The Cloud 100 Benchmarks Report 2023
Bessemer reveals insights into the 2023 Cloud 100 cohort and how AI is taking center stage in the private cloud market.
Today Bessemer Venture Partners, Forbes, and Salesforce Ventures announced the 2023 Cloud 100 List, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private cloud companies. And this year’s list feels different – is different – for two core reasons.
First, for the first time ever, the aggregate Cloud 100 list value actually contracted in value year-over-year. Last year, the bar for inclusion in the Cloud 100 was incredibly high: not only did all the 2022 Cloud 100 honorees reach the $1 billion valuation milestone, but also the average Cloud 100 valuation skyrocketed to $7.4 billion. However, 2022 was one of the most challenging years in recent history for the cloud economy as companies dealt with macroeconomic uncertainty, tightened IT budgets, elongated sales cycles, layoffs, and valuation multiple compression. These headwinds combined and made 2023 the first year in which the aggregate value of the Cloud 100 contracted year-over-year to $654 billion, down 11% versus the 2022 list value.
Second, despite this bleak backdrop, AI emerged as a shining light for the cloud ecosystem. The AI revolution propelled many of the movers and shakers on the 2023 Cloud 100 list. OpenAI not only made the list for the first time, but it also replaced Stripe in earning the top spot as #1 on the list. Databricks, another company making big investments into AI, also moved to the #2 spot. Embedded AI catalyzed growth in the highest-valued cloud category, “Design, Collaboration, and Productivity”, and AI-Native was by far the most highly valued category of new entrants to the list. These shake-ups make this year’s Cloud 100 list one of the most dynamic in history, and we believe the cloud economy will continue evolving as we enter the Age of AI.
With eight years of Cloud 100 data behind us, in this year’s Benchmarks Report we reveal Bessemer’s analysis and insights into the 2023 Cloud 100 cohort and what it tells us about the exciting future ahead for the cloud economy.
Read the full publication here.