From Pune to the pinnacle of the U.S. tech world; The success story of Indian-origin Neha Narkhede.

From an ordinary student to a global tech inspiration — the story of Indian-origin Neha Narkhede, who migrated to the U.S. and went on to build Confluent, a data platform now valued at $10 billion, continues to inspire entrepreneurs around the world.

Growing up in Pune with big dreams, Neha pursued an engineering degree and then moved to Atlanta for higher studies. She completed her master’s degree from Georgia Tech, and began her professional career as a software engineer at Oracle. Later, Neha joined LinkedIn in California, where she and her team realized the growing challenges companies faced in handling data efficiently and in real time.

In 2011, while at LinkedIn, Neha played a key role in the development of Apache Kafka, a technology that eventually revolutionized how data is streamed. Though Kafka was released as an open-source project, it initially didn’t get much attention. But Neha firmly believed that streaming data would reshape the business world.

With this vision, she co-founded Confluent in 2014 along with two colleagues. At first, investors were skeptical about whether streaming data could become a big business. Growth was slow in the early days, and every customer required intense effort to bring on board. Listening closely to user feedback, Neha continuously improved the platform.

By 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had pushed the world toward full digital transformation. Real-time data became critical. Banks, retailers, and tech giants started relying on Confluent. Revenue soared and adoption grew rapidly worldwide. In 2021, when Confluent went public on NASDAQ, it was valued at $10 billion. By 2024, thousands of businesses were using the platform.

Neha stepped down from her executive role in 2020, though she remains on Confluent’s board of directors. She now leads an AI risk startup called Oscilar. Neha believes that big innovations often begin by solving problems others overlook. Her remarkable journey is a true inspiration for the next generation of entrepreneurs.