San Francisco investors subsidizing cloud computing, SaaS & infrastructure companies in 2026

San Francisco raised $18.7B in cloud infrastructure across 680+ deals in 2025. Most capital went to AI infrastructure, multi-cloud management, and cloud security. The ecosystem remains the global center for cloud computing but AWS, GCP, and Azure dominate attention. You'll compete with hundreds of "next-gen cloud platform" companies.

Quick list

Why San Francisco for cloud infrastructure fundraising

San Francisco raised more cloud infrastructure capital than Seattle, New York, and Austin combined in 2025. The ecosystem produced Snowflake, Databricks, and MongoDB. AWS and GCP maintain major engineering offices here. You'll find investors who funded the last wave of cloud infrastructure and understand multi-year paths to $1B+ valuations.

SF cloud investors expect technical depth and clear differentiation from hyperscalers. Average seed round is $4-10M, Series A runs $15-35M. That's higher than most software categories because infrastructure needs longer runways. Most funds here have multiple cloud investments and pattern-match against Snowflake's growth trajectory.

The downside is AWS, Azure, and GCP compete directly with most cloud startups. Investors ask tough questions about why customers won't just use native services. You need strong answers about multi-cloud portability, specialized workloads, or developer experience advantages. "Better than AWS" isn't enough without Fortune 500 reference customers.

Picking the right San Francisco cloud infrastructure investor

Local presence connects you to engineering leaders at every major tech company running cloud infrastructure at scale. SF investors introduce you to infrastructure teams at Uber, Airbnb, Stripe, and Meta who become design partners and early adopters. These relationships are why SF dominates cloud infrastructure fundraising despite Seattle's proximity to AWS and Azure.

Portfolio companies should include at least one IPO or major acquisition. Investors who backed Snowflake, Elastic, MongoDB, or HashiCorp understand the 7-10 year path from product-market fit to public markets. Check if they held through flat rounds or pivots. Cloud infrastructure takes longer than SaaS and you'll need patient capital through market cycles.

Check sizes scale with infrastructure complexity. Seed rounds average $4-10M for databases and platforms, Series A runs $15-35M, Series B hits $40-80M. Multi-cloud management and AI infrastructure command higher valuations. Don't approach small seed funds when you need $25M to build out your global network. Share your deck through Ellty trackable links to see which technical architecture slides investors review most carefully.

Local network matters more for cloud infrastructure than pure SaaS. The right investor connects you to CIOs at Salesforce, infrastructure architects at Airbnb, or platform teams at DoorDash. These become your reference customers and shape product roadmaps. Ask portfolio founders if their investors actually facilitated technical partnerships or just offered generic networking suggestions. Viewer identification adds context to otherwise anonymous engagement.

Follow-on capacity is critical because cloud infrastructure requires multiple large rounds. Series C averages $100M+ now and Series D can hit $250M+. Funds under $500M can't lead past Series B. Check if your early investors have multi-stage funds or strong relationships with Tiger Global, Coatue, or Insight Partners who lead late-stage cloud rounds. Set up an Ellty data room early with your technical architecture docs and customer deployment data. Defined workflows reduce ambiguity as document access expands.

How to find and approach San Francisco cloud infrastructure investors

Research local deals by filtering Crunchbase and PitchBook for "cloud infrastructure," "SaaS platform," "multi-cloud," and "data infrastructure" in San Francisco. TechCrunch and Protocol cover major cloud rounds. Check which funds led the last 20 infrastructure deals in your category. Leading signals real conviction. Co-investing often means they passed initially but followed a lead investor.

Leverage local ecosystem through Y Combinator for early-stage companies, Amplify Partners' technical community, and Heavybit for infrastructure founders. Most SF cloud investors scout YC's infrastructure batch carefully. Join CNCF meetups, Kubernetes community events, and data infrastructure conferences where Sequoia, Accel, and Bessemer partners actually attend and speak.

Build relationships first through technical content and conference talks. Many SF cloud investors discover companies through AWS re:Invent presentations, blog posts about infrastructure challenges, or open source contributions. Redpoint found Snowflake through data warehouse performance benchmarks. Battery tracks companies solving specific cloud optimization problems before they raise.

Share your pitch deck via Ellty trackable links after infrastructure conferences or technical community events. SF cloud investors take 2-3 weeks to review decks if your architecture is compelling. You'll see which investors focus on your competitive differentiation slides versus technical implementation details. Include your performance benchmarks and customer deployment case studies in the same shareable link.

Attend local events like AWS Startup Loft office hours (monthly), Google Cloud's developer events, and Amplify Partners' infrastructure workshops. Data Council and Scale By the Bay attract serious infrastructure investors. Skip generic startup mixers. Cloud investors want to discuss your database consistency model, network architecture, or multi-region failover approach.

Connect with portfolio founders through infrastructure Slack communities like Rands Leadership, CNCF channels, or Heavybit's member network. Most SF cloud founders share honest investor feedback. They'll tell you which VCs understand cloud economics versus those who pattern-match against generic SaaS metrics. Ask specifically about technical due diligence quality and depth.

Organize due diligence in an Ellty data room with your architecture documentation, security certifications, customer deployment guides, and performance benchmarks. SF cloud investors want to see your SOC 2 reports, penetration test results, and disaster recovery plans. Include infrastructure cost analysis showing unit economics at scale.

Understand local pace varies by stage and traction. Seed rounds with strong technical founders close in 6-10 weeks. Series A with $2M+ ARR takes 8-14 weeks. Growth rounds require 12-20 weeks for extensive technical and commercial diligence. Budget accordingly and don't start fundraising with less than six months runway. Cloud infrastructure deals take longer than application SaaS. Ongoing updates help sustain investor confidence between major milestones.

San Francisco-specific considerations

SF cloud investors expect you to articulate why customers won't use AWS, Azure, or GCP native services. The "multi-cloud" pitch wore thin after 2023. Come with specific use cases where hyperscalers fall short. Specialized databases for time-series data work. "Better Kubernetes" doesn't unless you're solving enterprise governance at massive scale.

Technical founders matter more in cloud infrastructure than other categories. Investors prefer founding teams with experience building infrastructure at Google, Amazon, Meta, or Microsoft. If you lack hyperscaler pedigree, you'll need exceptional reference customers or open source community traction. First-time founders face higher bars in infrastructure than application software.

Cloud economics scrutiny increased after public market corrections in 2022-2023. Investors model gross margins at scale obsessively. Your unit economics need clear paths to 70%+ gross margins. Don't hand-wave compute costs. If margins depend on Moore's Law or future hardware improvements, expect skepticism. Snowflake set expectations at 75%+ gross margins.

22 top cloud infrastructure investors in San Francisco

1. Accel

One of the most successful cloud infrastructure investors with Atlassian, Slack, and Webflow exits.

• Recent Deals: Webflow ($120M Series C, 2024), Vercel ($250M Series E, 2024), 1Password ($620M Series C, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Ping Li
• Sector Focus: visual development platforms, edge computing, security infrastructure, collaboration tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: accel.com

2. Andreessen Horowitz

a16z's infrastructure practice backs foundational cloud platform companies.

• Recent Deals: Databricks ($500M Series I, 2024), Cockroach Labs (co-investor), Orca Security ($550M Series D, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Martin Casado
• Sector Focus: data platforms, distributed databases, cloud security, infrastructure automation
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: a16z.com

3. Bessemer Venture Partners

Cloud infrastructure pioneers with Shopify, Twilio, and HashiCorp in portfolio.

• Recent Deals: Shopify (growth rounds pre-IPO), HashiCorp (growth rounds pre-IPO), Auth0 (pre-Okta acquisition)
• LinkedIn: Byron Deeter
• Sector Focus: e-commerce infrastructure, communications platforms, infrastructure automation, authentication
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: bvp.com

4. Redpoint Ventures

Early Snowflake investors with strong data infrastructure portfolio.

• Recent Deals: Snowflake (Series D pre-IPO), Looker (pre-Google acquisition), Temporal ($103M Series B, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Tomasz Tunguz
• Sector Focus: data warehousing, business intelligence, workflow orchestration, analytics platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: redpoint.com

5. Index Ventures

European fund with strong SF presence backing Elastic, Confluent, and infrastructure leaders.

• Recent Deals: Elastic (growth rounds pre-IPO), Cockroach Labs ($278M Series F, 2024), Wiz ($300M Series D, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Mike Volpi
• Sector Focus: search infrastructure, distributed databases, cloud security, observability
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: San Francisco (Jackson Square)
• Website: indexventures.com

6. Lightspeed Venture Partners

Multi-stage fund backing cloud infrastructure from Nutanix to modern platforms.

• Recent Deals: Nutanix (Series E pre-IPO), Vanta ($110M Series B, 2024), Mux ($105M Series C, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Arif Janmohamed
• Sector Focus: hyperconverged infrastructure, compliance automation, video infrastructure, cloud platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: lsvp.com

7. Battery Ventures

Infrastructure specialists with CDN, security, and platform investments.

