Postman Acquires Orbit, ChainLink Functions, Pandabuy API Breach
The API Changelog issue 2024.16
This is issue 2024.16 of the API Changelog, a mix of API news, commentary, and opinion. In this issue, you'll get to know the most relevant API-related information from the week of April 8, 2024. Subscribe now, so you never miss an issue of the API Changelog.
Highlight of the week
Postman has acquired Orbit, a community growth platform, to enhance its Public API Network's collaborative features. The Orbit team, now led by Postman’s Noah Schwartz, will sunset its product in 90 days to focus on API community engagement within Postman. See additional coverage on The Economic Times, Bakersfield, businesswire, and Yahoo!finance.
Patrick Woods, co-founder of Orbit, sees the acquisition positively. Woods mentions that Postman’s growing community of more than 30 million active developers is “a huge opportunity for API builders to engage directly with some of their most important developers.” With the acquisition, Postman will have the technology, the product, and the team it needs to take DX to a new level. Woods believes they can catalyze Postman’s community “via champions programs, support programs, education initiatives, meetups and events, online community management, and various other kinds of community programs out there.”
Abhinav Asthana, Postman CEO, adds that “the Orbit team will now build community features into the Postman Public API Network so that publishers and consumers can actively collaborate.” Noah Schwartz, who was hired in June 2023, leads the Postman Public API Network and, according to the communique will be in charge of integrating Orbit’s offerings and translating them into an evolution of the community.
While financial details of the deal have not been shared, Orbit had a total funding amount of $22.7M spread across four rounds, according to Crunchbase. Coatue Ventures was an investor in both Orbit (Series A) and Postman (Series D). With Orbit, this is the second Postman acquisition, following Akita Software, an API observability solution, in July 2023.
Announcements
Microsoft Research introduced Garnet, an open-source cache store boasting better performance than existing solutions like Redis. Garnet provides high throughput and low latency, compatible with Redis clients, and is optimizable for modern hardware.
Google Universal Analytics will be fully replaced by Google Analytics 4, with the former ceasing to record data on July 1, 2024. Users are urged to migrate and export UA data before the shutdown to prevent loss of campaign performance and data access.
Microsoft has developed a "privacy-preserving" ad API for Edge that aims to offer targeted ads securely, without third-party cookies. AdGuard, however, plans to block this API, citing concerns similar to those for Google's counterpart, despite it running auctions in a safer Trusted Execution Environment.
MainConcept EVA streamlines video workflows by integrating software and hardware codec management into a single API, optimized for AMD, Intel, and Nvidia GPUs. MainConcept's collaboration with these tech giants enables enhanced performance, quality, and energy efficiency for producers and broadcasters.
Elasticsearch has announced that its open inference API now supports Cohere's Rerank 3 model, providing developers with greater semantic relevance to keyword and vector search retrieval for prompting large language models (LLMs). This integration allows developers to use Cohere's enhanced last-stage reranking capabilities and leverage Elasticsearch's vector database and hybrid search capabilities for embeddings from other third-party models.
Jetlets, unveiled by cloud integration firm Jetic, is a low-code/no-code solution enabling easy construction of complex integrations beyond typical platforms. Jetic's platform provides API management and real-time integration, supporting specialized scenarios and modern CI/CD strategies within any GitOps setup.
MEF has launched an API portfolio to boost digital transformation, allowing enterprises to automate interactions with service providers. The suite aligns with MEF’s NaaS Blueprint, offering new and existing assets to enhance Network-as-a-Service for enterprises.
Meta Threads social network has released API documentation and a sign-up for developers before its June public launch. The API enforces posting limits and provides analytics, while integration and feedback will refine future updates. See additional coverage on SocialMediaToday, Tech Times, and Meta.
Sendbird unveiled Business Messaging, a channel-optimized mobile communication tool yielding higher open rates and cost savings. The novel solution blends operational ease and rich API features for effective, customizable customer messaging across various platforms.
