Upbound
Upbound sells Kubernetes-based control plane software for cloud infrastructure teams. The Series B startup has raised $69M from investors including GV and Intel Capital, and employs 89 people.
The growth story
Upbound grew from 26 to 89 employees between 2021 and 2026, raising $69M along the way, most recently a Series B in November 2021.
About
Upbound develops software that helps infrastructure and platform teams manage cloud resources using Kubernetes and its open source Crossplane framework. The tools automate provisioning and operations for both human users and AI agents.
The company raised $69M in its Series B round in November 2021, led by Altimeter Capital and GV. It maintains Crossplane, a popular open source project for building cloud native control planes. Upbound operates remotely with a team of 89 employees.
Founders and leadership
Engineering is Upbound's largest function with 34 staff, representing over a third of the company. The remote-first company is headquartered in Oregon but operates with a distributed team.
The Upbound org chart
Bassam Tabbara (Founder and CEO) leads 24 mapped leaders with 6 direct reports. Click +N to expand a team; names link to the person’s public profile.
Departments, and which ones grew
Headcount by function: Engineering 41 (+8% YoY), Sales 9 (+13% YoY), Entrepreneurship 5 (0% YoY), Human Resources 4 (0% YoY), Business Development 4 (+300% YoY), Marketing 4 (+100% YoY).
Talent flow
Upbound recruits heavily from Microsoft, Google and Quantum, with 5 hires from Microsoft alone. Alumni have moved to Arm, NVIDIA and Apple, with 3 joining Arm. The median tenure is 2 years.
Most common previous employers of Upbound staff: Microsoft (5), Google (4), Quantum (4), Symform (4), SAP (4), Checkmarx (3). Former Upbound employees most often moved to Arm (3), Cerby (2), NVIDIA (2), Pasteur Labs & ISI (2), Apple (2), Panthalassa (1).
Alumni worth knowing
The Upbound mafia
Upbound alumni have founded 5 companies, including Infinite Spaces (6 staff) and Limrun (YC P26, 3 staff). Other startups include 0ttl, TAVON.ai and Entract Technologies.
5Steve Judkins, was Director of Program Management until 2020Muvaffak Onuş, was Staff Software Engineer until 2023Bradley Andersen, was Principal Technical Account Manager until 2024Matthias Lübken, was Senior Product Manager until 2023Eddy L., was Product until 2026Web traffic
Traffic mix: 43% direct, 40% search, 6% social, 1% paid.
What this company is made of
Most common skills at Upbound: Kubernetes (36), Software Development (30), Leadership (29), Linux (29), Cloud Computing (29), Java (25), Python (Programming Language) (24), Amazon Web Services (AWS) (22).
Where the team actually sits
Upbound people are concentrated in California, United States (9), Washington, United States (7), San Francisco Bay Area (3), Ontario, Canada (3).
Search footprint
Upbound attracts about 363 organic search visits a month, traffic worth roughly $1K a month if bought through ads. It gained 130 ranking keywords and lost 64 in the last period.
What employees say
- Compensation
- 4.00 / 5
- Career opportunities
- 4.00 / 5
- Senior management
- 4.00 / 5
- Work-life balance
- 4.00 / 5
Frequently asked
Upbound has 89 employees as of September 2026.
Upbound has raised $69M in total, most recently a Series B round in November 2021.
Upbound was founded in 2017 by Bassam Tabbara.
Bassam Tabbara (Founder and CEO) sits at the top of Upbound's reporting structure, with 6 direct reports.
The most common previous employers of current Upbound staff are Microsoft (5 people), Google (4 people), Quantum (4 people).
Former Upbound employees most often move to Arm (3), Cerby (2), NVIDIA (2).
At least 5 companies have a founder who previously worked at Upbound, including Infinite Spaces, Limrun (YC P26), 0ttl.
Upbound attracts about 363 organic search visits a month, worth roughly $1K a month in equivalent ad spend.
The most common skills among Upbound staff are Kubernetes, Software Development, Leadership, Linux, Cloud Computing.
Upbound staff are concentrated in California, United States (9), Washington, United States (7), San Francisco Bay Area (3).
Upbound has about 41 people in Engineering, up 8% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Upbound has about 9 people in Sales, up 13% over the past year, as of September 2026.
Computed from 63 current and 84 former Upbound profiles, as of September 2026. Source: Crustdata.
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