apiary StopLight
Lucybot ReadMe
SwaggerHub by Smartbear
APIboard Deployd
API Design/Documentation Platform (7)
StopLight Parasoft
Postman
vREST
Paw Runscope
API Testing (6)
DreamFactory Oracle Apiary Restlet Informatica Information Builders CA API Management Apigee MuleSoft
3scale Kony Axway Akana WSO2 Tibco Mashery IBM API Connect Oracle API Management
Seeburger
Fiorano Software Syncano Fuse Mashape Instant API Nevatech Amazon API Gateway
Tyk
Fusio
APInf Netifi Kong RepreZen ApiAxle digitalML LunchBadger ShepHertz Technologies
Gravitee
Microsoft
API Management/API Gateway (36)
Runscope Repustate
Moesif APImetrics
theRightAPI
API Science API Fortress
API Analytics/Monitoring (7)
Firebase PubNub Pusher
DaCast streamdata.io Evercam
Ably Hydna Baasil.io
Gamooga Fanout MyStream
Streaming APIs (12)
Pronovix APICloud
Hitch
Gelato.io
APIMaticRestlet
API-Developer Portals (6)
OPSWAT Centrify SailPoint Ping Identity OneLogin ForgeRock Distil Networks Authy
Bitium Castle LastPass Onegini EmpowerID One Identity Oracle Identity Governance
Gluu Identacor Fallible NetIQ MetaCert SECful Smyte
EnvKey BlueID Crysp Hubrix Apility.io Salesforce Identity Virgil Security Alloy
Access level and Identity management (30)
Pronovix Octo Telematics Apiware
Wildnode LaunchAny
Byteflair Innovation Process
Technology AG
Hexgrid Consulting Onyx Truefit
API Oriented IT Consulting Firms (10)
MachineShop Xively Temboo
Golgi Microshare
ThingSpeak ARTIK
Droplit Structo Sirqul
IOT Platforms/Networks/Devices API (10)
figo NDGIT
Moneythor
bNesis
Flinks
Open Banking APIs (5)
Reindex Scaphold
Meteor
Prisma Tipe
GraphQL BaaS (5)
DreamFactory Orchestrate.io
Restdb.io
SlashDB XtraLife
DBaas (5) Blockchain APIs (5)
Coinkite Block.io
Bitbutter
Qredo BiiLabs
IBM Cloud Algorithmia Pachyderm Spotinst
Protonet Netlify StdLib Binaris
CloudBoost AWS Lambda Cloudflare Workers Auth0 Extend
Infrastructure/Cloud/Serverless APIs (12)
Backend Building Tools/MBaaS (40)
Dome9 IFTTT Usermind Zapier
built.io elastic.io Azuqua
tray.ioCloudWork Moskitos Cyclr
Automation/Orchestration APIs (11)
SnapLogic Cloud Elements
RapidAPI CloudRail
Xapix Visual APIs
Horizontal API Abstractions (6)
Integration Platform as a Service (17) Vertical API Abstractions (35)
Shippo Everoad EasyPost
Delivery APIs (3)
CloudVelox
Kloudless
Cloud Storage API (2)
Shippify
NextPax Shipitwise
Four51 API2Cart
Ecommerce APIs (5)
Imin Medable Channel HBloomAPI Healthgraphic
Eligible PokitDok Redoxdrchrono TrueVault
Healthcare (10)
LoginRadius Auth0 OAuth.ioSAP Customer Data
CloudData
Janrain
Login APIs (5)
PhizzleSegment QrveyConductrics
Marketing/Analytics (4)
Netatmo Technologies
Muzzley
Sensorist Indigo Domotics
Alexa Internet EnerScore
Smart Home (6)
Axway Appcelerator Sencha AnyPresence Kinvey Kii
GoodBarber BrightWork ApiOmat Convertigo
Backendless Kumulos PerfectlySoft Firebase
MBaas (13)
APIdays.co, The API Landscape, Nov 2018 edition

17. #3. Multiple friction points through entire Developer journey
3.2 Developers manually sift through dev portals of all stripes…

18. #3. Multiple friction points through entire Developer journey
3.3 …then struggle with access (approvals, unclear pricing, poor tooling). All of which
incompatible with modern development practices like Agile, CI/CD and DevOps
• Thousands of
diverse APIs
• Few established
universal
sources
• Manual
searches
• Domain/vertical
API aggregators
lack diversity
DISCOVERY
• Diverse API
portal designs
• Manual review
• Outdated /non-
existent docs
PROCESSING
• 1 dashboard per
API provider
• 1 key per API
service
• 1 payment per
API provider
• No way to unify
API
performance
tracking
MANAGEMENT
• Approval based
access
• Unclear pricing
structures
• Policy changes
and updates
• No trial plans
ACCESS
• Poor tooling
• No self-service
subscription
• API
performance
dependency
CONNECT

