Mid-year review: 10 hottest web startups in 2021

Rising Star

If the IT industry has learned anything over the past year and a half, it's that hybrid cloud solutions and flexible purchasing options are no longer a nice-to-have, but a requirement for most enterprises.

Edge networks are also emerging in unprecedented ways. As enterprise networks are experiencing challenges from remote work in terms of traffic and usage patterns, not to mention new scenarios such as medical facilities and schools that need network connectivity in parking lots, and retail businesses that need to provide curbside services. Needless to say, the popularity of cloud computing continues to rise, especially as solution providers help customers prepare for the new normal and future network needs. This situation has indeed paved the way for startups to enter the field of subscription-based network services, private next-generation wireless and cellular network connectivity.

Here’s a look at 10 of the hottest enterprise networking startups of 2021 so far, offering everything from automation to managed services.

Alkira

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Alkira, a cloud network as a service startup, came out of stealth mode last year and launched its Cloud Services Exchange (CSX) unified on-demand product, which allows cloud architects and network engineers to build and deploy multi-cloud networks in minutes. Subsequently, Alkira announced a close collaboration with the Microsoft for Startups program, in which startups handpicked by Microsoft will facilitate Azure customers' journey to the cloud.

Alkira is headquartered in San Jose, California, and has received venture capital from Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins and GV (formerly Google Ventures). In August last year, Alkira completed a Series A financing led by Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia Capital, and GV joined the subsequent round of financing, with a total financing of US$30 million to date.

The three-year-old startup will market primarily through channel partners.

Aviatrix

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Aviatrix Systems, a rising star in hybrid cloud networking, mainly provides visibility into complex multi-cloud networks. Its cloud-native network products are aimed at enterprises that need to support new ways of accessing applications. Aviatrix believes that those old vendors will not be able to win under this new trend.

Aviatrix, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, enters the market through partners, especially those solution providers that are tightly bound to local environments. In February this year, Aviatrix received $75 million in Series D financing.

Aviatrix's long list of customers includes VMware, Netflix and NASA.

Celona

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Enterprise 5G startup Celona emerged from stealth mode last November with a platform that makes LTE and 5G a reliable and viable wireless networking option for enterprise connectivity. In addition to the platform, the two-year-old company also revealed a channel program and a strategic partnership with Aruba Networks to resell Celona’s networking products.

Celona is headquartered in Cupertino, California, USA. Its founding members come from companies such as Qualcomm and Cisco, and have experience in developing products such as chipsets, cloud software, Wi-Fi and cellular network solutions.

Celona plans to conduct all of its business entirely through channels.

Geoverse

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Geoverse, a four-year-old next-generation connectivity provider, has been designing, deploying and operating private LTE networks for enterprise customers. Geoverse's 5G/LTE private wireless network products enable users and devices to roam seamlessly and securely across public operator networks.

Last November, the Bellevue, Washington-based company hired Bob Gault as chief commercial officer. Gault is now in charge of sales and marketing for Geoverse, and was previously chief revenue officer at Extreme Networks. In May of this year, Geoverse officially launched its channel partner portal, further improving the National Partner Program program launched six months ago.

Infiot

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Edge networking startup Infiot came out of stealth mode in 2020 with a new approach to edge networking and connectivity. Infiot currently offers a cloud-delivered intelligent thin wireless edge access platform that supports wired, wireless, and cellular network connections. According to Infiot, the platform provides connectivity, zero-trust security, and edge computing for remote users, sites, and devices around the world.

Infiot was founded in 2018 by several networking and SD-WAN industry veterans, and announced in 2020 that it had received $15 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Neotribe Ventures, Westwave Capital, and Harpoon Ventures. The Menlo Park, California-based startup said it would use the funds to build its channel, which is Infiot's main route to market.

Perimeter 81

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SASE specialist Perimeter 81 has focused on cloud-based networking and security for most of its three years, but recently Perimeter 81 has entered the SASE space. It is said that Perimeter 81's products can replace traditional and open source products, and its product portfolio is rapidly moving towards providing complete SASE services.

In February of this year, Perimeter 81 hired Bob Kilbride as the company's first channel executive to increase the current channel business from the current 10% to eventually become a channel-first company. In March of this year, Perimeter 81 launched a channel partner program for MSPs.

Perimeter 81 currently has more than 1,300 customers and more than 100 partners.

Prosimo

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Founded in 2019, enterprise infrastructure disruptor Prosimo launched Application eXperience Infrastructure (AXI) this year, a platform that modernizes and simplifies application delivery and experience across multi-cloud environments. It can coexist with existing vendors in customer environments or be used to replace certain tools and capabilities, such as zero trust or cloud peering.

Prosimo specializes in integrating multi-cloud networking, security and application performance and plans to conduct all of its business through this channel.

Prosimo has raised $25 million in Series A funding.

SignalWire

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SignalWire is a startup focused on virtual office and video conferencing technology. It was founded four years ago by several engineers who developed the FreeSWITCH open source application server for real-time communications, WebRTC, telecommunications, video, and VoIP. According to SignalWire, products such as Zoom and technologies such as Ring Doorbell are built on FreeSWITCH. After helping other companies successfully build various applications, SignalWire decided to start building their own product, SignalWire Work, which was launched in July 2020.

The Palo Alto, California-based startup hired Ezra Hookano last summer as vice president of global channels and business development, and Hookano said there will be “absolutely” no more direct sales once the channel is up and running.

Stateless

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Networking startup Stateless's enterprise software platform provides a variety of virtual network functions, such as firewalls and load balancers, and delivers them to customers as a service.

Stateless, based in Boulder, Colorado, USA, is a five-year-old venture-backed startup that announced a partnership with PacketFabric in April, a provider of on-demand connectivity for hybrid and multi-cloud IT. More recently, Stateless launched its Cloud Connect-as-a-Service product, which helps enterprises connect to multiple hybrid clouds without the need for physical equipment.

Uplevel Systems

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Uplevel Systems has been established for six years and mainly provides a simplified IT managed service approach for small businesses, and is only available to customers through MSP partners. Uplevel Systems' existing solutions include various security features such as firewalls, IPS, secure DNS, VPNs and built-in SD-WAN.

Last summer, Uplevel Systems launched a new procurement model called Equipment Purchase Program to help MSPs expand more IT options to end customers in the form of pre-purchase options. Uplevel said the new program provides companies with distributed offices or remote workers with a new way to purchase urgently needed IT products, including pre-purchasing hardware or monthly subscriptions.