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Qudian Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2024 Unaudited Financial Results

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XIAMEN, China, Nov. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Qudian Inc. (“Qudian” or “the Company” or “We”) (NYSE: QD), a consumer-oriented technology company in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.

Third Quarter 2024 Financial Highlights:

Total revenues were RMB55.0 million (US$7.8 million), compared to RMB29.6 million for the same period of last yearNet income attributable to Qudian’s shareholders was RMB131.9 million (US$18.8 million), compared to net loss of RMB181.2 million for the same period of last year; net income per diluted ADS was RMB0.71 (US$0.10) for the third quarter of 2024Non-GAAP net income attributable to Qudian’s shareholders was RMB131.9 million (US$18.8 million), compared to Non-GAAP net loss of RMB179.8 million for the same period of last year. We exclude share-based compensation expenses from our non-GAAP measures. Non-GAAP net income per diluted ADS was RMB0.71 (US$0.10) for the third quarter of 2024

The Company’s last-mile delivery business continued to make steady progress in 2024, which generated approximately RMB53.5 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2024, compared to RMB28.6 million for the third quarter of 2023. Moving forward, the Company expects to remain steadfast in its commitment to executing its business transition and simultaneously maintaining prudent cash management to safeguard its balance sheet.

Third Quarter Financial Results

Sales income and others increased by 85.9% to RMB55.0 million (US$7.8 million) from RMB29.6 million for the third quarter of 2023, which was primarily attributable to the increase in sales income generated from last-mile delivery business.

Total operating costs and expenses decreased to RMB122.0 million (US$17.4 million) from RMB141.1 million for the third quarter of 2023.

Cost of revenues increased by 5.7% to RMB48.9 million (US$7.0 million) from RMB46.3 million for the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to the increase in service cost related to last-mile delivery business.

General and administrative expenses decreased by 27.5% to RMB58.6 million (US$8.3 million) from RMB80.8 million for the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to the reduce in professional services fees after the Company completed research and consultation for last-mile delivery business in its early stage.

Research and development expenses increased by 29.3% to RMB14.6 million (US$2.1 million) from RMB11.3 million for the third quarter of 2023, primarily due to the increase in staff salaries as the Company continues to explore new business opportunities.

Loss from operations was RMB67.0 million (US$9.5 million), compared to RMB100.8 million for the third quarter of 2023.

Interest and investment income, net was RMB228.4 million (US$32.6 million), compared to interest and investment loss of RMB7.1 million for the third quarter of 2023, primarily attributable to the increase of income from investments in the third quarter of 2024.

Gain on derivative instrument was RMB30.2 million (US$4.3 million), compared to loss on derivative instrument of RMB108.0 million for the third quarter of 2023, mainly attributable to the increase in quoted price of the underlying equity securities relating to the derivative instruments we held.

Net income attributable to Qudian’s shareholders was RMB131.9 million (US$18.8 million), compared to net loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders of RMB181.2 million in the third quarter of 2023. Net income per diluted ADS was RMB0.71 (US$0.10).

Non-GAAP net income attributable to Qudian’s shareholders was RMB131.9 million (US$18.8 million), compared to Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders of RMB179.8 in the third quarter of 2023. Non-GAAP net income per diluted ADS was RMB0.71 (US$0.10).

Cash Flow

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of RMB4,847.0 million (US$690.7 million) and restricted cash of RMB779.5 million (US$111.1 million). Restricted cash mainly represents security deposits held in designated bank accounts for the guarantee of short-term borrowings. Such restricted cash is not available to fund the general liquidity needs of the Company.

For the third quarter of 2024, net cash provided by operating activities was RMB679.9 million (US$96.9 million), mainly due to the net proceeds from redemption of time and structured deposit. Net cash used in investing activities was RMB541.8 million (US$77.2 million), mainly due to payments of deposit pledged as collateral for derivative instrument. Net cash provided by financing activities was RMB638.0 million (US$90.9 million), mainly due to the proceeds from short-term borrowings and partially offset by the repurchase of ordinary shares.

