# Haseeb Budhani

> Haseeb Budhani is the Co-founder and CEO of Rafay Systems, a Sunnyvale-based infrastructure orchestration platform that simplifies Kubernetes and AI infrastructure lifecycle operations across public clouds, private data centers, and the edge. A serial entrepreneur with a track record of building and selling enterprise technology companies, Budhani previously co-founded Soha Systems - a secure remote access startup acquired by Akamai Technologies in 2016 - and has held senior product and engineering roles at Citrix, Infineta Systems, and others. Under his leadership, Rafay has raised $37.1M in total funding, built partnerships with Verizon, NVIDIA, and Cisco, and grown to serve major enterprise customers at the intersection of Kubernetes operations and AI infrastructure.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Rafay Systems
- **Organizations:** Rafay Systems, Soha Systems (acquired by Akamai), Akamai Technologies, Infineta Systems, Citrix Systems, Orbital Data, IP Infusion, Oblix, NET's Broadband Technology Group
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** MBA, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business, B.S. in Computer Science, University of Southern California
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Soha Systems to acquisition by Akamai Technologies (2016), Built Rafay Systems to $25.1M ARR with 158+ employees, Raised $37.1M in total venture funding across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds

## Career timeline

- **Early career** — Senior product management, marketing, and engineering roles at Oblix, IP Infusion, Orbital Data, and Citrix Systems
- **2004-2006** — MBA at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business
- **Post-MBA** — VP at NET's Broadband Technology Group, leading product marketing and business development
- **2010s (early)** — Chief Product Officer at Infineta Systems
- **2013** — Co-founded Soha Systems in Sunnyvale, CA, serving as CEO; company focused on secure remote access to enterprise applications
- **2016** — Soha Systems acquired by Akamai Technologies in all-cash transaction; Budhani joins Akamai as VP of Enterprise Strategy
- **2016-2017** — VP of Enterprise Strategy at Akamai Technologies post-acquisition
- **2016-2017** — Co-founded Rafay Systems, building the industry's first Kubernetes Operations Platform
- **2019** — Rafay raises $8M Series A led by Ridge Ventures; launches SaaS automation framework for containerized application lifecycle management
- **2021** — Rafay raises $25M Series B led by ForgePoint Capital
- **2022** — Rafay wins Tech Trailblazers Award; presents at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA and AWS Summit SF
- **2023** — Rafay named Gartner Cool Vendor for Container Management and GigaOm Leader/Outperformer
- **2024** — Rafay doubles revenue to $25.1M ARR; more than doubles Kubernetes clusters under management
- **2025** — Rafay Platform Version 4.0 launched; integration with NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory announced
- **2025** — Named to Edge Computing 100 list
- **2026** — Rafay launches Token Factory - enabling GPU providers to monetize token-metered AI model access

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Soha Systems to acquisition by Akamai Technologies (2016)
- Built Rafay Systems to $25.1M ARR with 158+ employees
- Raised $37.1M in total venture funding across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds
- Powered Verizon's Application Edge platform for multi-cloud Kubernetes deployment
- Rafay named Gartner Cool Vendor for Container Management (2023)
- Rafay recognized as GigaOm Leader and Outperformer for Managed Kubernetes (2023, 2025)
- Won Tech Trailblazers Award in Containers category (2022)
- Named to Edge Computing 100 list (2025)
- Integration with NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory (2025)
- Rafay recognized as one of America's best startup employers for two consecutive years
- STL Partners Top Edge Companies Award (2023)
- Published technical author on NVIDIA Developer Blog and TechCrunch

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Rafay launches Token Factory, enabling GPU providers to monetize token-metered access to AI models and transform into AI factories
- **2025-11** — Rafay Platform Version 4.0 released, further simplifying Kubernetes management and accelerating cloud-native operations
- **2025-11** — Rafay and Aviz Networks partner to deliver full-stack GPU cloud orchestration with AI-ready networking
- **2025-06** — Rafay integrates with NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory to deliver advanced infrastructure orchestration
- **2025-01** — Named to Edge Computing 100 list
- **2024-01** — Rafay announces record business growth: revenue doubles to $25.1M ARR, Kubernetes clusters under management more than double

## Links

- Website: https://rafay.co
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/budhani/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/haseebbudhani
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rafaysystems

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/haseeb-budhani
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-26