Funding and M&A
Noname Security, a cybersecurity firm focused on API protection, is reportedly nearing a $500 million sale to Akamai Technologies. The sale, at half of Noname's peak valuation, offers early investors significant returns and later-stage backers recovery of invested capital.
Dapta, a no-code API and AI integration platform, has secured $1.2 million in pre-seed funding to enhance its product and enter the US market. The funding, led by Fen Ventures and LatinLeap, supports Dapta's efforts to provide SMBs with easy access to AI tools, presently aiding over 1,500 companies globally.
AI
OpenAI unveiled updates to enhance its fine-tuning API, offering developers more control over tasks. New features allow for streamlined customization and task management. See additional coverage on Geeky Gadgets, Techzine, The Verge, SiliconAngle, and MSPowerUser.
Cloudian and Axle AI unveiled a joint hybrid cloud solution enhancing AI-driven media management across storage platforms. The solution marries Axle AI's searchable media capabilities with Cloudian's scalable, secure data lake for seamless management and instant searchability. See additional coverage on Blocks & Files.
OpenAI and Anthropic often overshadow small firms, but Y Combinator's startups defy this by building their own AI models. These startups employ ingenious methods and YC's resources to democratize AI, accelerating innovation and variety in the field.
Anthropic AI has introduced beta tool use in its Claude AI models, enabling integration with external tools for verified data access. These enhancements allow Claude to process complex queries with multiple third-party tools, expanding into crypto and blockchain applications. See additional coverage on CryptoDaily.
AlphaKEK AI introduces a private AlphaKEK API for Web3, with plans for public SDK integration and specialized data tools. Their AGI focus targets AI infrastructure for cryptocurrency insight and autonomous research agents.
At Nvidia's GTC 2024, the GR00T model for intelligent humanoid robots was introduced featuring natural language understanding and movement emulation. GR00T leverages Nvidia's new Jetson Thor systems, Isaac Sim, and Nvidia Osmo platform for robust AI robot training and simulation.
SymphonyAI unveiled SensaAI for Sanctions, a platform-agnostic, ready-to-deploy AI solution enhancing sanctions screening. SensaAI boosts match accuracy by integrating with existing systems and employing advanced, context-aware AI algorithms.
Fintech
Chainlink Functions, now live on Coinbase-incubated Base, offers developers trust-minimized off-chain computations and API connections. This Layer-2 integration enables secure, serverless smart contract development with decentralized consensus. See additional coverage on Yahoo!finance.
SurePay has announced that its fraud-preventing solutions are now accessible through the cloud-based Temenos Exchange partner ecosystem. These solutions aim to safeguard payments and ensure compliance, providing easier integration and reduced costs for banks using Temenos.
JustPaid, a fintech company, debuts an API for usage-based billing and automatic invoice generation. The innovative platform simplifies payment processing, allowing businesses to embed payment capabilities into their services. See additional coverage on StreetInsider.com and Yahoo!finance.
Security
GoPlus provides essential security data to Web3 platforms, aiming to mitigate emerging threats such as bad tokens and fraudulent addresses. The demand for GoPlus' API security services has skyrocketed, highlighting the industry's increasing commitment to community safety.
Meta refutes claims it shared users' private messages with Netflix, stating the feature was for users to share content via messaging. Despite denials, documents suggest Netflix had privileged API access and there was substantial advertising investment by Netflix on Facebook. See additional coverage on Bleeding Fool and Arab News.
The Pandabuy data breach exposed over 1.3 million users' info after hackers claimed they exploited API vulnerabilities. The company acknowledged the breach and took measures while offering customers a 10% freight subsidy as compensation.
Siren, an investigation platform, and Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence platform, have announced a strategic partnership at the Chainalysis Links event in New York. The partnership aims to combat illicit cryptocurrency activity, as cryptocurrency becomes more mainstream.
Just to clarify, Orbit's acquisition of Hoopy did not complete due to finances on the acquirer's side. Hoopy remained and continues to be independent.