Cloud Elements
acquired by UiPathDenver, US · Founded 2012 · 11 employees on LinkedIn · 9 known investors
Acquired by UiPath March 2021 · terms undisclosed · source ↗
Cloud Elements was a Denver-based API integration platform that let SaaS providers and enterprises publish, integrate, and manage APIs through prebuilt one-to-many connectors, linking entire categories of cloud applications through a single unified API. Founded in 2012, the company raised over $60 million in disclosed funding and was acquired by UiPath in March 2021 to power API-based automation in the UiPath platform.
Also known as Cloud Elements, Inc.
Founders & leadership
Cloud Elements was founded in 2012 by Mark Geene.
Board
Investors · 9
Also in the syndicate · 3
Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$60.2M disclosed across 7 of 8 rounds · 2014–2019
▶$50.4KraisedDec 2019 · 1 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Thomas D. Roberts IIIDirector
- Mark VellequetteExecutive Officer
- D. Joshua ChristensenDirector
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director
- Katrina GarnettDirector
- Tim MillerDirector
- Offering amount
- $50.4K
- Amount sold
- $50.4K
- First sale
- Dec 2019
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$30MraisedJul 2019 · 20 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- D. Joshua ChristensenDirector
- Mark VellequetteExecutive Officer
- Katrina GarnettDirector
- Thomas D. Roberts IIIDirector
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director
- Offering amount
- $30M
- Amount sold
- $30M
- First sale
- Feb 2019
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$8.6MraisedJan 2019 · 12 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Mark VellequetteExecutive Officer
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Thomas D. Roberts IIIDirector
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Katrina GarnettDirector
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Offering amount
- $9.8M
- Amount sold
- $8.6M
- First sale
- Apr 2018
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$13MraisedJan 2017 · 11 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Thomas D. Roberts IIIDirector
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Vineet JoshiPromoter
- Gary GaesslerPromoter
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Atul BarvePromoter
- Offering amount
- $13M
- Amount sold
- $13M
- First sale
- Dec 2016
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2012
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$400KraisedSep 2016 · 4 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Vineet JoshiPromoter
- Gary GaesslerPromoter
- Atul BarvePromoter
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Offering amount
- $1.2M
- Amount sold
- $400K
- First sale
- Aug 2016
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2012
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$5.1MraisedDec 2015 · 10 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Atul BarvePromoter
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Gary GaesslerPromoter
- Joseph R. ZellDirector
- Vineet JoshiPromoter
- Offering amount
- $5.1M
- Amount sold
- $5.1M
- First sale
- Jul 2015
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2012
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$3.1MraisedJun 2014 · 5 investors · Other TechnologyRule 506(b)
- Jim FranklinDirector
- Jeffrey HinckDirector
- Jospeh R. ZellDirector
- Atul BarvePromoter
- Vineet JoshiPromoter
- Mark GeeneExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter
- Gary GaesslerPromoter
- Offering amount
- $3.1M
- Amount sold
- $3.1M
- First sale
- May 2014
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Delaware, 2012
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Cloud Elements was a cloud API integration and management platform used to publish, integrate, aggregate and manage APIs. The service connected entire categories of cloud applications — such as CRM, documents and finance — through a single unified API, and could also synchronize data between individual services including Salesforce, Zendesk and QuickBooks. The platform was fully API-based and designed to be embedded into a provider's own application so that integrations could be offered directly to its customers.
The product set included prebuilt connectors known as Elements, Virtual Data Resources for canonicalized data models, Formulas for workflow logic, event support through webhooks and polling, and administrative APIs covering accounts, organizations, users, roles, instances and audit logs. By January 2017 the catalog contained more than 120 prebuilt API connectors, and by 2018 the connector library exposed through SAP covered more than 150 enterprise cloud applications.
Founding story
Cloud Elements was founded in October 2012 by CEO Mark Geene, CTO Vineet Joshi and vice president of product development Atul Barve. Geene had more than 20 years of experience in sales, consulting and product management, including executive roles at IBM and Oracle and senior executive positions at Tenfold Corporation and Dorado Software, and holds a BS in computer software engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Business model
Cloud Elements sold a subscription API integration platform to application providers and enterprises. Its integration toolkit was designed to be embedded within a customer's own application so that the customer could offer an integration marketplace to its end users, and it was also licensed through platform partners such as SAP, which embedded Cloud Elements connectors into SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors.
Revenue came from its API integration platform service; at the time of the January 2017 Series B the company reported revenue growth of nearly 40 percent quarter-over-quarter.