19. #3. Multiple friction points through entire Developer journey
3.4 API provider specialization and diversity makes it a persistent problem
Supply-convenience paradox:
• Best-of-breed applications benefit from diverse
long-tail API Providers.
• Applications derive more value as they can
access more APIs
• BUT more APIs = more Developer
inconvenience (overhead)
• Multiple user accounts
• Multiple (inconsistent) portals
• Multiple tokens
• Multiple bills, subscriptions, payments
• Multiple analytics platforms
• AND Inconvenience compounds exponentially
with increased API usage
API proliferation and service
specialization is friction to ‘making the
market’

20. #4. Technical and business innovations emerge to solve complexity
4.1: ‘Over the top’ APIs (APIs on top of APIs) solve administration complexity at a use case level
• Aggregate multiple APIs of similar
function into one, allowing developers
easy access.
• Relevant where customers are
required to use different systems and
accounts.
• Services on top of underlying APIs Developer OTT API
API 1
API 2
API 3

21. #4. Technical and business innovations emerge to solve complexity
4.1.1: OTT API case study: Banking service aggregation
• FinTech apps need integrations with
multiple banks to pull consumer data
and execute transactions.
• There are over 2,000 retail banks in
the U.S. alone.
• Plaid offers a unified programming
interface for all of them.
• Competitors: Yodlee, Quovo

22. #4. Technical and business innovations emerge to solve complexity
4.1.1: OTT API case study: Calendars and mailboxes aggregation
• Many application require mailbox and
calendar access (CRM, scheduling,
facilities)
• Companies use different systems for
email and calendars
• Nylas enabled users to connect to
systems via an API instead of
individually

23. #4. Technical and business innovations emerge to solve complexity
4.1.1: OTT API case study: Payment processing aggregation
• Global E-Commerce applications and
websites need to integrate with a
variety of payment methods.
• Zooz offers a single interface, to allow
developers to quickly support all
methods & leverage the most cost
effective.

24. #5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Brand identity
5.1 Enterprise APIs lag ’API Natives’ by proportion of “API” keywords
Avg. 0.001%
Ahrefs data: domain keywords, domain keywords containing “API”
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
tw
ilio.com
sendgrid.com
stripe.com
adyen.com
‘Native API’
Players
Avg. 0.8%
salesforce.com
azure.m
icrosoft.com
aw
s.am
azon.com
google.developers.com
Established
enterprise APIs
Avg. 0.55%
0.0000%
0.0013%
walm
art.com
bestbuy.com
skyscanner.com
‘Partner’ API
Programs
Avg. 0.001%

25. #5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Public API usage
5.2 Unchecked consumption of public APIs presents significant shadow IT problem

26. 53.6 %
40 %
39.2 %
35 %
7.2 %
25 %
2017 2018
> 1,000
400 - 1,000
< 400
#internalAPIs
Ping Identity survey – Security and IT Professionals are concerned about enterprise API growth
In 2018, 25% of US high-
tech firms have over 1000
internal APIs, over 3x
higher than previous year.
#5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Internal APIs
5.3 Internal API proliferation accelerating within enterprises…

27. #5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Internal APIs
5.3 …1st generation API management was single API and creator centric
API
Code
VM
API
Gateway
Dev
portal &
docs
API
Analytics
API
Monitoring

28. #5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Internal APIs
5.3 …As internal APIs grew, this resulted in proliferation of mini stacks

29. #5. Multifaceted Enterprise API challenge: Internal APIs
5.3 …even with ‘standard’ stacks, multiple systems persist à fragmented internal API landscape
Business 1
API 1 API 2 API 3
Business 2
API 4 API 5 API 6
Business 3
API 2 API 7 API 5
Business 4
API 1 API 2 API 6

