Every second, billions of digital events flow across the internet.
A payment is processed. A package is tracked. A video starts streaming. A bank detects suspicious activity. Behind many of these real-time systems is a technology few consumers have ever heard of: Apache Kafka.
One of the engineers who helped create it is Neha Narkhede, an Indian-origin entrepreneur whose work has shaped modern data infrastructure and, more recently, AI-driven risk management.
From helping build one of the world’s most widely used open-source technologies to founding two enterprise software companies, her career reflects how solving deep technical problems can create businesses with global impact.
Building Apache Kafka at LinkedIn
Raised in Pune, Neha Narkhede graduated with a degree in engineering from the University of Pune before moving to the United States.
She joined LinkedIn as a software engineer, where the company faced a growing challenge: processing massive volumes of real-time data generated by hundreds of millions of users.
Working alongside Jay Kreps and Jun Rao, she became one of the original creators of Apache Kafka, an open-source distributed event-streaming platform designed to move large amounts of data reliably and with very low latency.
Today, Kafka has become one of the world’s most widely adopted data infrastructure technologies, powering applications across finance, e-commerce, telecommunications, cloud computing, and streaming platforms.
Turning Open Source Into a Billion-Dollar Business
Recognising that enterprises needed commercial tools and support around Kafka, Narkhede co-founded Confluent in 2014 with Jay Kreps and Jun Rao.
The company built an enterprise platform that enables organisations to process, manage, and analyse real-time data at scale.
Confluent went public on the Nasdaq in June 2021, raising approximately $828 million through its initial public offering.
For 2024, the company reported more than $960 million in annual revenue, serving thousands of enterprise customers worldwide while establishing itself as one of the leading data-streaming platforms.
Narkhede continues to serve as a member of Confluent’s Board of Directors.
Solving the Next Challenge With Oscilar
After helping transform data streaming, Narkhede turned her attention to another growing problem: fraud detection and financial risk.
She co-founded Oscilar, where she serves as CEO, to help financial institutions use artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve fraud prevention, credit decision-making, identity verification, and compliance.
As digital payments and online financial services continue expanding, organisations increasingly rely on AI to detect threats in real time without slowing legitimate customer transactions.
Oscilar aims to provide that intelligence through a unified risk management platform.
Engineering the Future of Enterprise Software
Unlike many technology entrepreneurs known for consumer products, Neha Narkhede has built her career around the invisible infrastructure that powers the digital economy.
Her work has influenced how companies process real-time information, scale cloud applications, and combat financial fraud using artificial intelligence.
From creating Apache Kafka to building Confluent and leading Oscilar, she has remained focused on solving complex engineering problems with practical business applications.
Her journey highlights how foundational technologies, though often unseen by consumers, can transform entire industries and establish lasting global companies.
