Managing today's complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments can be a major challenge. As part of CRN's Stellar Startups for 2024, here are four cloud startups developing next-generation tools for managing cloud systems and keeping cloud costs under control that solution providers should be aware of.

The New Generation Of Cloud Computing Companies

Worldwide public cloud end-user spending is expected to surpass $675 billion this year, according to market researcher Gartner, up 20.4 percent from $561 billion in 2023. Cloud growth drivers include generative AI and application modernization initiatives, Gartner said in a July report.

While a great deal of IT hardware and software remains installed in on-premises data centers, businesses and organizations are running more of their applications and storing more of their data in cloud-based systems - including public and private clouds.

Increasingly dispersed hybrid-cloud and multi-cloud networks can be challenging to manage, however. Applications need to be connected and integrated. Data needed for operational and analytical tasks may be dispersed across multiple silos. Just keeping track of which cloud services an organization is using - and paying for - can be a significant problem.

To help with these challenges, a new generation of startups is building leading-edge products for deploying, connecting and managing cloud infrastructure systems and applications - and keeping cloud computing costs in check. As part of CRN's Stellar Startups for 2024, here's a look at for startups - founded in 2018 or later, that solution providers should know.