Last-mile Delivery Business

In response to the surging demand for cross-border e-commerce transactions, the Company has proactively sought innovative logistic services and solutions to meet global consumers’ expectations for swift and top-tier delivery services. In December 2022, the Company launched its last-mile delivery services under the brand name of “Fast Horse.” The business was initially launched on a trial basis and has gradually achieved meaningful scale in Australia during the second quarter of 2023. As of the date of this release, the Company’s last-mile delivery service is available in Australia and New Zealand.

Update on Share Repurchase

Our Board approved a share repurchase program in March 2024 to purchase up to US$300 million worth of Class A ordinary shares or ADSs in the next 36 months starting from June 13, 2024. From the launch of the share repurchase program on June 13, 2024 to November 18, 2024, the Company has in aggregate purchased 12.1 million ADSs in the open market for a total amount of approximately US$25.3 million (an average price of $2.1 per ADS) pursuant to the share repurchase program.

As of November 18, 2024, the Company had in aggregate purchased 166.4 million ADSs for a total amount of approximately US$719.5 million (an average price of $4.3 per ADS).

About Qudian Inc.

Qudian Inc. (“Qudian”) is a consumer-oriented technology company. The Company historically focused on providing credit solutions to consumers. Qudian is exploring innovative logistics services to satisfy consumers’ demand for e-commerce transactions by leveraging its technology capabilities.

For more information, please visit http://ir.qudian.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use Non-GAAP net income/loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders, a Non-GAAP financial measure, in evaluating our operating results and for financial and operational decision-making purposes. We believe that Non-GAAP net income/loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders helps identify underlying trends in our business by excluding the impact of share-based compensation expenses, which are non-cash charges. We believe that Non-GAAP net income/loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders provides useful information about our operating results, enhances the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects and allows for greater visibility with respect to key metrics used by our management in its financial and operational decision-making.

Non-GAAP net income/loss attributable to Qudian’s shareholders is not defined under U.S. GAAP and is not presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. This Non-GAAP financial measure has limitations as an analytical tool, and when assessing our operating performance, cash flows or our liquidity, investors should not consider them in isolation, or as a substitute for net loss /income, cash flows provided by operating activities or other consolidated statements of operation and cash flow data prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

We mitigate these limitations by reconciling the Non-GAAP financial measure to the most comparable U.S. GAAP performance measure, all of which should be considered when evaluating our performance.

For more information on this Non-GAAP financial measure, please see the table captioned “Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results” set forth at the end of this press release.

Exchange Rate Information

This announcement contains translations of certain RMB amounts into U.S. dollars (“US$”) at specified rates solely for the convenience of the reader. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from RMB to US$ were made at the rate of RMB7.0176 to US$1.00, the noon buying rate in effect on September 30, 2024, in the H.10 statistical release of the Federal Reserve Board. The Company makes no representation that the RMB or US$ amounts referred could be converted into US$ or RMB, as the case may be, at any particular rate or at all.

Statement Regarding Preliminary Unaudited Financial Information

The unaudited financial information set out in this earnings release is preliminary and subject to potential adjustments. Adjustments to the consolidated financial statements may be identified when audit work has been performed for the Company’s year-end audit, which could result in significant differences from this preliminary unaudited financial information.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, the expectation of its collection efficiency and delinquency, contain forward-looking statements. Qudian may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the SEC, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Qudian’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: Qudian’s goal and strategies; Qudian’s expansion plans; Qudian’s future business development, financial condition and results of operations; Qudian’s expectations regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, its products; Qudian’s expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with customers, business partners and other parties it collaborates with; general economic and business conditions; and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in Qudian’s filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and Qudian does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:
Qudian Inc.
Tel: +86-592-596-8208
E-mail: ir@qudian.com

 

 

QUDIAN INC.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

Three months ended September 30,

(In thousands except for number

2023

2024

of shares and per-share data)

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

RMB

RMB

US$

Revenues:

Sales income and others

29,598

55,015

7,840

Total revenues

29,598

55,015

7,840

Operating cost and expenses:

Cost of revenues

(46,279)

(48,913)

(6,970)

Sales and marketing

–

(2,123)

(303)

General and administrative

(80,796)

(58,580)

(8,348)

Research and development

(11,277)

(14,576)

(2,077)

Expected credit (loss)/reversal for receivables and other assets

(3,974)

2,798

399

Impairment gain/(loss) from other assets

1,258

(604)

