Seven Tech Trailblazers alumni making the news

Across cloud networking, digital identity, AI infrastructure, storage, sustainable tech and cyber security

Here at Tech Trailblazers, we’re proud to champion the enterprise technology companies that keep blazing a trail long after their Awards moment.

Over the past ten days, the team here at Tech Trailblazers Towers has been cheering on seven alumni whose latest developments span a major acquisition, digital identity, international partnerships, creative cloud workflows, federal data infrastructure, air-quality intelligence and cyber security recognition.

From Alkira joining Lumen to Jumio securing a major new customer, WEKA expanding its partnership with Scality, LucidLink enhancing creative production workflows, Vcinity increasing access to its technology for US government customers, Air Aware Labs earning prominent media coverage and Axonius appearing in new Gartner research, these stories demonstrate the breadth and continuing momentum of the Tech Trailblazers community.

Lumen completes its $475 million acquisition of Alkira

First up, a huge Trailblazers congratulations to Alkira, our 2024 Cloud Trailblazers runner-up.

Lumen completed its $475 million acquisition of Alkira on 7 July. The deal brings Alkira’s on-demand cloud networking platform together with Lumen’s physical network infrastructure, digital services and programmable networking capabilities.

Lumen says the combination is intended to simplify how enterprises connect and manage cloud environments, sites, partners and AI workloads. The completion was also covered by SDxCentral, which highlighted the deal’s significance for Lumen’s cloud-to-cloud and data-centre interconnection capabilities.

For a Cloud Trailblazers alumnus, this is a tremendous milestone. Alkira was recognised for helping enterprises address the complexity of modern cloud networking, and its technology will now form part of a much broader global networking platform.

It is always rewarding to see a company identified by our judges at an earlier stage reach an outcome of this scale. Our warmest congratulations go to the Alkira founders, team, investors and everyone involved in the next chapter of the company’s journey.

Alkira’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2024 Cloud Trailblazers runner-up.

BOYLE Sports chooses Jumio for player identity verification

Congratulations also to Jumio, our 2017 Mobile Trailblazers winner.

On 13 July, Jumio announced that BOYLE Sports had selected its Identity Verification and Doc Proof solutions to support player onboarding across the UK and Ireland.

The technology is being used to automate identity checks, reduce the need for manual reviews and help BOYLE Sports balance customer experience, fraud prevention and regulatory readiness.

The mobile technology landscape has transformed considerably since Jumio’s 2017 Awards success, but trusted digital identity has become more important rather than less. Organisations increasingly need to know who is accessing a service while keeping the onboarding experience fast and straightforward.

This customer announcement is a strong example of a former Mobile Trailblazer applying AI, document verification and identity intelligence to a practical, highly regulated digital experience.

Jumio’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2017 Mobile Trailblazers winner.

WEKA and Scality deepen their partnership 

A big Trailblazers congratulations to WEKA, recognised as WekaIO when it was named a 2017 AI Trailblazers runner-up.

WEKA and Scality have expanded their partnership in France through a new joint customer-support agreement. Scality will distribute the companies’ combined solution in the French market and provide customers with a local point of contact for sales and first-line French-language technical support.

The development supports a broader joint go-to-market initiative aimed at enterprises, public-sector organisations and AI builders seeking high-performance, resilient data infrastructure.

This is exactly the kind of AI infrastructure momentum we love to see from an AI Trailblazers alumnus. As more organisations move AI projects from experimentation into production, the storage, memory and data layers supporting training and inference are becoming business-critical.

By combining complementary technologies with in-country support and distribution, WEKA and Scality are addressing both the technical and operational barriers that can slow enterprise AI adoption.

WEKA’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2017 AI Trailblazers runner-up, under its former WekaIO name.

LucidLink unifies Frame.io and enterprise cloud storage

Congratulations to LucidLink, our 2019 Storage Trailblazers winner and Cloud Trailblazers runner-up.

LucidLink has announced the availability of LucidLink Connect for Frame.io for enterprise customers. The workflow brings footage held in Frame.io together with supporting assets stored across external cloud drives and repositories within one unified filespace.

Rather than moving, downloading or duplicating files, editors can access Frame.io footage alongside B-roll, audio, graphics and archived material while the original storage environments remain in place. The launch was also covered by TV Tech, reflecting its relevance to broadcasters, studios and distributed creative teams.

This development connects directly with the qualities that made LucidLink stand out in both the Storage and Cloud categories. Creative workflows increasingly span multiple applications, storage services, locations and organisations. Making those distributed assets immediately accessible can remove significant friction from the production process.

It is fantastic to see LucidLink continuing to develop practical cloud-storage innovations for demanding, data-intensive industries.

