CloudAfrica
CloudAfrica is a privately held South African Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider founded in 2011, operating a Tier-4 Johannesburg data centre offering cloud compute, storage, networking, and backup services to African businesses, developers, and managed service providers, with ZAR-denominated usage-based pricing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersJohannesburg, South Africa
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What CloudAfrica does
CloudAfrica is a privately held South African Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider founded in 2011 and headquartered in Johannesburg. The company operates a Tier-4 data centre in Johannesburg with zero undersea cable dependency, positioning itself as a local, jurisdictionally-compliant alternative to global hyperscalers for African businesses, developers, and managed service providers. Its platform spans cloud compute (KVM-based virtual machines on Intel Xeon with DC-grade SSDs), SSD NVMe block storage, S3-compliant object storage on Ceph, NFS file storage, backup-as-a-service with offsite replication, advanced firewalls, virtual private clouds (VPCs), virtual private networks, and NVIDIA H200 GPU instances for AI/ML workloads.
The company monetizes through a usage-based, hourly billing model denominated in South African Rand, with published compute tiers ranging from R88/month for a 1GB instance to R13,054/month for a 200GB high-memory instance, plus unit-priced storage, networking, and backup add-ons. Its go-to-market combines a self-serve portal at app.cloudafrica.net for SMBs, developers, and MSPs with a direct sales motion for enterprise customers. CloudAfrica maintains SOC2 Type 2, PCI DSS, POPI, and GDPR compliance and markets vertical-specific solutions for financial institutions and retailers. The team is small (1-10 employees per firmographic data) with claimed 80+ years of combined cloud infrastructure experience, no external funding rounds have been disclosed, and only two named enterprise customers (Dynaco and Unifi) appear publicly.
CloudAfrica firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CloudAfrica
- Legal name
- CloudAfrica
- Website
- https://cloudafrica.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CloudAfrica is a privately held South African Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider founded in 2011, operating a Tier-4 Johannesburg data centre offering cloud compute, storage, networking, and backup services to African businesses, developers, and managed service providers, with ZAR-denominated usage-based pricing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CloudAfrica industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cloud Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415), Computer Facilities Management Services (541513)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Industry/Vertical Cloud Platforms (e.g., Gov/Healthcare/Financial Cloud Regions) (HDABAAAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Cloud Compliance, Audit & Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM/GRC) (HDABAHAI), Cloud Networking Core Services (VPC/VNet, Load Balancing, DNS, NAT) (HDABAAAJ), Cloud Managed Services (Operations, Monitoring, Patching) (BPAEACAF)
Keywords
Where CloudAfrica is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Johannesburg
- HQ country
- South Africa
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices2 records
Markets served
CloudAfrica business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Cloud Compute Services: Hourly billing for cloud compute instances with pay-as-you-go model. Standard and High Memory packages available with varying CPU, RAM, and storage configurations.
- Block Storage: SSD NVMe block storage charged per GiB per month. Scalable independently of compute.
- Object Storage: S3-compliant HDD-based storage on Ceph. Charges for storage capacity and egress.
- NFS Storage: Network file storage available as HDD-based or SSD/NVMe-based, charged per GiB-month.
- Backup as a Service: VM backup and replication services with verified backups. Charged per GiB per month based on backup size and quantity.
- Virtual Private Cloud: Isolated private cloud environments with custom IP ranges, subnets, and firewall configurations.
- Advanced Firewall Services: Granular security access and control across VPCs. Included with all packages or available as add-on.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Standard packages ranging from 1GB to 64GB RAM |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | High memory packages for memory-intensive workloads |
| Unit Pricing | Monthly | SSD NVMe block storage |
| Unit Pricing | Monthly | NFS file storage options |
| Usage-based | Monthly | VM backup and replication |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
CloudAfrica product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CloudAfrica is a South Africa-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider delivering scalable cloud compute (KVM-based virtual machines), multiple storage tiers (SSD NVMe block, S3-compatible object, NFS), backup and replication, virtual private clouds, VPNs, advanced firewalling, and H200-powered GPU instances for AI/ML workloads. Services are priced in South African Rand and targeted at Africa-based businesses, developers, and managed service providers requiring local data residency and POPI compliance.
