Wellfound has selected 10 standout teams across 10 trending industries that are set to make an impact in 2025.
These teams — spanning from pre-seed to IPO — were chosen due to the strong engagement and interest they've generated within our Wellfound community over the past year.
Authoring effective visual communication is time-consuming and challenging for everyone - but especially those without design skills. Beautiful.AI is creating software that actually understands the rules of great design and provides smart, design-aware templates that visualize and communicate hundreds of concepts, making it effortless for anyone to build stunningly beautiful visual documents in a fraction of the time.
San Francisco-based Weights & Biases helps engineers at companies like Meta and OpenAI build and deploy AI models at scale with cloud-native tools. Top academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies use the developer platform for experiment tracking, model training, and deployment.With $250M in funding and a $1B+ valuation, the company fosters a remote-first team culture around transparency and rapid iteration to deliver impactful features. "Curiosity is key," founder Luke Biewald says. "If you have an interesting GitHub page or Kaggle competitions under your belt, it says so much about you."
Anthropic is a San Francisco-based company behind the hugely popular Claude chatbot. Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders, the company developed the Claude family of large language models (LLMs) as alternatives to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. The company has a team of 51–200 employees and took on billions more in funding in late 2024.
Amperon is transforming energy forecasting through AI and smart meter analytics. Founded in 2017, the 100-person remote-first company serves over 100 utilities with a cloud-native platform that processes data from 10M meters. With $28M in funding and offices in Houston and other cities, Amperon combines deep energy expertise with data science." We really look for agency—the ability to just get things done," says co-founder Sean Kelly.
San Francisco-based Mutiny is a “growth-as-a-service” platform that uses AI to help marketers personalize websites and convert demand into revenue without relying on engineering teams. Mutiny’s no-code platform integrates with company data to create thousands of personalized site variations. Founded by Jaleh Rezaei and Nikhil Mathew (formerly of Gusto), Mutiny is backed by investors like Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator.
Writer is a leading AI writing platform helping teams create consistent, on-brand content across customer interactions. Founded in 2020, the San Francisco-based company employs 51–200 people and serves major clients like Salesforce, Twitter, and Spotify. In late 2024, Writer raised $200M in Series C funding at a $2B valuation.
Kalepa is a New York-based insurtech startup revolutionizing commercial insurance through AI-driven underwriting solutions. Founded in 2018, the company employs 11–50 people and has raised $16M, including a $14M Series A led by Inspired Capital. Kalepa’s Copilot software helps underwriters assess risks efficiently, serving insurers across the U.S. and Europe.
Silicon Valley-based Squint aims to eliminate the need for search by delivering real-time, contextual data. Its AR platform empowers businesses like Volvo and Siemens to create augmented workflows, connecting physical objects to actionable information through mobile cameras. Founded in 2021 by former Splunk engineering manager Devin Bhushan, Squint is backed by Sequoia Capital and Menlo Ventures.
San Francisco’s P-1 AI develops advanced AI to transform how physical systems are designed. Its technology combines an understanding of shapes (geometry) and how things work (function) to create smarter, more efficient designs for engineering challenges. The company was founded in 2022 and is backed by $35M in VC funding.
NYC’s Wynd Labs is an early-stage startup specializing in AI and big data solutions. Founded to make public web data accessible for AI, the company’s flagship product, Grass, allows users to monetize unused internet bandwidth from personal devices like smartphones and laptops. Wynd Labs is expanding its fully remote team of 11–50.
Mesa is reimagining homeownership with a rewards-driven platform designed to make owning a home more affordable. Founded by a team of seasoned fintech leaders from Uber, Robinhood, and Amex, Mesa offers credit card-style benefits for mortgages, home improvements, and more.
With a fast-growing team of 11–50, Mesa is hiring for its hybrid offices in Austin, NYC, and Charlotte.
“Homeownership has never been less affordable,” says Co-Founder Kelley Halpin. “We’re delivering value back to homeowners and reshaping financial products around their needs.”
