CloudFactory
CloudFactory combines a global managed workforce of 6,000+ trained annotators with proprietary AI tooling to help enterprises prepare data for, operate, and oversee AI systems in production across healthcare, finance, and autonomous vehicles.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersReading, United Kingdom
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CloudFactory does
CloudFactory is a UK-headquartered AI data and platform services company founded in 2010 that combines a globally distributed managed workforce of more than 6,000 trained annotators with proprietary tooling to help enterprises prepare data for, operate, and oversee AI systems in production. The company's AI Platform is structured around four engine modules — Data Foundation, Model & Agent Orchestration, Trust & Oversight (Inference Engine), and Enablement — spanning the full AI lifecycle from raw data ingestion through production inference and human-in-the-loop validation. Core offerings include AI Consulting (Advise, Discover, Design & Build), Managed Workforce data labeling for image, video, text, LiDAR, and multimodal data, Accelerated Annotation (an AI-assisted labeling product built on the 2022 Hasty acquisition), Workforce Plus, Human-in-the-Loop Automation, and Model Monitoring.
The company serves enterprise customers across healthcare (Sartorius, Medical AI Company, Ocuvera), finance, autonomous vehicles and robotics (Luminar, AMP Robotics), geospatial and aerial imaging (Nearmap, Zeitview, Allvision), retail (Ibotta), digital twins (Matterport), and life sciences, with named logos also including Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric, and Expensify. Revenue is generated through custom-priced enterprise engagements and multi-year managed-services contracts rather than public pricing. CloudFactory holds ISO 27001:2022, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA Business Associate validation, and GDPR compliance, which are prerequisites for the regulated healthcare and finance workloads it targets. Its go-to-market is a consultative enterprise field-sales motion with CTAs such as "Book a Meeting" and "Request a Demo."
CloudFactory is privately held and has raised approximately $79M in cumulative outside capital, anchored by a $65M growth equity round led by FTV Capital in November 2019, with earlier participation from Rockefeller Foundation, Dolma Impact Fund, Sovereign's Capital, Praxis, and Weatherford Capital. The company has made three acquisitions — Humanoid and SpeakerText (2013), WorkAround (2021), and Hasty (2022) — and operates through subsidiaries in the UK, US, Kenya, and India/Nepal. Following the January 2024 transition of founder Mark Sears to Executive Chairman and the appointment of Kevin Johnston as CEO, alongside three additional C-level appointments in July 2024, the company has repositioned from pure data labeling toward a broader enterprise AI platform and consulting business.
CloudFactory firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CloudFactory
- Legal name
- CloudFactory International Limited
- Website
- https://cloudfactory.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- CloudFactory combines a global managed workforce of 6,000+ trained annotators with proprietary AI tooling to help enterprises prepare data for, operate, and oversee AI systems in production across healthcare, finance, and autonomous vehicles.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CloudFactory industry classification
Industry- Product category
- AI Data Annotation Services
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design Services (541512)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management) (HDAEANAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services (BPAEAHAF), AI Observability, Monitoring & Evaluation Platforms (Drift, Quality, Safety) (HDAEANAF), AI/ML Solution Integration & MLOps Enablement (BPAEAAAJ), AI Integration & Orchestration Platforms (Connectors, Workflow, iPaaS for AI) (HDAEANAI), Agents & Autonomous Workflows (Tool Use, Planning, Multi-Agent) (HDAAACAF)
Keywords
Where CloudFactory is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Reading
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices5 records
Markets served
CloudFactory business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- AI Platform Services: Full-lifecycle AI platform services including data foundation, model orchestration, trust/oversight, and enablement components. Combines technology platform with managed workforce services.
- AI Consulting Services: AI strategy, design, development, and change management services that turn AI vision into scalable, production-ready outcomes. Services include Advise, Discover, and Design & Build phases.
- Data Labeling and Annotation: Managed workforce services for data annotation, curation, and quality assurance supporting machine learning model development across various modalities including images, video, text, and audio.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise custom pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels7 records
CloudFactory product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CloudFactory provides enterprise AI lifecycle services combining a proprietary AI Platform (Data Foundation, Model & Agent Orchestration, Trust & Oversight, Enablement) with managed human-in-the-loop workforces for data labeling, annotation, model training oversight, and inference evaluation. Its core sellable offerings include the AI Platform, AI Consulting, Accelerated Annotation, Workforce Plus, Managed Workforce, Human-in-the-Loop Automation, and Model Monitoring, targeted at organizations deploying AI in high-stakes environments such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous vehicles.
Product overview
CloudFactory offers an AI Consulting & Platform for scalable, trusted AI, combining four integrated engine modules (Data Foundation, Training Engine, Inference Engine, and AI Engine) with professional AI consulting services. Their platform supports the full AI lifecycle from data preparation through production deployment, with specialized product offerings including Accelerated Annotation (AI-powered labeling for images and video), Workforce Plus (managed workforce with tooling for video/LiDAR), and the acquired Hasty Vision AI platform. The company provides human-in-the-loop automation services, model monitoring, and comprehensive knowledge resources including the Computer Vision Wiki. They serve high-stakes industries including healthcare, finance, autonomous vehicles, and retail with a focus on AI reliability and oversight.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Hasty: AI-powered labeling technology platform for 2-D images and video integrated with expert annotators and optimized processes, acquired by CloudFactory in 2022.
