By Alex Konrad, Forbes Staff and Kenrick Cai, Former Staff
With the tech IPO market stuck in the doldrums, familiar faces rule the top of our ninth annual list of the world’s top private cloud computing companies. But a wave of AI challengers – and standouts in fintech, security and vertical software – are looking to close the gap.
Much as cloud-native software businesses were bursting onto the scene during the first Cloud 100 list – produced each year in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures – in 2024, it’s companies riding the generative AI wave that dominate at the top of the list: OpenAI at No. 1, Databricks at No. 2 and big risers Anthropic at No. 5 and ScaleAI at No. 7 –. They are some of a record 17 AI-focused companies on this year’s list, double the total from 2023. A wide variety of AI businesses join them, from specialists in generating images (Midjourney, No. 64) and video (Runway, No. 94) to infrastructure providers (CoreWeave, No. 29) and a search engine alternative (Perplexity, No. 85).
CGI illustration by hitandrun creative studio.
hitandrun. hitandrunmedia.cTHE CLOUD 100 2024
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But AI hasn’t eaten the world yet – there’s still a breadth of companies in the cloud. Longtime leader Stripe, No. 3, is joined by two other fintech breakouts, Ramp (No. 37) and Brex (No. 42). In security, Wiz – whose CEO claimed to walk away from a record acquisition offer by Google – slots in at No. 9, looking to graduate via public offering soon. Another graduate, product design software maker Figma, is back at No. 12 with its own blockbuster deal with Adobe called off.
Nearly half of the listed companies are headquartered in the Bay Area – including three dual-headquartered businesses – followed by New York and smaller clusters in Atlanta, London, Paris, San Diego and Tel Aviv. But Cloud 100 companies can come from anywhere – from Bavaria to British Columbia, and Sydney to Singapore. The vast majority (86) of list companies are still led by a cofounder as CEO. Only six companies on the list are led by a woman CEO, failing to improve on last year’s total.
See the full list, as well as our full package of coverage, including company spotlights and our Rising Stars list of cloud’s ascending upstarts, for more on cloud’s present and future.
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