(86)

Total operating cost and expenses

(141,068)

(121,998)

(17,385)

Other operating income

10,668

–

–

Loss from operations

(100,802)

(66,983)

(9,545)

Interest and investment (loss)/income, net

(7,099)

228,420

32,550

Gain/(Loss) from equity method investments

1,010

(1,390)

(198)

(Loss)/Gain on derivative instruments

(107,969)

30,246

4,310

Foreign exchange gain/(loss), net

274

(7,898)

(1,125)

Other income

10,694

2,030

289

Other expenses

(2,157)

(13,809)

(1,968)

Net (loss)/income before income taxes

(206,049)

170,616

24,313

Income tax expenses

24,821

(38,702)

(5,515)

Net (loss)/income

(181,228)

131,914

18,798

Net (loss)/income attributable to Qudian Inc.’s
shareholders

(181,228)

131,914

18,798

(Loss)/Earnings per share for Class A and Class B
ordinary shares:

Basic

(0.84)

0.73

0.10

Diluted

(0.84)

0.71

0.10

(Loss)/Earnings per ADS (1 Class A ordinary share
equals 1 ADSs):

Basic

(0.84)

0.73

0.10

Diluted

(0.84)

0.71

0.10

Weighted average number of Class A and Class B
ordinary shares outstanding:

Basic

214,666,223

180,111,125

180,111,125

Diluted

214,666,223

185,092,607

185,092,607

Other comprehensive loss:

Foreign currency translation adjustment

(1,471)

(60,991)

(8,691)

Total comprehensive (loss)/income

(182,699)

70,923

10,107

Total comprehensive (loss)/income attributable to
Qudian Inc.’s shareholders 

(182,699)

70,923

10,107

 

 

 

QUDIAN INC.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

As of June 30,

As of September 30,

(In thousands except for number

2024

2024

of shares and per-share data)

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

RMB

RMB

US$

ASSETS:

 Current assets:

 Cash and cash equivalents

4,849,019

4,847,011

690,694

 Restricted cash

51,984

779,529

111,082

Time and structured deposit

2,948,606

1,988,626

283,377

 Short-term investments

1,091,177

485,814

69,228

 Accounts receivables

39,418

38,492

5,485

 Other current assets

615,275

2,104,961

299,955

 Total current assets

9,595,479

10,244,433

1,459,821

 Non-current assets:

 Right-of-use assets

163,246

163,539

23,304

 Investment in equity method investee

150,691

148,701

21,190

 Long-term investments

210,448

83,987

11,968

 Property and equipment, net

1,410,125

1,450,975

206,762

 Intangible assets

2,764

1,668

238

 Other non-current assets

469,476

459,272

65,446

 Total non-current assets

2,406,750

2,308,142

328,908

TOTAL ASSETS

12,002,229

12,552,575

1,788,729

QUDIAN INC.

Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Continued)

As of June 30,

As of September 30,

(In thousands except for number

2024

2024

of shares and per-share data)

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

RMB

RMB

US$

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY 

 Current liabilities: 

 Short-term borrowings and interest payables

–

720,000

102,599

 Short-term lease liabilities

19,789

19,853

2,829

 Derivative instruments-liability

248,228

85,795

12,226

 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 

202,856

188,209

26,820

 Income tax payable 

25,947

33,728

4,806

 Total current liabilities 

496,820

1,047,585

149,280

 Non-current liabilities: 

 Long-term lease liabilities

51,432

51,661

7,362

 Total non-current liabilities 

51,432

51,661

7,362

 Total liabilities 

548,252

1,099,246

156,642

 Shareholders’ equity: 

 Class A Ordinary shares 

132

132

19

 Class B Ordinary shares 

44

44

6

 Treasury shares 

(1,196,636)

(1,263,641)

(180,067)

 Additional paid-in capital 

4,031,438

4,026,876

573,825

 Accumulated other comprehensive loss 

14,434

(46,556)

(6,634)

 Retained earnings 

8,604,565

8,736,474

1,244,938

 Total shareholders’ equity 

11,453,977

11,453,329

1,632,087

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY 

12,002,229

12,552,575

1,788,729

 

 

 

QUDIAN INC.

Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP And Non-GAAP Results

Three months ended September 30,

2023

2024

(In thousands except for number

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

of shares and per-share data)

RMB

RMB

US$

Total net (loss)/income attributable to Qudian Inc.’s shareholders

(181,228)

131,914

18,798

Add: Share-based compensation expenses 

1,432

–

–

Non-GAAP net (loss)/income attributable to Qudian Inc.’s shareholders

(179,796)

131,914

18,798

Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share—basic

(0.84)

0.73

0.10

Non-GAAP net (loss)/income per share—diluted

(0.84)

0.71

0.10

Weighted average shares outstanding—basic

214,666,223

180,111,125

180,111,125

Weighted average shares outstanding—diluted

214,666,223

185,092,607

185,092,607

 

 

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SOURCE Qudian Inc.

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U.S. Quartz Workers: Strong Safeguard Remedies Needed to Save 100,000 American Manufacturing Jobs

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56 minutes ago

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July 23, 2026

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WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Quartz Manufacturers Alliance for America (QMAA) released a powerful video featuring quartz manufacturing workers from across the country calling for free and fair trade policies to save 100,000 American jobs. QMAA, a coalition of leading U.S.-based quartz slab manufacturers, are calling for strong safeguard remedies after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found a huge flood of foreign imports had caused tremendous injury to the domestic quartz industry.

QMAA members are urging the Trump Administration to build on the ITC’s strong recommendation and address this major flood of quartz imports with a Tariff of 50% and a Reshoring Import Cap of 141 million square feet on imported quartz surface products. This will ensure a reshoring of the good-paying U.S. quartz manufacturing jobs stolen by companies who cheat U.S. trade law, distort competition and are decimating U.S. quartz manufacturing. Together, these trade remedies will provide the relief necessary to save the 100,000 jobs supported by the U.S. quartz industry.

The video features workers from LX Hausys, Guidoni USA and Cambria Company and is available here:
Save 100,000 American Quartz Jobs

Quotes from QMAA Quartz Manufacturing Workers
“This facility used to be a Husqvarna plant. Husqvarna closed down due to cheap foreign imports. There were over 1,000 people working here and all of a sudden…I’m worried I may see the same thing take place again.”
-Raymond Mack, Production Operator, Guidoni USA, Helena-McRae, GA

“Foreign countries, mainly China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, have been circumventing and cheating the American market. We believe in the industry. We believe in the American working power. We just want to level the playing field, make it fair for everyone and everyone will benefit.”
– Daniel Vas de Melo SA, Business Development Manager, Guidoni USA, McRae-Helena, GA

“In order for us to continue to compete, we need a strong Tariff and Import Cap on imported quartz surfaces. That will ensure we can play on an even playing field. That’s all we’re asking for. I would hate to see cheap, imported quartz have a negative impact on families such as mine and the other families that we employ here.”
– Mike Morici, Vice President – LX Hausys, Adairsville, GA

“The surge of foreign imports has shocked the U.S. economy, and the market for surfaces. It’s taken prices down to unsustainably low levels for any domestic supplier. The result of that is we’re not producing as much as we should, we can’t hire as many people as we would like to, and we can’t grow our business in the way that we and our peers in the U.S. want to grow.”
– Andrew Eich, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cambria

“As these foreign imports flood the market, we lose the ability to create and sustain jobs that ensure good paying conditions for manufacturing workers. There will be over 100,000 jobs that have the strong potential to go away.”
– Jack Sundry, SVP Core and Lexus – Cambria, Southern Minnesota

Background
In September 2025, QMAA filed a Global Safeguard petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under Section 201 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The ITC’s thorough investigation found serious injury to the domestic industry caused by a massive import surge designed to undercut American businesses. Quartz imports have surged by 78.3% within the past five years, leading to a nearly 20% decline in domestic production, factory closures and major job reductions.

A final safeguard decision from the United States Trade Representative is expected by Aug. 1, 2026.

