Four African cloud startups to watch in 2024

Cloud services have been revolutionizing the African technological landscape recently, opening up extraordinary opportunities for innovation as well as economic growth to African companies.

Africa's interest in and adoption of cloud-based computing has skyrocketed, as many businesses are utilizing cloud services.

Moreover, PWC's EMEA Cloud Business Survey 2023 showed that companies that adopt cloud-based solutions have seen a positive impact on their businesses.

And according to Deloitte's TMT Predictions 2024, demand for local cloud solutions will rise due to data growth, cybersecurity threats and geopolitics.

Impact of AI in cloud services

The fast adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is triggering potential cloud services growth as the industry transitions to serve growing AI demand.

However, the interest and investment in generative AI could disrupt how the cloud industry will grow.

Cloud providers will need to carefully balance serving existing customers while creating new opportunities for the ongoing surge in AI interest.

Connecting Africa has compiled a list of four cloud-powered startups that have been making an impact in the lives of the communities they serve and are worth watching in 2024.

1. Cloud ZA

Founded in 2015, Cloud ZA is a cloud system integrator and services provider.

According to its website, Cloud ZA's certified and skilled cloud engineers help with digital transformation, modern web application development and deployment.

The company says it simplifies powerful cloud technologies and increases productivity by finding the most optimized way to run different organizations' workloads.

Cloud ZA recently announced its efforts to assist startups in South Africa by leveraging the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate their cloud journeys.

Currently an advanced tier AWS partner and working towards achieving premier tier partner status, Cloud ZA aims to bridge the gap to deliver tailored solutions to startups in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

The company aspires to be the go-to cloud professional services provider by offering migration services and managed IT support to businesses.

It also seeks to provide efficient ways for companies to run their workloads in the cloud and provide opportunities to skilled individuals.

2. Deimos

Cloud technology and professional services company Deimos is on a mission to be the leading cloud-native technology company in Africa.

It helps businesses migrate to and adopt cloud-native approaches to technology and get the best return on investment from the cloud.

"In essence, we help businesses make smart cloud-based decisions by providing services like being a Premium Google Cloud Partner, where we help existing Google Cloud customers who have outgrown their current infrastructure, and scale. That allows them to unlock the full potential of the Google Cloud Platform," said Deimos CEO Andrew Mori in an interview with Connecting Africa.

Deimos CEO Andrew Mori. (Source: Deimos)

"We also offer professional services where we help clients develop cloud-native systems and undergo platform modernization, where they convert legacy software as well as infrastructure to the cloud," he continued.

Deimos' goal is to help developers and companies adopt engineering best practices and make smart technology decisions in a cloud-native world.

In December 2022 Deimos announced that it had achieved one of the earliest Google Cloud Security specializations in Africa. This means that the company has proven its expertise in building customer security solutions using Google Cloud technology.

3. Angani

Kenyan fully automated cloud infrastructure startup Angani enables businesses to leverage the flexibility of the cloud for data workloads such as enterprise applications and web applications.

The company's cloud services are certified for meeting high-quality operational standards in a secure environment and allow clients to host their virtual data environments in the cloud or utilise pre-existing services.

Angani enables businesses to leverage the flexibility of the cloud for data workloads such as enterprise applications and web applications. ( Source: Image by DC Studio on Freepik)

"We buy infrastructure in bulk and proceed to lease/rent it out to you at a reduced rate, thus taking away the expense and headache of having to buy and maintain your IT infrastructure in-house," the company said on its website.

The company operates from three secure and redundant data centers in Kenya, with POPs in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.

4. eBiashara

eBiashara is a Kenyan supply chain finance platform that has expanded to offer scalable cloud solutions to its customers.

"We are a tech startup specializing in addressing key supply chain challenges, including capital access, operational efficiency and payments through innovative cloud-based technology solutions," eBiashara CEO Baiju Shah told Connecting Africa in an interview.

eBiashara CEO Baiju Shah. (Source: eBiashara)

"We are AWS partners and are leveraging our expertise in delivering resilient and scalable cloud solutions to our clients. Additionally, our commitment extends to Microsoft products, further enhancing our cloud services," he explained.

Shah said that whether optimizing infrastructure, deploying cloud-based applications, or ensuring secure data management, eBiashara's approach harnesses the capabilities of both AWS and Microsoft to provide cutting-edge cloud solutions.

"In addition to our finance platform, we provide a suite of technology solutions, infrastructure, and IT resources. These offerings empower businesses across sectors to run their operations with maximum efficiency," he explained.

Related posts:

*Top image source: Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa