This year, the most cutting-edge networking startups have their sights set on quantum networking, private 5G, multi-cloud networking and AI.
Namely, AI and automation are driving network transformation, with AI-powered networking becoming the intelligent backbone of IT, according to research firm Gartner’s 2025 strategic Roadmap for Enterprise Networking. As a result, Network as a Service (NaaS) and AI-powered networking tools are gaining considerable traction. As AI use cases become more commonplace, networking infrastructure often needs to change to accommodate the new computing and storage needs, or to be able to connect AI in new places on the network and at the edge of the network.
Networking newcomers are coming to the market with fresh takes on how to approach the new requirements of enterprise and cloud environments and help these businesses modernize. These startups are carving out a niche for themselves with their multi-cloud and private networking capabilities, as well as their automation aptitudes. An emerging area of interest that is also expected to make waves in the next few years is quantum networking, especially to improve data center efficiency and security.
From those specializing in networking-as-a-service, quantum networking, private 5G and AI, here are 10 of the hottest networking startups of 2025 so far.
Aliro Quantum
Founded in 2019, Aliro Quantum develops network software to simulate, pilot, deploy, and run entanglement-based quantum networks.
The upstart goes to market with its AliroNet Quickstart service, which includes quantum network hardware devices along with software that handles orchestration, control, and data plane operations to let organizations build an entanglement-based quantum network environment. Its competitors include Cisco Systems, which got into quantum computing in May after launching a quantum chip and opening a quantum lab in Santa Monica, California.
Boston-based Aliro Quantum has raised $16.3 million in funding, with its most recent series raising $6 million in October 2023, according to Crunchbase.
Alkira
Upstart Alkira specializes in agentless, multi-cloud networking. The San Jose, Calif.-based company emerged from stealth mode five years ago with its consumption-based Cloud Services Exchange (CSX), a unified, on-demand offering that lets cloud architects and network engineers build and deploy a multi-cloud network in minutes. Since then, the company has unveiled a collaboration with the Microsoft for Startups program, as well as a deeper relationship with Amazon Web Services, whose Marketplace includes Alkira CSX.
The network infrastructure-as-a-service specialist had a record-breaking fiscal year in 2024, complete with 255 percent year-over-year growth in channel annual contract value and more than half of its global partners actively contributing to new opportunities. Alkira in 2024 introduced its cloud-based Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) service, an offering that will further simplify security and networking for enterprises, according to the network infrastructure-as-a-service startup. Alkira last year also announced the closing of a $100 million Series C funding round, bringing the company’s total funding raised to date to $176 million.
Aviz Networks
Founded in 2019, Aviz Networks has been innovating on its brand of AI networking software for cloud-scale infrastructures. The company specializes in building open, cloud, and AI-first networks that prioritize choice, control, and cost savings, according to San Jose, Calif.-based Aviz.
The company spent last year launching a generative AI conversational Network Copilot and upgraded its packet broker offerings for applications and 5G General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) use cases, among other advancements.
Aviz, who counts many prominent investors as backers, including Cisco Investments, also has a partner program for reseller and distributor partners. The company in late 2024 closed a $17 million Series A funding round that was earmarked for expanding the company’s partner ecosystem, Aviz said.
Celona
Wireless specialist Celona burst onto the networking scene in 2019 with a platform that lets enterprises build and deploy 5G/4G LTE private networks, which filled a major gap in the wireless connectivity market at the time, especially with interest around private networking increasing dramatically for enterprises over the last couple of years.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company works with partners via its solution provider partner program. In April, Celona expanded its Neutral Host offering, first announced in 2024, to extend public cellular coverage indoors with private 5G on telecom giant AT&T’s network.
Celona’s most recent — and oversubscribed — funding round was its $60 million Series C round in 2022.
Highway 9 Networks
Upstart Highway 9 Networks offers a cloud-native platform that the company said has been purpose-built for enterprise mobile users, applications and AI-driven devices. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based startup’s Mobile Cloud offering uses private cellular (5G/LTE) technology to deliver mobile services on-premises for enterprises. Mobile Cloud also integrates existing enterprise IT network and security infrastructure – including firewalls — and major telecom service providers, according to Highway 9.
The startup works with partners via its Mobile Cloud Alliance program to bring its connectivity and private 5G to end customers, the company said.
Highway 9 launched from stealth mode in 2024 with $25 million in funding from Mayfield, General Catalyst and Detroit Ventures, and a few key customers, including MIT.
NetAlly
NetAlly has been on a journey. The company got its start as a business unit of Fluke Networks. It was then part of NetScout Systems after the company acquired Fluke in 2015. As of 2019, NetAlly is a standalone player that comes to the market with its portfolio of switching, wireless, IP surveillance, storage and security products.
Colorado Springs, Colorado-based NetAlly has more than 50,000 global customers across 70 countries. The company does 100 percent of its business through channel partners, which consists of about 300 solution provider partners globally, about 30 percent of which are MSP partners, the company told CRN in 2024.
NetBox Labs
Founded in 2023 after it spun out of DNS platform provider NS1, NetBox Labs offers what the company calls “the world’s most popular ecosystem for operating, automating, and securing networks and infrastructure.”
The upstart seeks to make it easier for enterprises to build and manage complex networks with its open-source, AI-powered platform. NetBlox partners with Cisco-backed CoreWeave, a specialized GPU cloud provider in the AI infrastructure market.
The New York City-based upstart in its most recent Series A funding round in 2023 led by Flybridge Capital Partners, raised $20 million, according to Crunchbase.
Nexthop
One of the newer startups to the scene is one-year-old Nexthop, which is building the most efficient Al infrastructure for the world’s largest cloud operators, according to the company.
Santa Clara, Calif-based Nexthop specializes in customized AI-powered networking hardware and software for hyperscalers. The startup was founded by a team of networking veterans that hail from Arista Networks and Broadcom, with its CEO Anshul Sadana who was the former COO of Arista.
Nexthop in April raised $110 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.
nEye Systems
Founded in 2020, nEye Systems is focused on revolutionizing AI infrastructure with optical circuit switches (OCS). The startup is developing a chip that uses light to transmit data between AI chips, aiming to reduce power consumption in data centers, according to the company.
Current infrastructures, which rely primarily on electrical switches, face power consumption challenges and bandwidth limitations. Optical switch technology, on the other hand, can address critical communication bottlenecks in data centers, high-performance computing, and AI and machine learning systems, the Emeryville, Calif.-based upstart said.
nEye Systems in April announced the completion of a $58 million Series B funding round that was led by Alphabet’s independent growth fund, CapitalG, with participation from M12, Microsoft’s venture fund; Micron Ventures; NVIDIA; and Socratic Partners.
Nile
Nile, the next-gen networking services platform provider backed by former Cisco CEO John Chambers, exited stealth mode in 2022 with its “reimagined” wired and wireless service that is delivered entirely as a service. The company’s differentiated enterprise network-as-a-service (NaaS) offering gives enterprises another option that’s different than what many of the market heavyweights, like Cisco, is bringing to the market, according to the company.
The San Jose, Calif.-based startup in January rolled out a new AI-powered application for iOS and Android called Nile Nav, which lets qualified partners and end customers design, deploy and manage its Campus Network-as-a-Service offering, Nile Access Service, with more precision, more quickly, taking the deployment time from weeks or months for traditional network architectures to days with improved accuracy, the startup told CRN.
Nile raised $175 million in its most recent, Series C funding round in 2023, bringing its total funding to $300 million, according to Crunchbase.