30. #6. API-as-a-Product thinking
Common functional gaps: API commercials & marketing
Technical Business
Design
• Endpoints/
resources
• Quotas, pricing
tiers
• Security- 0auth,
security keys,
access control
Iterate
• Update cycle
• Incorporate
user feedback
• Deprecation
Analytics
• User Geos
• Top endpoints
• API
Performance
Maintain
• Portal set up
• Documentation
updates
• User
notifications &
updates
Pricing
• Competitor
analysis
• Pricing
frameworks
Channels /
Access
• Self-service
onboarding
• Limited free tier
• Docs/
knowledge
center
• Transparent
pricing
• Transact
• Tooling
• Codes & SDK
• *3rd party
platforms
Marketing
Offline
• Meetups
• Champions
• Hackathons
• Conferences
Online
• Blog content
• SEO
• Ads
• Social media
• Backlinks
• Drip campaigns
• Webinars

31. Executive sponsor
(CDO, CIO, CTO, BU Head)
API Developer
API Architect
Community
Evangelist
Digital Marketer/
Growth hacker
Design
Iterate
Maintain
Channels
/ Access
MarketingAnalytics
Pricing
API Product Manager
#6. API-as-a-Product thinking
Common organizational gaps: Business sponsorship & digital marketing
Functional
Operational
Executive

32. #7. Step up your marketing game
DevRel and digital marketing take immense effort
Offline
Community
speaking
Meetups
Events
booths
Enterprise
seminars
Keynotes
Developer
Evangelism
Community
champions
Coding
bootcamps
Hackathons
SEO
Landing pages
Trial
credits
Referral
program
Blog
Posts
Keyword
targeting
Social
ads
Retargeting/
Remarketing links
Backlink
building
Webscraping
Lead
genContent
optimization
Social
posts
Guest
content
DigitalWebinars
Community
sponsorships

33. #7.1 Optimize marketing efforts w/ off-online feedback loops
7.1.1 How we scaled through hackathons while lowering budget & bandwidth by 80%
Found
superfans
Std. perk
package
Sponsored
local
hackathons
1
Understand goals
(visibility, recognition,
street cred)
Inbound
interest
Remote/hybrid
support model
‘API Ninjas’
Champion program
Visible recognition
(swag, business cards)
2
Champion-
supported
Hackathons
3
Hackathon
partnerships
($0 spend)
4
Hackathon
cross-promotion
(PR, backlinks)

34. Single
mailing
list
#7.1 Optimize marketing efforts w/ off-online feedback loops
7.1.2 How we run weekly webinars for community building + lead-gen
Invite
email drip
campaign
Webinar
event
Create/
source
content
Publish event
• channel 1
• channel 2
• channel 3
Call to
action
Cultivate
interest
Lead Gen:
API Consultation
BD pipeline
1
API subscriptions
Community
champion
Technical
content
Build
attendee list
2
Success
story content
3
4

35. #8. Leveraging API platforms/aggregators
[API Providers] API aggregators capture >6x mindshare on API search intent
Ahrefs data: domain keywords, domain keywords containing “API”
0.0%
1.0%
2.0%
3.0%
4.0%
5.0%
api.rakuten.net
program
m
ableweb.com
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
tw
ilio.com
sendgrid.com
stripe.com
adyen.com
‘Native API’
Players
Avg. 0.8%
salesforce.com
azure.m
icrosoft.com
aw
s.am
azon.com
google.developers.com
Established
enterprise APIs
Avg. 0.55%
0.0000%
0.0013%
walm
art.com
bestbuy.com
skyscanner.com
Partner API
Programs
Avg. 0.001%
Avg. 4.9%
Aggregators

36. #8. Leveraging API platforms/aggregators
[API Providers] Full-featured API portal in minutes
Custom
branded
Endpoints (openAPI
spec or custom config)
Code snippet
generation
Live
responses
Pricing, metering,
billing, collections
Docs
Support
portal
Endpoints config

37. Public Marketplace
API Hub
Search, Test & Connect, Manage APIs.
On Prem
Enterprise Developers
API
Providers
Enterprise Hub
Gateways
APIs
Cloud Public APIs
API API
Gateway
#8. Leveraging API platforms/aggregators
[Enterprise API Management] ‘Enterprise Hub’ as your single API discovery layer
API API
Gateway
API API
Gateway
API API
Gateway
Kubernetes
API API
Gateway

38. #8. Leveraging API platforms/aggregators
[Enterprise API Management] ‘Enterprise Hub’ as your single API discovery layer
• Customized UI - match the
look and feel of your
business and brand
• SSO & Org Structure –
connect to internal
SSO/ADFS for seamless
developer access
• Private cloud / On-prem
deployment – deploy
where you are.

39. 39
Let’s Connect
@jed_ng1
linkedin.com/in/jedng/
jed.h.ng@gmail.com