Originally published May 2017. Source attribution: readitquik.com. Company details reflect publicly available information as of that date. Some companies have since been acquired, rebranded, or ceased operations — see review notes.
Cloud Computing’s Startup Boom
By 2017, cloud adoption had moved from a niche IT strategy to a mainstream business imperative. Nearly every enterprise — from mid-market companies to global corporations — was either beginning its cloud journey or accelerating it. That demand created fertile ground for a new generation of startups, each competing to solve a specific pain point: hybrid data management, cloud security, desktop delivery, hyper-scale storage, or simplified public cloud operations.
What separated the most promising players from the crowd was not simply product novelty, but the ability to deliver disproportionate value in a well-defined niche. Below are ten cloud startups that were drawing attention in 2017 for doing exactly that.
The 10 Cloud Startups to Watch in 2017
1. Apcera
Founded: 2012 | CEO: Derek Collison
Apcera built a container management platform aimed at enterprises operating across cloud environments. Its distinguishing feature was support for both legacy applications and modern cloud-native workloads — a significant advantage for organizations mid-migration. The platform bundled scheduling, orchestration, networking, and storage management into a unified offering, reducing the operational complexity of hybrid deployments.
2. Cazena
Founded: 2015 | Founder: Prat Moghe
Cazena positioned itself in the big data space, offering a Data Platform-as-a-Service (dPaaS) that automated data movement to and within cloud environments. It was designed specifically for Azure and AWS deployments, helping data teams run analytics workloads in the cloud while also handling data migration governance, security controls, and compliance requirements — all through a managed service model.
3. Dizzion
CEO: Steve Prather
Dizzion targeted small and medium-sized businesses with desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions. Beyond virtual desktops, its portfolio included endpoint management, application delivery, and cloud storage. The company carved out a particular foothold in regulated, remote-workforce industries such as healthcare and finance, where secure, centrally managed desktops reduce both compliance risk and IT overhead.
4. Elastifile
Founded: 2013 | Founder: Amir Aharoni
Elastifile tackled one of the harder problems in hybrid cloud: unified data management across geographically distributed and architecturally disparate storage systems. Its core product, the Elastifile Cloud File System, was a distributed flash storage solution that presented data from multiple locations as a single, locally accessible file system. This approach simplified data access patterns for applications that span on-premises and cloud infrastructure.
5. Hedvig
Founded: 2012 | Founder: Avinash Lakshman
Hedvig specialized in hyper-scale storage, building its Distributed Storage Platform to replicate and protect data across private and public cloud environments simultaneously. The focus on multi-environment data protection made it attractive to enterprises that needed high availability and disaster recovery without being locked into a single cloud vendor’s storage model.
6. Infinite Ops
Founded: 2015
Infinite Ops aimed to reduce the operational complexity of running workloads in the public cloud. It bundled key IT management capabilities — including workspace management, databases, identity management, and firewall configuration — into a single software package. The goal was to give IT teams a simpler, more consolidated way to deploy and govern cloud resources without stitching together multiple separate tools.
7. Netskope
Founded: 2012 | CEO: Sanjay Beri | Headquarters: Los Altos, CA
Netskope operated in the cloud security space, providing enterprises with deep visibility into cloud workloads and the applications their employees use. Its platform was designed to identify threats, enforce security policy, and reduce the risk of data loss across cloud services. By 2017, cloud-access security brokers (CASBs) were an emerging category, and Netskope was one of the recognized leaders in that segment.
8. Pulseway
Founded: 2011 | CEO & Founder: Marius Mihalec | Parent: MMSOFT Design
Pulseway differentiated itself with a mobile-first approach to IT management. Built for managed service providers (MSPs) and IT administrators, it enabled remote monitoring and management of cloud and on-premises infrastructure from smartphones, tablets, or desktop browsers. Endpoint protection was also part of the core offering. The emphasis on accessibility from any device made it particularly relevant for lean IT teams managing distributed infrastructure.
9. Sapho
Founded: 2014 | CEO & Founder: Fouad ElNaggar
Sapho took a different approach to enterprise productivity, building a platform that allowed organizations to create lightweight micro-apps on top of their existing enterprise systems — ERP, CRM, HRIS, and others. Rather than replacing back-end systems, Sapho surfaced the specific data and actions employees needed most, making those accessible remotely from any device. The result was reduced context switching and faster task completion without requiring a full system overhaul.
10. Skyhigh Networks
Founded: 2011 | CEO: Rajiv Gupta
Skyhigh Networks provided enterprises with real-time visibility into their cloud service usage — a capability often described as cloud access security brokering. Its platform allowed security and IT teams to detect threats, monitor cloud deployments, enforce usage policies, and track the overall health of cloud initiatives. A broad set of third-party integrations expanded its usefulness across existing security toolchains.
What These Startups Had in Common
Looking across these ten companies, a clear pattern emerges: each identified a narrow, well-defined problem within the broader cloud ecosystem and built a focused solution around it. None tried to be a general-purpose cloud provider competing with AWS or Azure. Instead, they targeted the gaps those platforms left open — data governance, endpoint security, distributed storage, desktop delivery, and operational simplicity.
Most were founded within the five years preceding 2017, yet had already built meaningful customer bases in their respective niches. For DevOps and infrastructure teams evaluating tooling in 2017, these companies represented a new class of specialist vendors worth including in any cloud strategy evaluation.
A Note on Current Status
This article reflects the cloud startup landscape as it stood in mid-2017. Several of these companies have since undergone significant changes. Readers researching any of these vendors should verify their current status, product offerings, and ownership before making procurement or architectural decisions.