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It is no wonder that cloud infrastructure ensures businesses to be flexible and agile. As it offers a secure and faster way of business transformation solution, enterprises are progressively turning to the cloud. They are investing heavily in cloud computing service providers to get the most out of this infrastructure and deliver enhanced services while driving innovation. Since cloud technology has driven significant growth factors across industries,IDCanticipates that over 500 million digital apps and services will be built and deployed using cloud-native approaches by 2023. Thus, as more and more businesses transition to the cloud, the year 2020 has seen an increasing wave of investments in cloud computing startups so far.

Heres a look at the top 10 cloud computing investments and funding of 2020.

Amount Raised: US$479 Million

Transaction Type:

Key Investor(s): Dragoneer Investment Group and Salesforce Ventures

Snowflake, a cloud data platform that provides a data warehouse-as-a-service designed for the cloud raised a whopping amount of US$479 million in a Series G round in February, bringing the companys valuation to US$12.4 billion. The round was led by new investors Dragoneer Investment Group and Salesforce Ventures. Snowflakes data warehouse-as-a-service platform is built for the cloud, focusing on an instant, secure, governed access to an entire network of data, and is built to enable a variety of data workloads, including a single platform for developing modern data applications.

Amount Raised: US$200 Million

Transaction Type: Series C

Key Investor(s): Spark Capital

Cloud communications company MessageBird that connects organizations to their customers on billions of devices worldwide raised US$200 million in a Series C round in October. The funding round was led by Spark Capital, with additional backer Bonnier, Glynn Capital, LGT Lightstone, Longbow, Mousse Partners and NewView Capital as well as existing investors Accel, Atomico and Y Combinator. This fresh fund will enable MessageBird to increase its global team and further expand into its core markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Amount Raised: US$175 Million

Transaction Type: Series E

Key Investor(s): Franklin Templeton Investments

HashiCorp, a San Francisco, CA-based open-source software company, in March received US$175 million in a Series E financing round from Franklin Templeton Investments. With this round, the companys total valuation reached US$5.1 billion.

Amount Raised: US$130 Million

Transaction Type: Series E

Key Investor(s): Lightspeed Venture Partners

Cato Networks, the provider of the worlds first SASE platform, in November closed US$130 million, its largest funding round to date. Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with the participation of a new investor, the new funds will strengthen Catos financial position and speed up its SASE market and technology expansion strategy.

Amount Raised: US$128 Million

Transaction Type: Series F

Key Investor(s): Lone Pine Capital, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors

The leading provider of accounts payable (AP) and payment automation solutions for the middle market AvidXchange in April raised US$128 million in Series F financing round. The round was oversubscribed with a total of over US$388 million raised and includes the companys previously announced closing of US$260 million in equity financing earlier this year. This latest fund enables AvidXchange to support strategic growth initiatives and continued innovation, helping both buyers and suppliers automate their AP and payments processes.

Amount Raised: US$36 Million

Transaction Type: Series C

Key Investor(s): Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Weaveworks, which simplifies operating Kubernetes workloads and provides a developer-centric operating model for cloud-native applications, sealed US$36.65 million in a Series C funding round in December. AWS, Ericsson, Orange Ventures, SonaeIM and Telekom Investment Pool (TIP) and follow-on investors Accel, GV, and Redline Capital led the round. Weaveworks plans to utilize the capital to enhance its platform and stimulate market expansion.

Amount Raised: US$70 Million

Transaction Type: Series C

Key Investor(s): T. Rowe Price

FLEXE, provider of a warehousing technology platform that helps enterprises expand their distribution network, in December secured US$70 million in a Series C round. This financing round was led by new investor T. Rowe Price, along with existing backers Activate Capital, Tiger Global, Madrona Venture Group, Redpoint Ventures, Prologis Ventures, and others. As FLEXEs total funding reached US$134 million to date, the new fund will enable the company to multiply its engineering team and grow its sales arm.

Amount Raised: US$16 Million

Transaction Type: Series C

Key Investor(s): Access Industries

DigitalOcean, a provider of the cloud platform to deploy, manage, and scale applications of any size, in May secured US$50 million in a Series C financing round. Led by Access Industries, along with Andresseen Horowitz (a16z), the companys total valuation reached US$1.15 billion.

Amount Raised: US$24 Million

Transaction Type: Series B

Key Investor(s): Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV)

The leader in manufacturing and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) advanced analytics software Seeq Corporation closed US$24 million in a Series B funding in January. The round was led by SAEV, with renewed participation from Altira Group, Chevron Technology Ventures, Second Avenue Partners, and other existing investors. The funding will expedite Seeqs expansion of development, sales, and marketing resources, as well as intensify its presence in international markets.

Amount Raised: US$15.2 Million

Transaction Type: Series A

Key Investor(s): ForgePoint Capital

Concourse Labs stimulating enterprise digital transformation through automated cloud governance in June raised US$15.2 million in Series A funding round. Led by ForgePoint Capital, with existing investors 83North and Capri Ventures, the company plans to use the fund to expand sales and marketing efforts, scale operations, and broaden and accelerate product development.

Excerpt from:
Top 10 Cloud Computing Investments and Funding of 2020 - Analytics Insight