Apollo

Apollo builds the platform behind many of the world's most-used apps. Their open-source GraphQL tools — including Apollo Client, Apollo Server, and Apollo Federation — are downloaded over 25 million times per month and power API layers at Netflix, Walmart, Expedia, PayPal, and more than 30% of the Fortune 500. Their commercial product, Apollo GraphOS, gives engineering teams a unified way to build, manage, and scale APIs across microservices, with federation as the industry standard for composing GraphQL at enterprise scale. In 2025, Apollo expanded into the AI space with their MCP Server, connecting AI agents directly to enterprise data through GraphQL — positioning the graph as the orchestration layer for the agentic era.

Apollo has been fully distributed since well before it became fashionable. Their team of roughly 220 "Apollonauts" spans 10 countries and 13 time zones, with an explicit "no return-to-office" commitment. Daily schedules are flexible, communication leans async, and the company gathers once a year for an in-person kickoff focused on alignment and relationships. Benefits include flexible time off, comprehensive medical coverage through Anthem Blue Cross (with Kaiser options in California), dental and vision through Sun Life Financial, equity, and parental leave for both birthing and non-birthing parents with a dedicated leave specialist. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Insight Partners with $130 million raised in their Series D, Apollo combines the resources of a well-funded unicorn with the autonomy and flexibility of a distributed-first team.