Last week, Forbes unveiled its sixth annual Cloud 100 list, a definitive ranking of the world’s top private cloud companies. This multi-billion-dollar sector has become one of the hottest areas in tech, and San Francisco certainly seems to be its undisputed home.
The companies that made the cut range from small startups to private equity-backed giants, and were selected based on their growth, sales, valuation and culture, as well as a “reputation score” as decided by a panel of 34 CEOs and executives in the industry.
While all 100 of these companies represent all corners of the tech world, there is one general theme that binds them: big numbers. Nationally, the top 10 companies listed are worth a combined $190 billion, and majority of them are based in San Francisco. All told, nearly 40 startups in the Bay Area made the cut, making it the best represented market by far. These companies have raised an eye-watering $19.6 billion in funding and employ some 36,000 people, according to Forbes’ data.
Read below to learn more about five San Francisco cloud companies that led the way on this year’s ranking.
Rank #1
This past year has brought on a VC funding frenzy like none other, bringing the combined value of the more than 30 newcomers to the Cloud 100 list to $514 billion. Stripe alone accounts for nearly one-fifth of that sum. Valued at a staggering $95 billion, it is not only the No. 1 cloud company in the world, but also the most valuable startup in the country. The digital payments giant has raised $2.2 billion over the course of a decade, including a $600 million Series H last March, and seems to be primed and ready for a much-anticipated Wall Street debut.
Rank #2
Databricks’ ability to help companies better store and use their data has gotten the attention of just about every important player in the tech universe — including the Big Four in cloud computing (Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Salesforce) and blue-chip investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Coatue. To date, the company has raised $1.9 billion in funding, the bulk of which came in as a Series G round in February. Boasting a market cap of $28 billion, it is among the highest-valued pre-IPO startups in the world, and is yet another San Francisco-based company that will likely make its public debut soon.
Rank #4
With a suite of eight open-source tools, HashiCorp helps developers automate and manage their cloud infrastructure, and has quickly become an industry favorite. The platform has more than 35,000 users across 50 countries, and its most popular product, Terraform, has been downloaded more than 100 million times. The company hit a $5 billion valuation last year after its $175 million Series E, and appears to be in the midst of a massive hiring spree, with more than 100 open tech positions.
Rank #6
Although its planned acquisition by Visa fell through earlier this year, Plaid appears to be doing better than ever. Launched in 2013, the platform helps several major names across the fintech industry, including Robinhood, Coinbase and Venmo, connect to their customers’ checking accounts in a matter of seconds. Plaid raised a $425 million Series D last spring, bringing its valuation to more than $13 billion, and many experts think the open banking startup will make its public debut soon.
Rank #7
In just one year, Figma managed to jump 22 slots up the Cloud 100 list, and is considered by many to be the design tech space’s latest rising star. The startup hit a market cap of $10 billion in June, quintupling its valuation from its last raise in April of 2020. With fewer than 400 employees, Figma is certainly one of the smaller San Francisco startups featured on the list, but that is likely to change. The company recently announced it is opening a second “hub” in NYC, and is in the midst of a hiring spree there.
