
9 neocloud startups to watch, according to investors
THE SO WHAT
Investor attention on “neocloud” is a tell that buyers are open to unbundling pieces of the hyperscaler stack where AI workloads are stressing cost, performance, or data control. If you’re building infra-heavy products, assume your customers are now willing to pilot non-hyperscaler primitives—observability, storage, networking—when AI economics justify it.
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