The Cloud 100

Our eighth annual Cloud 100 list of the world’s best private cloud computing companies, produced in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures, comes at a time of significant change to tech’s hottest sector. It’s the first ranking to incorporate a full year of the market contraction’s impact on companies that, until about 18 months ago, were growing at breakneck speed in both revenue and headcount. A countervailing force has emerged in artificial intelligence with an early promise of business booms for companies that capitalize. But it is also sure to further shakeup the order of cloud standouts.

Look no further than OpenAI taking the No.1 spot. It’s a debut unprecedented in the list’s history and tees off a pack of 16 newcomers, many of which — including No. 73 Anthropic, No. 80 Abnormal Security and No. 85 Midjourney — are AI startups enjoying the benefits of a boom enchanting corporate boardrooms around the world. A surge in demand has bolstered longstanding AI infrastructure providers including No. 2 Databricks, which passes financial juggernaut No. 3 Stripe for the first time, and No. 44 Dataiku, up 33 spots in ranking. Among this year’s Cloud 100 companies, 55% are already incorporating generative AI into their products, according to Bessemer data.

But even cloud’s best are not immune to tech sector headwinds. Many endured layoffs or dialed back valuations, and few have shown a willingness to test the IPO waters. Some, however, are using this time to move ever faster — like No. 9 Rubrik, which moved up 22 places and crossed $500 million in annual recurring revenue, or No. 15 Wiz, whose 67-spot climb represents the best among last year’s list honorees. The security phenom’s rapid ascent has made it one of the fastest-growing software companies ever and the subject of our cover story on CEO Assaf Rappaport.

Diversity remains lacking among cloud leaders — only six companies on the list have a woman CEO, down from eight last year. See 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.

THE STANDOUTS