he seventh annual Cloud 100 list of the world’s top private cloud companies, produced in partnership with Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures, recognizes standouts in tech’s hottest category from small startups to private-equity-backed giants. Ranging from Helsinki to Hong Kong, the companies on the list are selected for growth, sales, valuation and culture plus a reputation score derived in consultation with 26 CEO judges and executives from their public-cloud-company peers.

After several years of soaring valuations and a wide open IPO window that helped list makers become public companies and graduate off the list, the music stopped in 2022. Of the 11 companies that went public from last year’s list, six fewer than the previous year, all are trading far below their list price. Many of the top companies of last year’s list—including No. 1 Stripe, No. 2 Databricks and No. 3 Canva—remain private, slotting in at the top. From there, things get a bit more surprising, with Russia-founded Miro moving up 32 slots to No. 4. Canada and Finland gain their first companies with No. 66 1Password and No. 78 Aiven, two of 20 outright newcomers overall; five, meanwhile, return from a hiatus, led by No. 39 Algolia.

Movement on this year’s Cloud 100, however, fails to fully capture sector-wide changes still bubbling up. This year’s list is bigger than ever before, with a combined market capitalization more than $100 billion greater than 2021 and headcounts larger by total, average and median. Yet those valuations are starting to crumble from their exuberant recent peaks, and layoffs have crept into the ranks. List makers in 2022 should now proceed with caution.

And while the Cloud 100 is more diverse than ever, the sector still has a long way to go. Just eight companies on the Cloud 100 are helmed by women, up from just six a year ago. See our full package of coverage below—including our Rising Stars list of up-and-comers—for a glimpse of the cloud’s future.

Reported by: Kenrick Cai, Michaella Huck, David Jeans, Arianna Johnson, Phoebe Liu, Rashi Shrivastava

Disclosure: The 2022 Cloud 100 includes companies that have taken investment from Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures, which helped create this list.