Cloudflare’s 13th Birthday Week: A Rundown of Major Announcements
Cloudflare marked its 13th anniversary with a week of product launches and updates aimed at helping developers build for the AI era and helping organizations defend against increasingly sophisticated threats. The company’s Birthday Week featured daily drops of new tools and services across its developer platform and security portfolio, culminating in a final announcement that extended an opportunity for startups building on the company’s AI stack.
Daily Announcements Recap
Each day of the week brought a new set of releases. The highlights are as follows:
Cloudflare spent the week reinforcing its position as a one-stop shop for developers looking to ship applications in the age of AI, while also delivering new security mechanisms for the evolving threat landscape.
Workers Launchpad: Cohort #3 Extended and an AI Focus
Building on last year’s inaugural launch, Cloudflare is continuing its Workers Launchpad Funding Program, a startup accelerator for companies developing on Cloudflare’s platform. The program is open to startups of any size, stage, or geography, and each quarter admits a new group of founders to work with the company.
Participants gain access to a structured support system including technical advice, mentorship, and fundraising opportunities. This includes a Founders Bootcamp, Open Office Hours with Cloudflare Solution Architects, and a Demo Day. Startups ready to raise capital are also connected to Cloudflare’s network of more than 40 venture capital firms. In exchange for these resources, Cloudflare states it only asks for candid feedback on its products—it does not request equity or payment for program participation.
Targum (my startup) was one of the first AI companies (w/ @jamdotdev) in the Cloudflare workers launchpad! In return to tons of stuff we got from CF 🙏 they asked for feedback, and my main one was, let me do everything end to end on CF, I don't want to rent GPU servers… https://t.co/0j2ZymXpsL — Alex Volkov (@altryne) September 27, 2023
Since its launch, the program reports applications from nearly 60 countries and has worked with 50 startups across its first two cohorts. The VC partner community has grown to over 40 firms, representing more than $2 billion in potential investment for companies building on Cloudflare.
With Cohort #2’s recent Demo Day and the release of last week’s AI-focused tools, Cloudflare is extending the deadline for Cohort #3 to October 13, 2023. The company is also reserving five spots in this cohort for startups already using its newly announced AI features; applicants must simply note which AI announcements they are leveraging on their application. Startups interested in participating can apply on the Workers Launchpad page.
As the Birthday Week festivities wrap, Cloudflare aims to have provided developers with new tools and resources to build and scale their applications.
