At the recently held KubeCon + CloudNativeCon India in New Delhi, Mark Boost, CEO and Co-founder of Civo, spoke to Tech Achieve Media about Civo’s vision for redefining cloud computing. Civo, a UK-based company revolutionizing the cloud landscape, has officially launched its new Indian sovereign cloud region in Mumbai, Maharashtra. This move, backed by a significant Rs 200 crore investment, marks Civo’s commitment to supporting India’s rapidly growing cloud market, which is projected to reach $17.8 billion by 2027, driven by demand for cloud-native and AI solutions. With a focus on data sovereignty, transparent pricing, and cost efficiency, Civo aims to provide businesses with a simpler, more equitable alternative to the complexities of hyperscaler platforms. The launch, supported by the British High Commission and HM Government, backs Civo’s belief in delivering a cloud experience that’s not just scalable and flexible, but also affordable and customer-centric.
TAM: How has your experience been in India so far?
Mark Boost: We’ve actually had an Indian presence for about four years now, with 20% of our workforce based in India. As a fully remote company with team members across the globe, we have a significant number of people working from India. However, our operations here have primarily been from an operational perspective, not sales—until now.
Given our existing presence and commitment to the region, the timing felt right to expand further. We’ve successfully launched regions in the US, Europe, and the UK, and it made sense for India to be our first region in Asia. This decision was a natural extension of the investments we’ve already made here.
We’re excited to focus on data sovereignty as well, which led to the launch of our Mumbai region, with more to follow next year. This is actually my first time in India, and the experience has been fantastic so far. People have been incredibly friendly, the food has been amazing, and I even managed to do a bit of sightseeing, which was fun. Later this week, I’m hoping to explore even more of the rich Indian culture. With everything we’re doing here now, I anticipate I’ll be visiting India a lot more. It’s been a truly enjoyable experience, and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.
TAM: How is the Indian market different from others on a global scale?
Mark Boost: We already have quite a few Indian customers, but currently they use our US or UK regions. This existing customer base has served as a springboard for launching our new region here in India. Some of these customers have already started transitioning to the new region, but since we’re officially launching this week, it’s still early days. That said, there’s already a lot of interest.
We’ve partnered with 15 launch partners who will be reselling and promoting our new region, helping us reach more businesses. To encourage adoption, we’re also offering incentives, including opportunities to try the Civo platform with free credits. This is just the start of our journey in India.
With the launch happening this week, we expect strong momentum—bringing in some of our existing customers, support from resellers, and hopefully gaining new clients through our activities at KubeCon.
We’re confident about our success here. We have strong reach and a dedicated online following, and we’ve received consistent requests from customers to launch an India region. It’s clear there’s significant demand and appetite for what we’re offering.
TAM: What would be the differentiator for Civo in an already crowded market?
Mark Boost: I think we’re seeing a clear trend across all our regions where people are moving away from hyperscalers. The costs keep rising, and the complexity has become overwhelming. Understanding cloud bills with hyperscalers has become incredibly difficult, and now there’s a whole industry of software tools and consultants dedicated to helping businesses decode these bills.
We’re at a tipping point where many businesses have had enough and are looking for alternatives. We believe Civo is a great alternative because of our predictable pricing. You know exactly what you’re going to pay month to month—no surprises. We also don’t charge egress fees, so there are no unexpected data transfer costs either.
For us, it’s all about simplicity—not just in billing but also in how we provide our services. Take AWS, for example: getting started is incredibly difficult because of the sheer number of products, options, and configurations you need to deal with before you can even begin. With Civo, we focus on simplicity while maintaining powerful capabilities.
Our aim is to deliver a cloud experience that’s:
- Simpler
- Faster
- Better value
Another big focus for us is data sovereignty. We already have 20% of our employees based in India, and we’re committed to ensuring that data stays within the country. Additionally, our Indian company’s board of directorsreflects this commitment—all members have Indian roots.
For example:
- We have two external non-executives based in India.
- Our CTO, who is half Indian and half Sri Lankan, is also on the board.
- Kunal Khushwaha, our Field CTO, is from India as well.
Our goal is to come to India in a way that’s authentic, respectful, and serves the best interests of the country. We want to genuinely support Indian businesses—not just operate here superficially.
What we often see with hyperscalers is a focus on extracting as much money as possible, with hidden fees, complexity, and endless nickel-and-diming. Civo takes the opposite approach: we aim to provide real value for money with a simple, transparent, and customer-friendly experience.
TAM: Are there are any verticals that you are targeting in specific?
Mark Boost: Not particularly. We’re not focusing too much on specific verticals at first. Right now, we’re probably best suited to the mid-market segment and highly technical startups, especially those working with SaaS products. These companies seem to love our platform because of how easy it is to use our APIs, CLIs, and Terraform providers—they’re far more straightforward compared to alternatives.
While we do have some large enterprises working with Civo, we recognize that hyperscalers are still well-suited for that market. Many large enterprises have already committed to long-term contracts with hyperscalers, so it’s not in our best interest to actively pursue that segment right now. Instead, we’re better positioned to serve medium-sized businesses, startups, and SaaS companies, where we can deliver the most value.
TAM: Any message that you’d like to convey to the India market?
Mark Boost: I think we’re very passionate about respecting the culture and the country as we expand. When it comes to Civo, we’re trying to design the cloud the way it should have always been. In the past, I’ve spoken about how I believe the cloud is broken right now. In the early days, platforms like AWS promised that the cloud would save companies costs while being simpler and easier to use. However, over time, the cloud has become more complicated and increasingly expensive.
As a result, we’re now seeing some companies completely move off the cloud. I think this often happens for the wrong reasons—mainly to save costs—because they end up giving up the flexibility and scalability the cloud provides. For example, startups gain instant access to infrastructure without needing to invest in expensive servers, rack them up, or manage data centers.
The cloud still offers many benefits, and at Civo, we’re working to readdress that balance. Our goal is to provide the same flexibility and scalability at a reasonable cost. Companies shouldn’t feel forced to choose between staying with an expensive hyperscaler or going back to traditional data centers. We believe there are better solutions, and Civo is one of them.
