Neha Narkhede helped shape the modern data economy by co-inventing Apache Kafka while working at LinkedIn. Recognizing the technology’s broader commercial potential, she co-founded Confluent to bring real-time data streaming to enterprises worldwide. Under her leadership, Confluent grew into a major technology company and went public at a valuation of approximately $9.1 billion. Her work enabled organizations to process and act on data at unprecedented speed and scale. Narkhede’s achievements established her as one of the most influential entrepreneurs in enterprise software and data infrastructure.