Product overview
CloudAfrica operates as a South Africa-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider offering a unified cloud platform with multiple integrated services. The core offering consists of Cloud Compute (scalable VMs using KVM hypervisors, Intel Xeon processors, and SSD storage) complemented by a comprehensive storage portfolio including Block Storage (SSD NVMe), Object Storage (S3-compliant Ceph-based), and NFS Storage. Additional modules include Backup as a Service (with verified and replicated backups), Advanced Firewall, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), and Virtual Private Network (VPN) for security and networking. The company also offers industry-specific solutions for retailers and financial institutions, plus GPU compute instances for AI/ML workloads. All services are priced in South African Rands (ZAR) with transparent, pay-as-you-go billing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- 99.9% SLA guarantee for financial institutions
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use CloudAfrica
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
CloudAfrica technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature8 records
CloudAfrica partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
CloudAfrica competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Microsoft Azure: Microsoft Azure operates South Africa North/West regions and offers Virtual Machines, Blob Storage, Virtual Network, and Defender for Cloud — directly overlapping CloudAfrica's core IaaS and networking/security stack while adding deep enterprise and hybrid integration.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): Global hyperscaler operating the AWS Africa (Cape Town) Region, offering EC2 compute, S3, EBS, VPC, and a much broader portfolio than CloudAfrica. It is the principal incumbent CloudAfrica competes against in the South African market, especially for compute-heavy and enterprise workloads.
- Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Oracle Cloud has a Johannesburg region and markets bare-metal and VM compute, object storage, and VCN networking to enterprise customers, including a strong financial-services focus that overlaps with CloudAfrica's regulated-industry positioning.
- Google Cloud Platform: Google Cloud operates an African presence and offers Compute Engine, VPC, Cloud Storage, and AI/ML platforms that compete with CloudAfrica's compute, networking, and newly launched H200 GPU instances.
Direct peers
- Hetzner Online: Hetzner is a German-based cloud provider with data centers in Europe, North America, and Singapore (and growing African footprint) offering comparable KVM-based cloud servers, block and object storage, and firewalls at low prices — directly comparable to CloudAfrica's SMB/developer cloud offering.
- DigitalOcean: DigitalOcean is a US-based IaaS provider focused on developers, SMBs, and startups with Droplets (VMs), Spaces (object storage), Volumes (block storage), VPC, and firewalls — the closest SMB developer-led cloud analogue to CloudAfrica's self-serve portal motion.
- Routed (Saicom Cloud Services): Routed is a South African hosting and virtualisation provider with VMware-based cloud, dedicated servers, and managed hosting — directly competing with CloudAfrica for South African enterprise and SMB cloud workloads.
- Linode (Akamai): Linode, now part of Akamai, offers KVM-based VPS, dedicated CPU instances, object storage, NodeBalancers, and VLANs aimed at developers and SMBs — an apples-to-apples product comparison versus CloudAfrica's standard and high-memory VM tiers.
- Vultr: Vultr offers global KVM-based cloud compute, block storage, object storage, and DDoS-protected networking on an hourly, self-serve basis — directly comparable to CloudAfrica's product-by-product stack and PLG-style pricing model.
Regional players
- BCX (Telkom Business): BCX, the enterprise arm of Telkom South Africa, offers managed cloud, hosting, and data-center services to large South African enterprises and government — a regional incumbent competing in the same South African regulated and enterprise segments as CloudAfrica.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
CloudAfrica social profiles
Digital presenceCloudAfrica compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
CloudAfrica financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CloudAfrica leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
CloudAfrica funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CloudAfrica M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CloudAfrica
What does CloudAfrica do?
CloudAfrica is a South Africa-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider delivering scalable cloud compute (KVM-based virtual machines), multiple storage tiers (SSD NVMe block, S3-compatible object, NFS), backup and replication, virtual private clouds, VPNs, advanced firewalling, and H200-powered GPU instances for AI/ML workloads. Services are priced in South African Rand and targeted at Africa-based businesses, developers, and managed service providers requiring local data residency and POPI compliance.
Is CloudAfrica a public or private company?
CloudAfrica is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was CloudAfrica founded?
CloudAfrica was founded in 2011. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is CloudAfrica based?
CloudAfrica is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Africa region.
How does CloudAfrica make money?
Seven revenue lines are on record. Cloud Compute Services are the primary driver. The others are block Storage, object Storage, NFS Storage, backup as a Service, virtual Private Cloud and advanced Firewall Services.
Who are CloudAfrica's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Google Cloud Platform. Direct peers are Hetzner Online, DigitalOcean, Routed (Saicom Cloud Services), Linode (Akamai) and Vultr. BCX (Telkom Business) is listed as a regional player.
Does CloudAfrica have an API?
No public API is recorded for CloudAfrica.
What industry is CloudAfrica in?
CloudAfrica's product category is Cloud Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAAAL, Industry/Vertical Cloud Platforms (e.g., Gov/Healthcare/Financial Cloud Regions), with a secondary code of HDABAHAI, Cloud Compliance, Audit & Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM/GRC). Its NAICS code is 5182 and its SIC code is 7373.