Laura Baverman: CloudFactory a growing case study in doing good, making money

CloudFactory used to be a difficult company to explain.

Part software powered by artificial intelligence and data science, part human intervention to ensure customer data is accurately tagged and organized, it couldn’t easily be categorized as a software or business process outsourcing company.

Nor was it clear how a Durham startup employing 2,500 “cloudworkers” in Nepal and Kenya could create ROI for investors while also prioritizing a social mission of boosting economic opportunity in the developing world.

Seven years later, the message is coming in more clear. CloudFactory just landed a $7.3 million Series B round to total $13 million in venture capital. It’s snagged some of the most innovative companies in Silicon Valley as customers, performing important work in advancing autonomous vehicle development, boosting leading business automation tools and even helping lead French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron to victory last month.

And earlier this month, CloudFactory opened an office in the center of downtown Durham, where its U.S. team of 12 will grow to 26 in coming weeks and months.

“We are tripling down on Durham,” says founder and CEO Mark Sears. “We chose this space for a reason. We want to find amazing people to come join this journey of creating meaningful work for a million people around the world.”

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