Following the announcement of the fourth annual Financial Times’ Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies rankings, integrated cloud platform provider Routed is pleased to announce that it has made the list for the third time
The FT/Statista 2025 annual ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies looks at a range of different industries, ranking them based on the common denominator of their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue.
Speaking after the company’s 109thplace in the 2025 rankings, Managing Director Andrew Cruise notes that the cloud market is continuing to grow exponentially, and Routed has built its business on addressing all Enterprise cloud, recovery and modern application development requirements.
“The organisation was founded in 2016, to address a clear gap in the South African cloud market – namely reliable, locally hosted infrastructure designed specifically for VMware. Since then, the business has stayed true to this technical specialisation of designing, building and operating VMware-based private clouds with depth and discipline,” he says.
“We are not a generalist cloud provider; instead, Routed is a purpose-built VMware cloud operator that has grown by focusing on what it does best. This singular focus has allowed it to lead in platform quality, consistency and trust – a major reason why the market sees Routed as a go-to infrastructure partner for VMware cloud environments.”
Cruise says Routed’s growth has been driven by a partner-first approach, designed to enable other providers to succeed. As a service provider for service providers, Routed supports managed service providers (MSPs), internet service providers (ISPs), systems integrators, and cloud resellers to launch, run and scale their own VMware-based cloud platforms. These partners rely on Routed’s infrastructure, expertise, and support — while retaining control of their customer relationships and services.
“The business also prides itself on its engineering excellence. Not only was it the first VMware Cloud Verified provider on the continent, but it continues to invest heavily in platform-level capability. In fact, its platforms are built by engineers, for engineers, and are designed to run real-world workloads with stability, scale and sovereignty.”
“Furthermore, our cloud infrastructure is built with the South African market in mind, and aims to reduce cloud friction. To this end, it offers predictable monthly pricing – with no hidden egress fees – full data sovereignty, and native VMware compatibility. This means that customers are able to move workloads to the cloud without refactoring or rewriting applications, delivering a level of simplicity that sets Routed apart from its competitors.”
He points out that the corporate strategy for Routed has remained consistent since its founding, namely: focus on VMware; empower the channel; build technical credibility; and deliver a reliable, performant cloud platform.
“Routed builds client trust through effective delivery, an approach that has made us one of the most dependable infrastructure partners in South Africa, and a standout on both the Financial Times and News24 fastest-growing company lists.”
“We are proud to have been named on the fastest-growing companies list for the third year in succession. We will continue to position our business as the leading VMware cloud foundation in the country, by expanding brand equity, enabling our partner ecosystem through education and support, and leading with confidence in a maturing market,” concludes Cruise.