About the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance for America:
QMAA is a coalition of U.S.-based, American quartz slab manufacturing factories, united with other industry leaders to support and strengthen the American quartz industry. QMAA is committed to ensuring a free and fair, competitive marketplace born of free enterprise that provides the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for American quartz slab manufacturing factories and their valued workers. We also believe this effort will have a positive impact throughout the entire quartz surfacing industry, including to the strong benefit of American stone fabrication shops and upstream suppliers of quartz minerals and resin. Learn more at: https://www.qmaa.org/

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SOURCE Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America

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Databricks and Microsoft expand partnership to help enterprises bring business context to enterprise AI

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July 23, 2026

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Databricks and Microsoft extend strategic partnership through the 2030s to scale enterprise AIDatabricks deepens its bet on Azure, growing its use of Azure Databricks to run its own core business operations and analytics, while both companies advance native integration across the Microsoft stack, including Databricks Genie and Microsoft 365Databricks increases its use of Microsoft Azure Cobalt to improve performance and efficiency

REDMOND, Wash. and SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Microsoft Corp. and Databricks on Wednesday announced an expansion of their decade-long strategic partnership, extending into the 2030s. Databricks will deepen its use of Azure Databricks to run core business operations and build its unified lakehouse, while leveraging Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency. Microsoft will also continue integrating Databricks Data and AI platform across its products, bringing capabilities like Genie, Databricks’ AI co-worker, directly into customer workflows. Together, the companies are helping enterprises build AI grounded in their own business context with the cost efficiency, control and choice needed to scale successfully.

Enterprises want AI that understands their customers, products, operations, metrics and business processes, all while running securely where work happens. Yet, most still struggle to connect AI to trusted business knowledge, govern models and agents consistently, and control costs. Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers close that gap: 

“For nearly a decade, Databricks and Microsoft have helped enterprises innovate with data and AI,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co‑Founder and CEO of Databricks. “Today, our partnership is stronger than ever. With Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway deeply integrated across Microsoft’s products, we’re helping enterprises unify their data and ground AI in business knowledge. This lets customers get the full benefits of agents and models while controlling costs and ensuring governance.”

“The next generation of AI will be defined by how effectively organizations turn their unique knowledge into intelligence,” said Judson Althoff, CEO, Microsoft Commercial Business. “Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers connect data, AI and business context to accelerate decision-making and drive measurable impact. With Databricks deepening its investment in Azure Databricks and Azure Cobalt-powered infrastructure, customers will benefit from greater performance, efficiency and scale for their most demanding workloads. Databricks’ decision to run its own core business operations on Azure Databricks also gives customers confidence in a platform proven at enterprise scale.”

Databricks runs core business operations on Azure Databricks 

As part of this latest deal, Databricks deepens its commitment to Azure, running its own core business operations and analytics on Azure Databricks, using the very platform it delivers to customers at scale.

Advancing performance with Azure Cobalt

Databricks will also expand its use of Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency for agentic and data-intensive workloads. Databricks currently uses Cobalt 100 and plans to adopt Cobalt 200, which delivers up to 50% better performance and includes memory encryption enabled by default.

Deep integrations for Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway with Microsoft product stack

By combining the Databricks Data + AI Platform with Azure’s global scale, customers can accelerate AI transformation while maintaining control and reliability. As a native Azure service, Azure Databricks makes its AI capabilities available directly within customers’ existing Microsoft environment, grounding and operating agents on enterprise data with Genie and Genie Ontology, and governing models, agents and cost through Unity AI Gateway. Deeply integrated across the Microsoft ecosystem spanning Microsoft Entra, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure security, Microsoft OneLake, Power BI, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Foundry, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot, these capabilities bring governed, real-time data and AI into business workflows, giving organizations the context, control, choice and cost efficiency needed to drive impact.

Continued investment is evident from our recent announcements with Databricks at Data + AI Summit in June.

Customer impact with Azure Databricks

The deepened collaboration strengthens support for joint customers running data, analytics and AI workloads on Azure Databricks, delivering improved performance, security, AI governance and enterprise readiness. Thousands of customers, including Banco Bradesco, the Cincinnati Reds, Electrolux, SMBC and Unilever, already use Azure Databricks to run critical workloads and scale AI with confidence.

Read more on the proven business value of the Databricks and Microsoft partnership on the Microsoft Azure blog.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including AT&T, Bayer, BMW Group, HSBC, T-Mobile, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

 

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SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

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Harness and Kong Expand Strategic Partnership to Deliver Comprehensive API and AI Security

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56 minutes ago

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July 23, 2026

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Joint solution extends proven API gateway security to the AI era — with automated AI discovery and runtime AI protection

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harness, the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, and Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership to address the growing security challenges posed by AI-driven architectures, autonomous agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) deployments.

