CloudFlare, Inc. operates as a cloud services provider that delivers a range of services to businesses worldwide. The company offers an integrated cloud-based security solution to secure a range of combination of platforms, including public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, software-as-a-service applications, and IoT devices. Its security products comprise cloud firewall, bot management, distributed denial of service, IoT, SSL/TLS, secure origin connection, and rate limiting products. The company also offers performance solutions, which include content delivery and intelligent routing, as well as content, mobile, and image optimization solutions. In addition, it provides reliability solutions comprising load balancing, anycast network, virtual backbone, DNS, DNS resolver, online, and virtual waiting room solutions. Further, the company offers Cloudflare internal infrastructure solutions, including on-ramps, which connect users, devices, or locations to its network; and filters, which are the products that protect, inspect, and privilege data. Additionally, it provides developer-based solutions, such as serverless computing/programmable network, website development, domain registration, Cloudflare apps, analytics, and data localization management; Consumer DNS Resolver, a consumer app to browse the Internet; and Consumer VPN for consumers to secure and accelerate traffic on mobile devices. The company serves customers in the technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and retail, and non-profit industries, as well as government. CloudFlare, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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Here are 1-3 brief analogies to describe Cloudflare (NET):
- Cloudflare is like **Norton Antivirus, but for entire websites and online services**, protecting them from cyberattacks, bots, and malicious traffic.
- Think of it as a **modern Akamai**, providing a global network to make websites and applications faster, but with an integrated suite of advanced security and development tools.
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- Cloudflare CDN
- A content delivery network that optimizes the delivery of web content by caching resources closer to end-users, enhancing website speed and reliability. (Performance & Reliability Service)
- DDoS Protection
- Shields websites, applications, and network infrastructure from distributed denial-of-service attacks by absorbing and mitigating malicious traffic. (Security Service)
- Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Detects and blocks malicious attacks targeting web applications, protecting against common vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting. (Security Service)
- Cloudflare Zero Trust Platform (Cloudflare One)
- A comprehensive security model that grants access to applications and data based on strict verification, securing remote workforces and hybrid environments. (Security & Network as a Service)
- Cloudflare Workers
- An edge computing platform enabling developers to deploy serverless functions directly on Cloudflare's global network, bringing logic closer to users for faster execution. (Developer Platform & Edge Computing Service)
- Cloudflare DNS
- Provides highly performant and secure domain name system services, including authoritative DNS for websites and a public DNS resolver for internet users. (Core Internet & Performance Service)
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Cloudflare (symbol: NYSE: NET) primarily sells its services to other companies and organizations, operating on a Business-to-Business (B2B) model.
According to Cloudflare's public filings, including their annual 10-K reports, no single customer accounts for 10% or more of their revenue. This indicates a highly diversified customer base rather than reliance on a few "major customers" in the traditional sense of significant revenue concentration. As such, Cloudflare does not publicly disclose specific major customer companies by name or symbol.
Instead, Cloudflare serves a wide array of organizations across various industries and sizes, ranging from small businesses to large enterprises, governments, and non-profit organizations. Their customer base can be broadly categorized by the types of entities and their needs:
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Enterprise & Large Organizations: This category includes large corporations, government entities, and global businesses that leverage Cloudflare's comprehensive suite of security, performance, and reliability services. These customers often have complex infrastructure, high traffic volumes, and stringent security requirements. Industries served include financial services, media & entertainment, e-commerce, healthcare, and technology companies. While specific names are not disclosed as "major customers" in terms of revenue concentration, their solutions are critical for maintaining the online presence and operations of many well-known brands and critical infrastructure.
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SaaS Providers & Developers: Cloudflare is extensively used by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, Application Programming Interface (API) providers, and individual developers. These customers utilize Cloudflare for accelerating application delivery, enhancing API security, and building scalable internet properties using Cloudflare's developer platform (e.g., Workers, Pages). Many other tech companies rely on Cloudflare to power their own services and secure their digital offerings.
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Small & Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs): Cloudflare also provides accessible and scalable solutions for smaller businesses looking to improve their website performance, enhance security against cyber threats (like DDoS attacks), and ensure a reliable online presence without requiring extensive IT infrastructure. This segment benefits from Cloudflare's ease of use and tiered service offerings, making enterprise-grade security and performance tools available to a broader market.
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Matthew Prince, Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Chair of the Board
Matthew Prince co-founded Cloudflare in 2009. He also co-founded Unspam Technologies, Inc., where he served as Chairman. Before Cloudflare, Prince was involved in various entrepreneurial ventures and legal practice, including teaching cyberlaw at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Unspam, a spam-prevention software, led to the foundation of Unspam Technologies and the creation of Project Honey Pot.
Michelle Zatlyn, Co-founder, President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director
Michelle Zatlyn co-founded Cloudflare with Matthew Prince and Lee Holloway in 2009. Her professional background includes roles at Google, Toshiba, and she was a founding team member of the Toronto-based startup I Love Rewards (later Achievers), a global employee rewards program. She currently sits on Cloudflare's board and also serves on the board of directors for Atlassian.
Thomas Seifert, Chief Financial Officer
Thomas Seifert joined Cloudflare as its first Chief Financial Officer in 2017. He brings an extensive background in financial management and corporate governance, having held leadership roles at Symantec, Brightstar Corp., and AMD. At Symantec, he oversaw the company's financial and strategic transformation, including the acquisition of BlueCoat. Seifert also served as interim CEO for eight months at AMD in 2012. Cloudflare was backed by private equity firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Venrock, Union Square Ventures, Pelion, and Greenspring Associates prior to its public listing.