LucidLink’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2019 Storage Trailblazers winner and 2019 Cloud Trailblazers runner-up.

Vcinity brings Ultimate X to the AWS Marketplace for the US Intelligence Community

A warm Trailblazers congratulations to Vcinity, a 2025 Big Data Trailblazers runner-up.

In a company press release dated 8 July, Vcinity announced that Ultimate X had been listed in the AWS Marketplace for the US Intelligence Community.

The marketplace provides government customers with a curated route to discover, purchase and deploy relevant software. Vcinity says Ultimate X enables organisations to accelerate data movement or work with distributed data where it already resides, without first copying or relocating it.

This is a highly relevant development for a Big Data Trailblazers alumnus. Government, AI, edge and hybrid-cloud projects frequently depend on data held across geographically dispersed infrastructure. The ability to make that data accessible without a lengthy relocation exercise can be an important part of modernisation and analytics programmes.

Availability through a dedicated AWS government marketplace represents another valuable route for Vcinity to bring its distributed-data technology to mission-focused customers.

Vcinity’s Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Big Data Trailblazers runner-up.

Air Aware Labs’ London Marathon work makes the front page

Congratulations to Air Aware Labs, one of the standout multiple-category alumni from the 2025 Tech Trailblazers Awards.

On 10 July, Air Aware Labs shared that its work with the 2026 TCS London Marathon had been featured as the cover story and centre spread of Air Quality News.

Air Aware Labs provided route air-quality data, participant communications and reporting support for the event. Its contribution included pre-event education, hourly forecast screens for elite athletes, an event-day information service accessible by QR code and post-event monitoring and analysis.

This is a brilliant example of sustainable technology, data and public engagement coming together. Air quality can change considerably during a long event, meaning participants starting or finishing at different times may encounter different conditions. Turning environmental data into accessible, event-specific information can help organisers, athletes and the public make better-informed decisions.

The visibility provided by Air Quality News is richly deserved and shows why Air Aware Labs impressed our judges across several categories.

Air Aware Labs’ Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2025 Sustainable Tech and Firestarter Trailblazers winner, as well as a Big Data and Diversity Trailblazers runner-up.

Axonius appears in Gartner’s Security Operations Hype Cycle

Finally, a big Trailblazers congratulations to Axonius, a 2019 Security Trailblazers runner-up.

On 14 July, Axonius reported that it had been recognised for the first time in the Exposure Assessment Platforms category of the Gartner Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2026.

Axonius describes the category as reflecting convergence between asset management, attack-surface management, vulnerability management and exposure management. Its inclusion is particularly relevant as security teams seek a more continuous and contextual understanding of the assets and exposures across rapidly changing technology estates.

Gartner states that inclusion in its research should not be interpreted as an endorsement of any vendor, product or service.

This is a natural continuation of the challenge Axonius was addressing when it first came to the attention of the Tech Trailblazers judges: helping organisations understand the assets they have before they can secure them effectively.

There is also a Founders on Fire connection. In 2020, I spoke with Axonius CMO Nathan Burke about the company’s journey, the importance of industry recognition and the realities of building a cyber security startup in a crowded market.

Listen again to Founders on Fire with Axonius.

Axonius’ Tech Trailblazers recognition: 2019 Security Trailblazers runner-up.

Celebrating alumni momentum — and the next generation of Trailblazers

We congratulate all of our previous Tech Trailblazer Awards winners and runners-up who continue to build, partner, launch, scale and lead across enterprise technology.

From Alkira’s acquisition and Jumio’s new customer partnership to WEKA’s expansion in France, LucidLink’s creative workflow innovation, Vcinity’s federal-market availability, Air Aware Labs’ sustainability impact and Axonius’ cyber security recognition, the past ten days have provided another fantastic snapshot of the ambition and staying power within the Tech Trailblazers community.

As Founder and Chief Trail Blazer, it is enormously rewarding to see companies we recognised at different stages of their journeys continuing to make news and contribute to the development of their sectors.

Could your company be next?

Entries for the Tech Trailblazers Awards 2026 are open, and we would love to hear from eligible startups and scaleups working in cloud, mobile and identity technology, AI, big data, storage, cyber security, sustainable technology and the other Tech Trailblazers Awards categories.

Eligible entrants should be privately held technology startups or scaleups, generally at C-series funding or below, less than six years old at the time of entry, and operating in or relevant to one of the Tech Trailblazers Awards categories.

Find out more about the Tech Trailblazers Awards 2026 and enter here.

Rose Ross
Chief Trail Blazer and Founder
Tech Trailblazers Awards

If your company has previously been named as either a Tech Trailblazers Awards winner or runner-up and you would like to share recent or upcoming news with us, please email innovate@techtrailblazers.com.