- Accelerated Annotation
Products and services
- AI Platform
Quantifiable outcome
- 50% improvement in driver retention rates for MV Transportation through AI implementation
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use CloudFactory
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
CloudFactory technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability13 records
Feature5 records
CloudFactory partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- The Outsourcing Alliance of Kenya (OAK)coreCloudFactory Kenya joined with CCI Kenya, Teleperformance Kenya, and Sama Kenya to form OAK, a private-sector coalition positioning Kenya as a global business services hub. The alliance targets 20+ paid members by Q2 2026, 100,000 jobs, and proposes government policy reforms including Special Economic Zone benefits and standardized transfer pricing rates.
- Cato NetworkscoreCloudFactory implemented Cato Networks' SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) platform to connect its global workforce of over 6,000 people across offices in the UK, US, Nepal, Kenya, and Colombia. The deployment replaced a costly VPN setup on AWS, improving network performance, security through device posturing and XDR, and reducing operational overhead.
- HastycoreCloudFactory acquired Hasty, a leading platform to accelerate Vision AI. The acquisition integrated Hasty's AI-powered labeling technology with CloudFactory's managed workforce capabilities, creating the Accelerated Annotation product.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves9 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CloudFactory competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Scale AI: Scale AI is the most direct competitor, offering AI data labelling, evaluation and testing services to enterprise AI teams across computer vision, NLP and generative AI. Like CloudFactory it blends a managed workforce with proprietary labelling tooling, and targets large enterprises in autonomy, defence and government.
- Appen: Appen is a global data annotation and dataset services provider serving the same ML training-data market as CloudFactory. It offers a managed crowd across multiple modalities and geographies and competes head-to-head for enterprise annotation contracts.
- Sama (formerly Samasource/Samasource Impact): Sama provides AI data annotation with a mission-driven, impact-sourcing model operating from Kenya and other emerging markets. Closely parallels CloudFactory's talent moat in Nepal/Kenya/Colombia and its mission of providing meaningful digital work.
- Labelbox: Labelbox is an AI data platform combining annotation tooling, model evaluation and workflow orchestration. Competes with CloudFactory's AI Platform on the software side, particularly the Data Foundation and Model & Agent Orchestration modules.
Broad incumbents
- Telus International (Lionbridge AI): Telus International acquired Lionbridge AI to offer data annotation at global BPO scale, with a much broader digital customer-experience portfolio than CloudFactory. Overlaps in annotation services but Telus is a much larger, diversified incumbent.
- AWS SageMaker Ground Truth: AWS SageMaker Ground Truth is the native hyperscaler data labelling and labelling-pipeline service bundled into the broader SageMaker ML platform. Competes with CloudFactory's Data Foundation on infrastructure-level integration for cloud-native customers.
- Accenture AI / Data & Analytics practice: Accenture's global AI and data services practice delivers enterprise AI strategy, MLOps enablement and data engineering at consulting scale. Overlaps with CloudFactory's AI Consulting offering but as part of a much broader systems-integration portfolio.
Emerging players
- Encord: Encord is an AI data development platform focused on annotation, curation and evaluation for computer vision and multimodal models. A more recent, software-led entrant competing for the same enterprise Vision AI budgets as CloudFactory's Accelerated Annotation.
- SuperAnnotate: SuperAnnotate provides an AI-assisted annotation platform with a managed-services layer, directly overlapping with CloudFactory's labelling tooling and outsourced workforce offerings. Targets enterprise computer-vision teams.
- Surge AI: Surge AI is a data labelling platform purpose-built for foundation-model training and evaluation, with a focus on RLHF and complex reasoning tasks. Adjacent to CloudFactory's NLP and generative-AI capabilities but differentiated by a software-first, expert-network model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CloudFactory social profiles
Digital presenceCloudFactory compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
CloudFactory financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CloudFactory leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles17 records
CloudFactory subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries8 records
CloudFactory funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CloudFactory M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A4 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CloudFactory
What does CloudFactory do?
CloudFactory provides enterprise AI lifecycle services combining a proprietary AI Platform (Data Foundation, Model & Agent Orchestration, Trust & Oversight, Enablement) with managed human-in-the-loop workforces for data labeling, annotation, model training oversight, and inference evaluation. Its core sellable offerings include the AI Platform, AI Consulting, Accelerated Annotation, Workforce Plus, Managed Workforce, Human-in-the-Loop Automation, and Model Monitoring, targeted at organizations deploying AI in high-stakes environments such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous vehicles.
Is CloudFactory a public or private company?
CloudFactory is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was CloudFactory founded?
CloudFactory was founded in 2010. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is CloudFactory based?
CloudFactory is headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does CloudFactory make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. AI Platform Services are the primary driver. The others are AI Consulting Services and data Labeling and Annotation.
Who are CloudFactory's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Scale AI, Appen, Sama (formerly Samasource/Samasource Impact) and Labelbox. Broad incumbents are Telus International (Lionbridge AI), AWS SageMaker Ground Truth and Accenture AI / Data & Analytics practice. Emerging players are Encord, SuperAnnotate and Surge AI.
Does CloudFactory have an API?
Yes. CloudFactory provides developer documentation at https://docs.hasty.ai/ and a Developer Documentation portal at https://developer.cloudfactory.com/. The developer portal includes API Reference documentation and access to the Computer Vision Wiki. However, the specific type of API (REST, GraphQL, etc.), authentication methods, rate limits, and public/partner availability are not explicitly stated in the provided sources. Developer documentation is at docs.hasty.ai.
What industry is CloudFactory in?
CloudFactory's product category is AI Data Annotation Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAEANAA, End-to-End Enterprise AI Platforms (MLOps & Model Lifecycle Management), with a secondary code of BPAEAHAF, AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7370.