Mark Anderson, President of Revenue
Mark Anderson was appointed President of Revenue at Cloudflare in February 2024. He is an industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in building high-performing teams and scaling revenue at multiple enterprise technology companies. Before joining Cloudflare, he served as CEO of Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) and was instrumental in scaling Palo Alto Networks from its pre-IPO stage to over $2.5 billion in annualized revenue. Earlier in his career, Anderson led worldwide sales activities at F5 Networks and held leadership positions at Lucent Technologies and Cisco Systems. He has been a member of Cloudflare's Board of Directors since August 2019.
Marc Boroditsky, Advisor (Former President of Revenue)
Marc Boroditsky served as President of Revenue at Cloudflare from 2022 to 2024 and is currently an advisor to the company. He is a seasoned tech executive with over 30 years of experience leading high-growth software companies. Prior to Cloudflare, he was Chief Revenue Officer at Twilio and Vice President at Oracle following Oracle's acquisition of Passlogix. Boroditsky founded and successfully exited several startups, including Passlogix, Inc. and Numera, Inc., to major acquirers like Cisco, Oracle, and Twilio.
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The increasing sophistication, integration, and aggressive bundling of security, content delivery network (CDN), and edge computing services by major cloud providers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform). As these hyperscalers continue to enhance their native offerings, they present a more compelling single-vendor solution for enterprises deeply embedded within their respective cloud ecosystems. This trend challenges Cloudflare's value proposition as an independent, best-of-breed, and cloud-agnostic layer, potentially limiting its market share expansion, particularly among companies that prioritize single-vendor convenience and cost efficiency over a multi-cloud strategy or specialized third-party services.
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Cloudflare estimates its total addressable market (TAM) to be a substantial and growing global market for its main products and services.
- The company's total addressable market is projected to be $176 billion in 2024, expanding to $222 billion by 2027.
- Another estimate places Cloudflare's addressable market at $164 billion in 2024, growing to $204 billion in 2026.
These market size estimates are global and are based on forecasts from Gartner and IDC. The main product and service categories contributing to this addressable market include DDoS protection services, Content Delivery Networks (CDN), Bot Management, API Security, Information Security and Risk Management, Enterprise Network Equipment, and Edge Distribution Platforms.
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Cloudflare (NET) is expected to drive future revenue growth over the next two to three years through several key strategies:
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Expansion within and Acquisition of Large Enterprise Customers: Cloudflare has demonstrated consistent growth in its large customer base, defined as those spending over $100,000 annually, with a notable increase in customers spending over $1 million and $5 million. This expansion into larger enterprise accounts is a significant tailwind, with these customers contributing a growing percentage of total revenue. Furthermore, an increasing dollar-based net retention rate indicates that existing large customers are expanding their usage and spending more on Cloudflare's services.
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Growth of New Product Offerings, Especially in AI and Developer Platforms: Cloudflare is actively investing in and rolling out new products and platforms, particularly those centered around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and developer services. The Workers Developer platform, R2 (storage), D1 (database), Workers AI, and Vectorize are highlighted as major growth vectors. The company is strategically positioning itself as a foundational infrastructure provider for AI inference workloads and agentic commerce, which is anticipated to unlock significant demand from both traditional enterprises and AI-native customers.
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Go-to-Market Transformation and Multi-Product Platform Adoption: Cloudflare is enhancing its go-to-market strategy by shifting from a purely product-led growth model to a more robust direct enterprise sales approach. This transformation aims to secure larger deal wins and improve sales productivity. Concurrently, the company is focusing on increasing multi-product adoption by bundling its comprehensive suite of security, networking, and developer products into platform offerings such as the Connectivity Cloud and Zero Trust solutions (e.g., Cloudflare One, SASE), thereby increasing average revenue per user (ARPU) and customer stickiness.
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International Market Expansion: Cloudflare is continuing its international "densification" strategy, expanding its global footprint across regions like EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), APAC (Asia-Pacific), and LATAM (Latin America). This expansion focuses on increasing interconnects and developing data-localization controls to meet regional compliance requirements, which is crucial for winning public sector and regulated workloads and driving revenue growth from new geographies.
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Share Repurchases
- Cloudflare's repurchase of common stock in fiscal year 2024 was -$16.192 million.
- In fiscal year 2023, share repurchases amounted to -$7.235 million.
- For the latest twelve months, Cloudflare's repurchase of common stock was -$22.268 million.
Share Issuance
- Cloudflare raised capital through the issuance of common stock under its employee stock purchase plan and from the exercise of stock options.
- Additional paid-in capital increased by approximately $368 million in 2024 to $2.153 billion from $1.785 billion in 2023.
- Additional paid-in capital increased by approximately $310 million in 2023 to $1.785 billion from $1.475 billion in 2022.
Outbound Investments
- Cloudflare acquired Outerbase, a developer database company, in April 2025, to enhance the developer database experience and simplify building AI applications on its platform.
- In February 2022, Cloudflare acquired Area 1 Security, a company focused on combating phishing email attacks.
- Cloudflare acquired Nefeli Networks, a cloud networking company, in March 2024.
Capital Expenditures
- In fiscal year 2024, Cloudflare's capital expenditure was -$185.04 million.
- Cloudflare's capital expenditures are primarily focused on expanding its global network infrastructure, including adding servers with storage capabilities and GPUs for AI-related products, to support business growth.
- The company aims for long-term capital expenditure as a percentage of revenue to be around 11%, with expectations of 12-14% for the next couple of quarters.