• Recent Deals: Kong ($100M Series D, 2024), Akamai partnerships, Cockroach Labs (co-investor)
• LinkedIn: Neeraj Agrawal
• Sector Focus: API management, content delivery, distributed systems, network infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: San Francisco (Financial District)
• Website: battery.com

8. Iconiq Capital

Growth-stage fund backing Datadog, Snowflake, and infrastructure giants.

• Recent Deals: Datadog (growth rounds pre-IPO), Snowflake (growth rounds), Databricks (co-investor)
• LinkedIn: Doug Pepper
• Sector Focus: observability, data platforms, infrastructure monitoring, analytics
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth, pre-IPO
• Office Location: San Francisco (Embarcadero)
• Website: iconiqcapital.com

9. Insight Partners

Growth equity firm backing Veeam, Armis, and infrastructure scale-ups.

• Recent Deals: Veeam (growth rounds pre-acquisition), Armis ($300M Series D, 2024), BigID ($70M Series D, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Jeff Horing
• Sector Focus: backup and recovery, security platforms, data governance, infrastructure management
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth, pre-IPO
• Office Location: San Francisco (with NYC headquarters)
• Website: insightpartners.com

10. Sapphire Ventures

Late-stage infrastructure specialists with cloud security focus.

• Recent Deals: Illumio ($225M Series F, 2024), HashiCorp (growth rounds), InfluxData ($81M Series E, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Jai Das
• Sector Focus: cloud security, infrastructure automation, time-series databases, network security
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, Series E, growth
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: sapphireventures.com

11. Addition

Established by Lee Fixel backing technical infrastructure and platform companies.

• Recent Deals: Figma ($200M round, 2023), Stripe (growth rounds), Ramp ($750M Series D, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Lee Fixel
• Sector Focus: design infrastructure, payments platforms, financial infrastructure, collaboration tools
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth
• Office Location: Palo Alto
• Website: addition.com

12. Coatue Management

Tech-focused hedge fund investing in high-growth infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: Cockroach Labs ($278M Series F, 2024), Databricks (co-investor), Snowflake (growth rounds)
• LinkedIn: Dan Rose
• Sector Focus: distributed databases, data platforms, cloud infrastructure, AI infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series D, Series E, growth, pre-IPO
• Office Location: San Francisco (Financial District)
• Website: coatue.com

13. General Catalyst

Multi-stage fund backing Stripe, Snap, and infrastructure platforms.

• Recent Deals: Stripe (growth rounds), Gusto ($175M Series E, 2024), Samsara ($300M Series F, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Niko Bonatsos
• Sector Focus: payments infrastructure, HR platforms, IoT infrastructure, business platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: San Francisco (with Cambridge headquarters)
• Website: generalcatalyst.com

14. IVP

Growth-stage specialists who led Datadog and multiple cloud infrastructure IPOs.

• Recent Deals: Datadog (Series D pre-IPO), Amplitude ($150M Series E, 2024), HashiCorp (growth rounds)
• LinkedIn: Somesh Dash
• Sector Focus: observability, product analytics, infrastructure automation, monitoring platforms
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: ivp.com

15. Madrona Venture Group

Seattle-based with strong SF cloud infrastructure presence through Snowflake and others.

• Recent Deals: Snowflake (early rounds), Apptio (pre-Vista acquisition), Auth0 (pre-Okta acquisition)
• LinkedIn: Matt McIlwain
• Sector Focus: data warehousing, IT management, authentication, cloud optimization
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Seattle (active in SF market)
• Website: madrona.com

16. Mayfield Fund

Long-established fund that backed HashiCorp's Series A and infrastructure pioneers.

• Recent Deals: HashiCorp (Series A), Marketo (pre-Adobe acquisition), SentinelOne (growth rounds pre-IPO)
• LinkedIn: Navin Chaddha
• Sector Focus: infrastructure automation, marketing platforms, security infrastructure, AI infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: mayfield.com

17. Salesforce Ventures

Strategic investor in cloud infrastructure with portfolio access to Salesforce partnerships.

• Recent Deals: Snowflake (multiple rounds), MongoDB (growth rounds), HashiCorp (growth rounds)
• LinkedIn: John Somorjai
• Sector Focus: data platforms, databases, infrastructure automation, enterprise platforms
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D, growth
• Office Location: San Francisco (Salesforce Tower)
• Website: salesforce.com/ventures

18. Sequoia Capital

Most successful infrastructure investor with Snowflake, MongoDB, and Stripe.

