Networking startups are rushing into the market to make a name for themselves with new ways of networking such as edge, multi-cloud and private networking that cater to current trends and customer needs.

As enterprises extend their networks into new places, such as temporary venues and outdoors, edge and private network startups are developing new types of connectivity, including LTE and 5G, to fill the gaps in enterprises. Long-established networking and SD-WAN players such as HPE Aruba and Versa Networks are choosing to work with startups because they have fresh perspectives on private 5G, managed network products and next-generation connectivity technologies. Meanwhile, cloud networking startups are offering enterprises a new way to get secure networking without breaking the bank through as-a-service and consumption-based models. Private equity firms have taken a keen interest in the online startup space over the past year, with many of the market's rising stars receiving new rounds of funding to expand their reach and continue their innovative work.

From companies specializing in multi-cloud products and network-as-a-service to edge networking and secure access services edge (SASE), here are the 10 hottest networking startups of 2023.

• Aarna Networks
• Alkira
• Aviatrix Systems
• Celona
• Edgio
• flexiWAN
• Graphiant
• Macrometa
• Nile
• Prosimo

Aarna Network

Since its founding in 2018, five-year-old Aarna Networks has been streamlining enterprise edge orchestration in the form of private 5G and enterprise edge computing application automation software. Aarna Networks' SaaS platform, Aarna Edge Services, provides zero-touch orchestration as a service, targeting edge infrastructure and public clouds. Aarna Edge Services supports edge, cloud computing, storage and networking.

Aarna Networks is headquartered in San Jose, California, and enters the market mainly through channel partners. Aarna completed an oversubscribed Series A round of financing in October this year, raising US$1.5 million, led by LDV Partners, 3Lines, Carat Venture Partners and Nvidia. The total three rounds of financing reached US$5 million.

Alkira

Startup Alkira focuses on agentless multi-cloud networking. The San Jose, California-based startup emerged from stealth mode in 2020 with consumption-based Cloud Services Exchange (CSX), a unified on-demand product that allows cloud architects and network engineers to Build and deploy a multi-cloud network in less time. Since then, Alkira announced its cooperation with Microsoft for Startups and a deeper relationship with AWS, and Alkira CSX was launched on the AWS Marketplace.

Alkira launched the Alkira Extranet as-a-Service (EaaS) product in June this year. Alkira EaaS uses Akira's global ultra-large-scale cloud network infrastructure to allow customers to instantly connect to various enterprise-level B2B applications and resources and establish local and cloud connections in any mode. The service enables enterprises to seamlessly and securely connect to customers, partners and third parties across highly distributed IT environments and multi-cloud networks. Alkira is marketed primarily through channel partners. The company’s latest round of funding in August 2022 brought total funding to $76 million.

Aviatrix Systems

Hybrid cloud networking startup Aviatrix Systems has carved out its own niche in secure, cloud-first networking by providing visibility into complex multi-cloud networks for enterprises in need of cloud-native networking products that enable new ways to pass Intelligent Cloud Networking access application from Aviatrix Systems.

Aviatrix Systems, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, enters the market with partners looking for solution providers that are not tied to the local network world. Aviatrix’s revenue is said to have doubled every year since its founding in 2018. Due to the impressive growth, the company hired former Splunk CEO Doug Merritt as its new CEO in July this year to lead Aviatrix forward.

Celona

The startup Celona emerged in the network field in 2020. Celona's platform allows enterprises to build and deploy 5G/4G LTE private networks, filling a major gap in the wireless connection market at that time, especially when channel partners and enterprises were interested in private networks. Interest is growing.

Celona, ​​which is headquartered in Cupertino, California, enters the market through a strategic partnership with HPE Aruba, which resells Celona's cellular products. Celona, ​​a channel-friendly company, launches new solution provider partner program in 2022, just after appointing its first channel leader and closing its latest oversubscribed $60 million Series C round .

Celona launched a host-neutral dedicated wireless platform in September that can integrate with service providers, and also announced that it has been certified for use with T-Mobile 4G LTE networks.

