History of APIs - Mashery

In November 2006, API the first API service provider Mashery came out of "stealth mode" to offer documentation support, community management and access control for companies wishing to offer public or private APIs--from blog post in TechCrunch titled API Management Service is Open for Business.

At this point in time, in 2006, we were moving from the social period of APIs into the cloud computing phase with the introduction of Amazon Web Services. It was clear that the world of web APIs was getting real, and there was opportunity for companies to offer API management as a service.

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While there were tools for deploying APIs, there was no standard approach to managing your API deployment. Mashery was the first to bring a standard set of services to API providers, that would help set the stage for the future growth of the API industry.

It would take almost six more years before the API industry would come of age. The space we all know today was defined by early API commerce pioneers like SalesForce and Amazon, social pioneers like Flickr and Delicous, and from Mashery who helped define what is now known as the business of APIs.

In 2013, Mashery was acquired by Intel, helping recently validate that the API industry truly has come of age.