Traction
Cloud Elements grew from a handful of API integrations at its 2014 Series A to more than 120 prebuilt connectors by January 2017 and total funding of $21.2 million at that point, with nearly 40 percent quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. Headcount surpassed 100 employees by 2018. Recognition included the 2013 Colorado APEX Technology Startup of the Year, a 2016 "Denver Gazelle" fastest-growing company listing, a top workplace ranking in Outside Magazine's Best Places to Work for a second consecutive year, and a Stevie Award as top employer of the year for software companies with up to 250 employees.
Latest developments
UiPath acquired Cloud Elements in March 2021 to extend its automation offering with API-based automation. The Cloud Elements documentation site subsequently carried an end-of-life announcement for the platform, and the developer portal was retired in favor of a consolidated help center.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
At the time of its Series B the company described itself as the fastest-growing API management vendor in the industry, and it was included in Gartner Magic Quadrants for Full Life Cycle API Management (2016), Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service Worldwide (2015) and Application Services Governance (2015). Alternatives cited in later third-party comparisons of the integration platform market include MuleSoft and Workato.
The platform used a one-to-many API model and a hub-and-spoke architecture: rather than integrating with each provider's API individually, developers wrote to a single normalized Cloud Elements API that abstracted differences across an entire category of applications. Virtual Data Resources provided a canonicalized view of data objects, with a graphical interface for mapping domain models to connected services and pre-mapped templates for specific endpoints.
Technology
The platform exposed cloud applications as "hubs" offering RESTful APIs with JSON payloads, using a one-to-many API model to manage multiple services within a single category and a hub-and-spoke architecture to map data models to multiple endpoints. Virtual Data Resources centralized data models across connected applications, with transformations defined at account and organization level, extensible custom elements, OAuth-based authentication and token management, webhook and polling event support, audit logging and pagination controls.
Go-to-market
The company sold to developers and application providers, embedding its integration service in customers' products, and expanded reach through platform partnerships and marketplaces — including a 2016 partnership with Sage, distribution of APIs to marketplaces such as the AWS API Marketplace, and the 2018 embedding of its connectors in SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors. Following the 2017 Series B, the company said it would invest in customer success, support and delivery, in sales and marketing, and in growing its Denver employee base.
Application and SaaS providers embedding integrations into their products, and digital enterprises and developers needing to connect cloud services, connected devices and enterprise applications.
Geography
Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, with additional offices in San Francisco and Dallas as of 2017, serving customers worldwide.
History
The company was founded in October 2012 in Denver by CEO Mark Geene, CTO Vineet Joshi and vice president of product development Atul Barve. It was named Colorado's Technology Startup of the Year at the 2013 APEX Awards, raised a $3.1 million Series A in 2014 and a $13 million Series B in January 2017, and grew to more than 100 employees by 2018. In 2018 SAP integrated its connectors into SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors. UiPath acquired the company in March 2021, making it a UiPath subsidiary; the platform documentation subsequently carried an end-of-life announcement, and third-party coverage describes the standalone product as discontinued in 2022.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Cloud Elements went on to found or lead other companies.
Timeline · 6
launches, deals, and filingsCloud Elements documentation carries an end-of-life announcement for the platform; a competitor overview states the standalone product was discontinued in 2022.
Robotic process automation company UiPath acquired Cloud Elements in March 2021 to advance API-based automation in the enterprise; Cloud Elements became a UiPath subsidiary.
SAP integrated Cloud Elements connectors into its SAP Cloud Platform Open Connectors service, providing connectivity to more than 150 enterprise SaaS applications.
Cloud Elements introduced APIs that can be distributed to marketplaces including the Amazon Web Services API Marketplace.
Cloud Elements announced a strategic partnership with Sage to enable third-party developers to build on a cloud accounting platform.
Cloud Elements was named winner of Colorado's top Technology Startup of the Year at the 2013 APEX Awards event in Denver.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- Cloud Elements Help Centerdocs.cloud-elements.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Cloud Elements do?
- Denver-based API integration platform providing one-to-many connectors that unify entire categories of cloud applications.
- Who founded Cloud Elements?
- Cloud Elements was founded by Mark Geene in 2012.
- Who are Cloud Elements's investors?
- Cloud Elements's investors include Access Venture Partners, FirstMile Ventures, Mercato Partners, Rally Ventures Management, Llc, Upslope Ventures, Grotech Ventures.
- How much funding has Cloud Elements raised?
- Cloud Elements has disclosed $60.2M raised across 7 of its 8 known rounds.
- Who acquired Cloud Elements?
- Cloud Elements was acquired by UiPath.
- Where is Cloud Elements headquartered?
- Cloud Elements is headquartered in Denver, US.