According to The State of AI-Native Application Security 2025 report, as enterprises race to deploy AI at scale, 62% have no visibility into where LLMs are in use across their environment, and 74% say AI sprawl will outpace API sprawl when it comes to risk — making embedded, infrastructure-level security more critical than ever. And companies are now deploying agents into their operations at an exponentially increasing rate, making it a necessity to protect the agents themselves and the systems interacting with those agents.

The two companies are extending their joint solution from Kong API Gateway to also include Kong AI Gateway, bringing Harness’s AI security intelligence directly into the AI infrastructure layer and enabling enterprises to discover, monitor, and protect every agent, AI asset, LLM-powered service, and MCP-connected workflow that traverses it.

A Proven Foundation: Harness and Kong API Gateway

Harness and Kong have been jointly trusted by enterprises to deliver best-in-class API security for years. The existing Harness and Kong API Gateway integration provides:

Comprehensive API traffic visibility and behavioral analysis across all Kong-managed servicesReal-time detection and blocking of API threats, including OWASP API Security Top 10 risks, credential stuffing attacks, and business logic abuseContinuous sensitive data tracking to identify PII exposure and regulatory riskZero-friction deployment alongside existing Kong configurations

This new offering of the AI Gateway solution applies the same level of security depth to AI infrastructure, ensuring that security teams are not left behind as their organizations adopt AI and agentic operations.

“Our partnership with Harness has given joint customers production-grade API security that works with the way they build, not against it,” said Ken Kim, Senior Vice President, Business Development at Kong Inc. “Extending to include Kong AI Gateway is a natural next step. The same enterprises are now moving AI into production through our gateway and need the same depth of visibility and control they’ve come to rely on for their APIs for all AI traffic types including LLM, MCP, and A2A. That’s exactly what this delivers and is crucial for organizations scaling in the agentic era.”

The New Frontier: Kong AI Gateway and Harness AI Security

As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, the attack surface has fundamentally shifted. AI agents, LLM-powered microservices, and MCP-enabled integrations introduce new vectors that traditional security tools were not designed to address. Unlike traditional software, AI agents are non-deterministic — the same agent can behave differently on consecutive runs, making it impossible to secure them the way you’d secure a static API. The new Harness and Kong AI Gateway integration directly tackles these challenges across two critical domains: AI discovery and AI protection.

AI Discovery
Harness automatically inventories every AI asset, API, MCP server, tool, prompt, and resource routed through Kong AI Gateway — providing security teams with a continuously updated catalog of their AI attack surface. No manual documentation. No blind spots.

AI Protection
Harness applies behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to AI traffic in real time, identifying prompt injection attacks, data exfiltration through AI responses, jailbreaking, malicious code in prompts, and other AI-specific threats. Enterprises gain the same depth of observability and protection for their agents and AI workloads that they already rely on for traditional APIs, with full prompt and response details available for incident investigation and inline policy enforcement through Kong AI Gateway.

“Shadow AI has become the defining security blind spot for enterprises today. Traditional tools were built for static code and predictable systems, not for adaptive AI models, agent-to-agent communication, and MCP-connected workflows that evolve continuously,” said Rahul Sood, GM of Application Security at Harness. “This integration of Harness AI Security with Kong puts security intelligence directly into the connectivity layer where AI traffic flows. Joint customers now have the visibility and control they need to move fast without losing sight of what’s happening across their AI infrastructure.”

Availability

The Harness and Kong API Gateway integration is generally available today for all joint customers. The Kong AI Gateway integration, including AI Discovery and AI Protection, is also generally available now. Joint customers can contact their account team or request a demo.

About Harness
Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, enabling engineering teams to build, test, and deliver software faster and more securely. Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the platform brings intelligent automation to every stage of the software delivery lifecycle after code — removing toil and freeing developers from manual, repetitive work. Companies like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels use Harness to accelerate releases by up to 75%, cut cloud costs by 60%, and achieve 10x efficiency across DevOps. Based in San Francisco, Harness is backed by Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

About Kong

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.

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SOURCE Harness

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