• Recent Deals: Snowflake (Series E pre-IPO), MongoDB (growth rounds pre-IPO), Stripe (growth rounds)
• LinkedIn: Pat Grady
• Sector Focus: data warehousing, databases, payments infrastructure, foundational platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: sequoiacap.com

19. Threshold Ventures

Formerly DFJ, backed Box cloud storage and multiple infrastructure companies.

• Recent Deals: Box (early rounds pre-IPO), Planet Labs (Series C), Achronix (semiconductor infrastructure)
• LinkedIn: Emily Melton
• Sector Focus: cloud storage, earth imaging infrastructure, semiconductor platforms, data platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: threshold.com

20. Tiger Global

Growth equity firm backing Databricks, Stripe, and multiple cloud unicorns.

• Recent Deals: Databricks (growth rounds), Stripe (growth rounds), Snyk ($196M Series E, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Scott Shleifer
• Sector Focus: data platforms, payments infrastructure, security platforms, infrastructure automation
• Stage Focus: Series D, Series E, growth, pre-IPO
• Office Location: San Francisco (with NYC headquarters)
• Website: tigerglobal.com

21. Trinity Ventures

Established infrastructure fund that backed New Relic and observability platforms.

• Recent Deals: New Relic (growth rounds pre-IPO), Mu Sigma (analytics platform), Carbon Black (pre-VMware acquisition)
• LinkedIn: Gus Tai
• Sector Focus: observability, analytics platforms, security infrastructure, monitoring tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: trinityventures.com

22. Unusual Ventures

Data-driven fund backing technical infrastructure founders.

• Recent Deals: Starburst Data ($250M Series D, 2024), Observe ($115M Series C, 2024), Materialize (co-investor)
• LinkedIn: John Vrionis
• Sector Focus: data lake analytics, observability, streaming databases, data infrastructure
• Stage Focus: seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Menlo Park
• Website: unusual.vc

Start tracking your San Francisco cloud infrastructure investor outreach

These 22 investors closed 400+ cloud infrastructure deals in San Francisco in 2025-2026. Before you start reaching out to SF funds, set up proper tracking for your technical documentation and customer evidence.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each investor. You'll see exactly which slides they review and how long they spend on your architecture diagrams, competitive differentiation, or customer deployment case studies. San Francisco cloud investors typically focus on technical implementation details and unit economics rather than market size projections.

When SF investors request technical documentation during diligence, share an Ellty data room instead of email threads with attachments. Your architecture docs, security certifications, performance benchmarks, and customer contracts in one secure place with view analytics. You'll know if their technical advisors actually reviewed your SOC 2 report or disaster recovery documentation versus just reading your executive summary.

Common questions

Do I need to be in San Francisco to raise from SF cloud investors?

Not required, but SF presence helps for customer development with local tech companies. Most cloud investors fund companies nationwide if technical differentiation is clear. Remote works through Series A. Series B and beyond often requires Bay Area sales presence for enterprise deals with Salesforce, Uber, or Airbnb.

How does SF compare to Seattle for cloud infrastructure fundraising?

SF has more capital and higher valuations overall. Seattle has deeper AWS and Azure expertise through proximity to Amazon and Microsoft. For database and platform infrastructure, SF remains stronger. For enterprise infrastructure serving Fortune 500, Seattle's connections to traditional enterprises can help.

What metrics do SF cloud investors want to see at Series A?

$2-4M ARR with 150%+ net dollar retention for horizontal platforms. Lower ARR acceptable for specialized infrastructure with Fortune 500 design partners. Gross margins above 60% with clear path to 75%+. Usage-based pricing models need to show expansion revenue working.

Should I build on AWS, Azure, or multi-cloud from day one?

Start single-cloud for faster development. Most SF investors are fine with AWS-first approach. Add multi-cloud support when customers demand it. Don't build multi-cloud architecture speculatively. Investors prefer deep AWS integration over shallow multi-cloud support.

Do SF investors expect open source or commercial-first for infrastructure?

Open core model works well for databases and platforms. Fully commercial works for security and compliance infrastructure. Open source helps with developer adoption but investors want clear monetization. Be honest about strategy. MongoDB and Elastic proved open core can reach massive scale.

What's the typical Series B valuation for cloud infrastructure in SF?

$200-400M post-money for companies with $10-20M ARR and strong growth. Higher for AI infrastructure or specialized platforms with hyperscaler partnerships. Lower if margins are weak or burn is excessive. Path to profitability matters more than it did in 2021.

How important are hyperscaler partnerships before fundraising?

Very important for infrastructure requiring cloud marketplace presence. AWS, Azure, and GCP partnerships signal validation and distribution. Many enterprise customers buy through cloud marketplaces. If you're building infrastructure, establish relationships early. Investors check your marketplace presence during diligence.