This year’s Forbes Cloud 100 list includes several top-performing companies based in San Francisco. The Cloud 100, released Wednesday, recognizes standout companies in the cloud computing industry.
According to Forbes, the companies on the list have been selected based on their growth, sales, valuation and culture, as well as a reputation score. Each reputation score was agreed upon by a panel of 43 cloud company CEOs and executives.
Startups based in the Bay Area account for nearly half of the companies on the list, 41 in total. Overall, this year’s list featured 87 companies with a valuation of $1 billion or more, with a record combined value of $270 billion for all 100 companies included in the ranking.
Payments software giant Stripe came in at No. 2 on the list, narrowly bested by San Mateo-based data platform Snowflake. Snowflake made its market debut with a massive IPO on Wednesday, and Stripe raised $600 million in an extended Series G round earlier this year. The additional capital boosted the company’s valuation to $36 billion. Stripe has more than 2,800 employees and 16 offices globally, including New York City and Seattle.
The popular payments processor recently joined social media giants Facebook and Twitter in offering bonuses to employees that choose to relocate to less expensive cities. The only catch ... employees must also accept a 10 percent salary cut. Given a recent shift to remote work due to the pandemic, some tech leaders appear ready to cut costs and let go of their metropolitan mainstays.
Coming in fourth in the ranking was infrastructure automation platform HashiCorp. Founded in 2012, HashiCorp builds tools that account for an array of data center challenges. The company closed on its Series E in mid-March with $175 million in additional capital. HashiCorp has raised $349 million to date, according to Forbes.
Data analytics company Databricks followed up HashiCorp as No. 5 on the list. Databricks creates open-source tools and commercial products that enable developers and operators to provide secure and evenly distributed application infrastructure. The company has raised $897 million in venture capital financing to date.
Bay Area companies were well represented among the rest of the top 20. Ranking sixth nationally was Mountain View-based Confluence, with Palo Alto data management company Rubrik coming in ninth place. Emeryville cybersecurity firm Tanium came in 12th, while San Mateo-based Freshworks placed 16th nationally. Freshworks also recently announced that it landed an $85 million new investment that brought its valuation to more than $3.5 billion.
Leading workflow management platform Asana squeezed in to the top 20 at No. 17. Asana raised $200 million in debt financing in June. Popular payroll and benefits platform Gusto placed at No. 22 on the list, and 10th place among the Bay Area companies that made the cut.
Cloud technology has revolutionized problem solving for companies in almost every industry, from real estate to retail to data and design. Despite a difficult year for many, a long-feared tech exodus and incentives to move elsewhere, it’s clear the Bay Area tech scene is still alive and well. It’s hard to deny that San Francisco still remains the tech capital of the world.
The Forbes Cloud 100 was produced in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures.
