THE CLOUD 100
A funding frenzy helped lift 32 new companies onto our definitive ranking of the best, brightest and most valuable private companies in the cloud. Among the newcomers: two from China, bringing the number of non-U.S. firms to 15. The combined market value of the Cloud 100, compiled with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures for the sixth straight year, is $514 billion, nearly double the total a year ago. No. 1 Stripe, America’s most valuable startup, accounts for nearly one-fifth of that sum. Meanwhile, 16 from last year’s list have already gone public. The top 25 are below. For the full list, methodology, company profiles and more, see FORBES.COM/CLOUD100.
1. Stripe
CEO: PATRICK COLLISON VALUATION: $95 BILLION PAYMENTS SOFTWARE
2. Databricks
CEO: ALI GHODSI VALUATION: $28 BILLION AI-FOCUSED DATA PLATFORM
3. Canva
CEO: MELANIE PERKINS VALUATION: $15 BILLION DESIGN SOFTWARE
Australian entrepreneur Perkins and cofounder and COO Cliff Obrecht have had a remarkable year. They married in January. Three months later, Canva, which they founded in 2012 in
Perth (a third cofounder, Cameron Adams, joined a little later), raised $71 million at a $15 billion valuation— enough to make both of them billionaires, worth roughly $2 billion apiece. Now 55 million customers, 3 million paying—including American Airlines, KimberlyClark and Salesforce—use their online design and publishing tools.
4. HashiCorp
CEO: DAVID MCJANNET* VALUATION: $5.1 BILLION INFRASTRUCTURE AUTOMATION
5. Toast
CEO: CHRIS COMPARATO* VALUATION: $8 BILLION RESTAURANT SOFTWARE
6. Plaid
CEO: ZACH PERRET VALUATION: $13.4 BILLION OPEN BANKING PLATFORM
7. Figma
CEO: DYLAN FIELD VALUATION: $10 BILLION DESIGN SOFTWARE
8. ServiceTitan
CEO: ARA MAHDESSIAN VALUATION: $9.5 BILLION CONTRACTOR SOFTWARE
Mahdessian and cofounder Vahe Kuzoyan, who met on a ski trip for Armenian college students, originally built ServiceTitan to help their fathers, both contractors, run their businesses better. Today, the software provider, whose investors include
Tiger Global and Sequoia, is used by more than 7,500 trade customers involved in HVAC, plumbing, electrical and other home and commercial services.
9. Checkout.com
CEO: GUILLAUME POUSAZ VALUATION: $15 BILLION PAYMENTS PLATFORM
10. Freshworks
CEO: GIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAM VALUATION: $3.5 BILLION CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
11. GitLab
CEO: SID SIJBRANDIJ VALUATION: $6 BILLION DEVOPS SOFTWARE
12. Attentive
CEO: BRIAN LONG VALUATION: $7 BILLION SMS MARKETING
13. Zapier
CEO: WADE FOSTER VALUATION: $5 BILLION WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
14. Mailchimp
CEO: BEN CHESTNUT VALUATION: $10 BILLION MARKETING PLATFORM
15. Klaviyo
CEO: ANDREW BIALECKI VALUATION: $9.5 BILLION MARKETING AUTOMATION PLATFORM
More than a decade ago, Bialecki was working on a running-themed website to help users find road races and training maps.
But he couldn’t find software to help him customize their experiences based on their information. That problem became the inspiration for Klaviyo, founded in 2012 to help analyze customers’ transactional and behavioral data. The fast-growing company raised $320 million in May, doubling its valuation to $9.5 billion in seven months.
16. Airtable
CEO: HOWIE LIU VALUATION: $5.8 BILLION SOFTWARE CREATION
17. Talkdesk
CEO: TIAGO PAIVA VALUATION: $3 BILLION CONTACT CENTER SOFTWARE
18. Tanium
CEO: ORION HINDAWI VALUATION: $9.2 BILLION CYBERSECURITY, SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
19. Samsara
CEO: SANJIT BISWAS VALUATION: $5.4 BILLION INDUSTRIAL IOT
20. Celonis
CO-CEOS: ALEXANDER RINKE, BASTIAN NOMINACHER VALUATION: $11.1 BILLION EXECUTION MANAGEMENT
21. Hopin
CEO: JOHNNY BOUFARHAT VALUATION: $5.65 BILLION VIRTUAL EVENT PLATFORM
Cloud 100 newcomer Hopin’s platform enables customers like Twitch and the New York Jets to create online events by mimicking in-person ones with features like reception, expo, networking and more. Founded by 27-year-old London-based engineer Boufarhat in 2019, the business has boomed during the pandemic. Annual recurring revenue already topped $85 million in the past 12 months, and the company has attracted $565 million from top-tier investors like Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and IVP.
22. Carta
CEO: HENRY WARD VALUATION: $6.8 BILLION EQUITY MANAGEMENT
23. Braze
CEO: BILL MAGNUSON VALUATION: $850 MILLION CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
24. Rubrik
CEO: BIPUL SINHA VALUATION: $3.3 BILLION DATA MANAGEMENT
25. Gusto
CEO: JOSHUA REEVES VALUATION: $3.8 BILLION PAYROLL, BENEFITS AND HR