Edgio

Edgio is a company formed after Limelight Networks acquired Edgecast Networks in 2022, a subsidiary of Yahoo and a content delivery network and video streaming service provider.

Today, Phoenix-based Edgio launches developer-friendly, global-scale edge networking and application and media solutions to help enterprises deliver online experiences and content faster, more securely and better. Edgio said its expertise includes content delivery, AppOps, edge-enabled software solutions, cybersecurity, OTT and edge computing.

flexiWAN

Networking specialist flexiWAN has launched the world's first open source SD-WAN and SASE services to the market, which is driving the "democratization" of the SD-WAN and SASE fields. flexiWAN says its mission is to meet the needs of service providers and enterprises while avoiding a single, vendor-locked network solution. Unlike competitors, flexiWAN's technology provides a centrally managed architecture with open code and standards while incorporating artificial intelligence. FlexiWAN's solutions are offered in a SaaS, pay-as-you-go model, as well as a bring-your-own-hardware model.

Headquartered in Israel, flexiWAN has been quietly emerging since 2019 and is currently working with a variety of channel partners, including system integrators and solution providers, VARs and MSPs.

Graphiant

Edge networking upstart Graphiant comes out of stealth mode in 2022, preparing to target market incumbents such as Cisco and other SD-WAN competitors. Graphiant is offering what it calls MPLS replacement edge connectivity for enterprise WANs, hybrid clouds, network edges, customers and partners. Graphiant's products are delivered to customers on an as-a-service model through Graphiant Network Edge. The privately held company says it is solving a major networking problem that none of the existing SD-WAN vendors are paying attention to - increasingly distributed workloads and network complexity, which in turn creates more complexity and security for enterprises. question.

Graphiant is led by a Viptela founder and is headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. It conducts all business through channels. Graphiant received US$62 million in Series B financing in March this year. This round of financing was led by Two Bear Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Atlantic Bridge, Harpoon Venture Capital Partners and others.

Macrometa

Macrometa, a six-year-old private company, is said to have entered the market with its Global Data Network and edge computing platform, which allows developers to build real-time applications and APIs to help enterprises solve complex data problems.

Macrometa, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA, announced in 2022 that it would cooperate with Akamai Technologies, a content delivery network service provider, and said it would integrate three infrastructure parts into one platform. Meanwhile, Akamai also led Macrometa’s latest funding round, with participation from Shasta Ventures and 60 Degree Capital.

Nile

Nile, a new network star focusing on network as a service, will come out of stealth mode in 2022. The company was co-founded by former Cisco executive chairman and CEO John Chambers and co-founder Pankaj Patel, former executive vice president and chief development officer of Cisco.

Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Nile is entering the market with "reimagined" wired and wireless services delivered as a service that will provide channel partners and their mid-market and enterprise customers with network simplicity, security and performance while reducing total cost of ownership. The service is already a success: Nile says its customer base has tripled since last year.

Nile launched its partner program Nile Connect last year and received US$175 million in Series C financing in August, bringing the total financing amount to US$300 million. The Series C financing was co-led by March Capital and Sanabil Investments, with participation from stc, Prosperity7, Liberty Global Ventures, 8VC, Geodesic Capital, FirstU Capital and Valor Equity Partners.

Prosimo

After emerging from stealth mode in 2019, multi-cloud networking disruptor Prosimo has entered the market with its Application eXperience Infrastructure (AXI) platform, which is modernizing and simplifying application delivery and experiences across multi-cloud environments. Prosimo says the platform can co-exist with existing vendors in customer environments or can be used to replace certain tools and features, such as zero trust or cloud peering.

Prosimo is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Earlier this month, Prosimo launched a new set of capabilities called Cross-Cloud Service Connect, which solves the problem of hyperscale enterprise PrivateLink and endpoint networks by extending it to multi-region and multi-cloud. Technical limitations.

Prosimo launched an official partner program last year to help cloud-focused partners take advantage of unprecedented demand for multi-cloud networks. Prosimo raised $30 million in its latest Series B round of financing in 2022.