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Every year, Futuriom dives into numerous trends driving cloud and communications infrastructure investment. Over the course of the year, we meet with upwards of a hundred+ customers and private companies to understand where to find the best product/market fits and satisfy customer challenges in these complex markets.

The Futuriom 50 is a summary of the trends and interesting companies we have come across over the past year. In this annual report, we summarize the top trends in cloud infrastructure and pick the strongest private companies we see in the market. Our new Futuriom 50 report for 2025 includes all the details on the top private companies we are tracking, as well as the major cloud technology trends driving their success.

The AI Boom Rolls On!

In the past year, of course, we saw huge amounts of money pour into AI infrastructure, but sub-trends are emerging as important nuances. One of the byproducts of this AI investment cycle will be rapid change. In our discussions with cloud, network, and security architects, thinking about network and infrastructure architectures is changing rapidly, fueled by the need to support AI.

Here are some of these architectural changes and challenges happening right now:

Distributed architectures. Historically, technology shifts have toggled between centralization and decentralization of compute. For example, when technology shifted from mainframes to client/server, it was a shift from centralization to decentralization. Cloud compute was the opposite. The current trend is toward vast distribution of both centralization and decentralization at the same time—think of it as full distribution. AI is causing organizations to reconsider how they will gather, process, store, and use their data for AI. The data is everywhere, so that will demand a distributed architecture to rapidly put data where it needs to be.

Smarter and faster connectivity. The distributed nature of the AI world will drive the need for faster and more efficient connectivity. This is driving the trends we are following such as multicloud networking (MCN), Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and NetDevOps, which seek to automate network connections among apps and infrastructure. The scale of today’s apps has long surpassed the capability of humans conducting manual operations. These apps demand automation instantiated by code.

Pervasive cybersecurity. As the velocity of data, connectivity, and infrastructure deployment speeds up, so does the need for pervasive and automated cybersecurity models. Apps and infrastructure need to be embedded with zero-trust models that ensure that all apps and access are accurately identified. Data must be secured with end-to-end encryption.

As you dive into this report, you will see these three broad threads driving innovation trends among all our Futuriom 50 companies.

Download the full report here to get the scoop!

Key Findings of the Report

Through the course of the last year, we ran surveys, we visited conferences, we talked to end users and vendors, and we interviewed as many experts as we could.

Key themes established themselves which we cover in the Futuriom 50. Some of the key findings include:

• The most exciting market themes we are following in 2025 include AI Infrastructure; Distributed Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Engineering; Observability, AIOps, and NetDevOps; Unified Cloud Security and SASE; and Cloud Cost Management and FinOps. The Futuriom 50 companies fit into these categories, with some names fitting into several.
• The AI buildout is driving many trends within our themes, including demand for distributed object storage, AI networking, and multicloud networking. One spending exception might be AI infrastructure, where a decade-long spending cycle has begun. Initial discussions indicate some shift back to private infrastructure for some AI workloads.
• The Futuriom 50 companies have raised a total of $36 billion in funding. The amounts of funding range from $7 million (Netris) to $16 billion (Databricks). Successful exits from the 2024 F50 list include Rubrik (IPO), Kubecost (acquired by IBM), and Wib (acquired by F5).
• Top F50 IPO and M&A candidates: Databricks, Wasabi, Cato Networks, CoreWeave, Aryaka Networks, Fivetran, Cockroach Labs, Versa Networks, Wiz, Aviatrix.
• Enterprises are looking to translate data observability into automation. This is driving trends in NetDevOps and AIOps.
• Security, CCM, and compliance are raising interest in broader-based approaches like platform engineering, identity-based security, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).

Download the full report here to get the scoop!

Total pages: 56

The Futuriom 50 List: Alkira, Arcee, Arrcus, Aryaka Networks, Aviatrix, Aviz Networks, CAST AI, Cato Networks, Chronosphere, ClearBlade, Cockroach Labs, CoreWeave, Databricks, DriveNets, Eclypsium, Elisity, Enfabrica, Engflow, Fivetran, Fortanix, Graphiant, Index Engines, IP Fabric, Itential, Kentik, Komprise, Kong, Lambda Labs, MinIO, Netris, Netskope, Nile, Pinecone, ProsperOps, Pulumi, Qumulo, Render, Selector, Spacelift, Stellar Cyber, Teleport, Tigera, Vantage, VAST Data, Versa Networks, Vultr, Wasabi, Wiz, Yugabyte, ZEDEDA