Cloudflare

A global internet security and performance company with a London office, known for protecting and speeding up websites.

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare runs one of the world's largest computer networks. Websites and apps use it to load faster and stay online, and it offers security products that defend them against attacks. A simple way to picture it is a shield and a fast lane sitting between a website and everyone who visits it. Cloudflare says its network spans over 330 cities in over 125 countries (a company claim).

Cloudflare was founded by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway and Michelle Zatlyn, who is now chief operating officer. It grew out of Project Honey Pot, which began in 2004 and tracked how spammers collected email addresses. Users asked for more than tracking, with one request quoted on Cloudflare's story page being "don't just track the bad guys, stop them". Prince and Zatlyn met at Harvard Business School, their business plan won a school competition in 2009, and Holloway built the first working prototype. A friend described the idea as a "firewall in the cloud", which gave the company its name. A private beta launched in June 2010 and the public launch was on 27 September 2010 at TechCrunch Disrupt. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has a London office at Riverside Building, County Hall.

Cloudflare's stated mission is "to help build a better Internet". Its public projects include Project Galileo (free protection for journalism and civil society groups), the Athenian Project (protection for election sites) and the 1.1.1.1 service, a privacy-focused DNS (the internet's address book) that is free to use.

Its products cover website protection and speed, secure access to company systems ("zero trust" security, which means checking every user and device rather than trusting anything by default), and tools for developers such as Cloudflare Workers, which lets programmers run code on the Cloudflare network. From January 2026, approved startups building on Cloudflare can use collaboration space at the London office on select days.

For students, Cloudflare has said it aims to hire as many as 1,111 interns in 2026, a number that nods to 1.1.1.1. London is one of six hubs, alongside Austin, New York, San Francisco, Bengaluru and Lisbon. Internships typically last 12 weeks and interns are expected to be in the office three to four days a week. The company says interns join real teams across engineering, product, marketing, legal and finance, have a dedicated mentor, can ask senior leaders questions, ship a concrete project and present it to the whole company. It says pay is roughly the prorated salary of an entry-level role. A Software Engineer Intern (2027) listing in London is full-time, at least 12 weeks and in person, for students in computer science, engineering, maths or similar, hired on a rolling basis. These are company statements, so check current listings.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Defence against attacks on websites and faster loading through its global network.', 'title': 'Website protection and speed'}
• {'desc': 'Secure access to company systems by checking every user and device.', 'title': 'Zero trust security'}
• {'desc': 'Cloudflare Workers lets programmers run code on its network.', 'title': 'Developer tools'}
• {'desc': 'Project Galileo, the Athenian Project and the free 1.1.1.1 DNS service.', 'title': 'Public-interest projects'}

Key facts

• Founded by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway and Michelle Zatlyn; public launch 27 September 2010
• London office: Riverside Building, County Hall
• Mission (own words): help build a better Internet
• Aims to hire up to 1,111 interns in 2026; London is one of six hubs; typically 12 weeks
• Network in 330+ cities (own claim)

Website: www.cloudflare.com