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Key people at Buf.
Buf is a Buffalo, New York-based software organization that provides an end-to-end developer platform for Protocol Buffers, gRPC, and Kafka. The company's core SaaS offerings include the Buf Schema Registry for managing API schemas and Bufstream, an enterprise-grade Kafka alternative designed to store data directly in Apache Iceberg tables. By eliminating unnecessary ETL processes and enforcing strict schema validation, the platform enables schema-driven API development while helping enterprises reduce cloud data streaming costs by up to 10x. Operating with a team of 47 employees, Buf has secured $93.4 million in total funding across four rounds by December 2021, highlighted by a $68 million Series B investment. The organization is currently backed by prominent venture capital firms such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Tiger Global, Amplify Partners, and Addition. Buf was founded in 2020.
Buf (Buf Technologies, Inc.) is a technology company building tools to promote universal schema adoption, specifically advancing Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) over traditional REST/JSON APIs for API management and stream processing.[2][7][8] It serves developers and organizations building modern APIs, solving the problem of inconsistent, inefficient API development by enabling schema-driven development that improves consistency, speed, and scalability across services.[7][8] Buf's growth momentum includes multiple fundraising rounds after two years of intense development, featuring thousands of GitHub stars (over 3K), a growing remote team in Toronto, and upcoming launches like the official Buf Schema Registry.[7]
Buf emerged from a mission to transform API development by deprecating REST/JSON in favor of Protobuf-based schema-driven approaches.[7][8] Founded by a team focused on Protobuf and gRPC ecosystems, the idea gained traction through the Buf CLI and Schema Registry tools, amassing hundreds of thousands of lines of code and strong community adoption with 3K+ GitHub stars.[7] Pivotal moments include purposeful product focus over public fundraising noise, culminating in announcements of four successful funding rounds to fuel expansion, alongside active hiring for technical roles.[7]
Buf rides the trend toward schema-first, high-performance APIs amid the shift from REST/JSON to gRPC and Protobuf, driven by demands for microservices, streaming, and efficient data serialization in cloud-native environments.[7][8] Timing aligns with maturing gRPC adoption and developer frustration with JSON inconsistencies, amplified by remote work and open-source collaboration. Market forces like API complexity in distributed systems favor Buf's tools, positioning it to influence the ecosystem by standardizing schemas, boosting developer productivity, and enabling scalable architectures for enterprises.[2][7]
Buf is poised for aggressive expansion with new hires, Schema Registry launch, and editor integrations, solidifying its role in a Protobuf-dominated API future.[7][8] Trends like edge computing and real-time streaming will amplify demand for its schema tools, potentially evolving Buf into a core infrastructure layer for API platforms. As it scales from CLI to full ecosystem enabler, Buf could redefine developer standards, tying back to its core mission of deprecating outdated paradigms for schema-driven innovation.[7][8]
Key people at Buf.