San Francisco’s Substack is a subscription newsletter platform that enables independent writers to publish and monetize their work. Founded in 2017, the company has over 500k paying subscribers and recently expanded into podcasting and short-form content with its Notes feature. Substack has attracted high-profile journalists and authors, making it a go-to platform for thought leaders. The company has 51-200 employees and over $80M in funding. They’re hiring for engineering, product, marketing, and operations roles.
New York City-based Paperless Post specializes in design-driven digital and printed stationery for life's most important occasions. Founded in 2007, the company has raised $32.4M and employs 51–200 people. Known for partnerships with designers like Kate Spade and Oscar de la Renta, Paperless Post has sent over 650 million invitations, blending digital ease with the beauty of traditional paper.
Quora, a consumer tech company based in Mountain View, Calif., connects over 400M monthly users with knowledge through its Q&A platform. Founded in 2009, Quora employs 201–500 people and is valued at over $1B. In 2023, Quora launched Poe, an AI chatbot app that integrates bots from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic.
Seattle-based Rover is a consumer technology platform connecting pet owners with trusted caregivers for dog walking, pet sitting, boarding, and more. Valued at $1B, Rover enhances pet care through convenience and reliability, offering safe and affordable services. The company’s award-winning platform supports pet owners globally, ensuring pets receive loving care while their families are away.
Turo is a car sharing marketplace where guests can book any car they want, wherever they want it, from a vibrant community of local hosts across the US, Canada, the UK, France & Australia. Guests choose from a totally unique selection of nearby cars, while hosts earn extra money to offset the costs of car ownership. A pioneer of the sharing economy and the travel industry, Turo is a safe, supportive community where the car you book is part of a story, not a fleet.
Check is a payroll-as-a-service API that lets you embed payroll directly in your vertical SaaS, HR, or time-tracking platform. Our API abstracts away the complexities of running payroll: tax calculation, remittance, and filing, plus the movement of money between companies and employees. This enables companies to easily build fully integrated payroll products to offer to their customers. Check believes in a future where small business owners don’t have to think about payroll — it’ll simply be embedded in the platforms they already use to run their businesses. With the strong tailwinds of (1) the rise of vertical software and (2) the growth of embedded fin-tech at our back, Check is building the infrastructure to power that future, and ultimately we believe we’ll enable thousands of new platforms, millions of businesses, and hundreds of millions of workers.
Imprint is building a payments and loyalty platform from the ground up to serve modern brands and their customers.
Trying to manually track crypto taxes gets complicated fast. TaxBit's tax engine supports transactions between any crypto or fiat currency in the world. TaxBit automatically calculates your cost basis, gains or losses, and subsequent taxes of every trade in real-time, giving you total insight into the tax impact of your trades.
Abridge leverages advanced AI to convert medical conversations into structured clinical notes, streamlining documentation for healthcare professionals. With a team of physicians and AI experts, the company is dedicated to reducing administrative burdens and enhancing patient care. Founded in 2018 with $207.5M in VC funding, Abridge is rapidly expanding as it partners with leading health systems to bring its innovative technology to providers worldwide.
Alto Pharmacy is a telehealth pharmacy reimagining the prescription experience through free medication delivery and personalized on-call support. Serving over one million patients with a +86 NPS, Alto is transforming a $500 billion industry by offering innovative solutions for patients and providers. With 501-1000 employees, the Y Combinator-backed company leverages technology to ensure affordability and convenience, making healthcare more accessible for all.
Benchling is a biotechnology company providing cloud-based solutions for life sciences R&D. With 501-1000 employees and a valuation exceeding $1 billion, it supports scientific innovation across biologics and drug discovery. Recently acquiring Danish startup PipeBio, Benchling enhances its capabilities in antibody research and bioinformatics. Backed by $112.8M in funding, the company is at the scale stage and actively hiring, empowering researchers to accelerate breakthroughs with intuitive, cutting-edge software.
Fathom Health, headquartered in San Francisco, uses deep learning and natural language processing to streamline medical reimbursement processes. With 51-200 employees and $46M raised in Series B funding, Fathom is backed by top investors like Google Ventures and 8VC. The company’s team includes alumni from Google, Dropbox, Airbnb, and athenahealth, and it is actively hiring to support its mission of automating medical coding for healthcare providers.
San Francisco’s Bitscopic develops tools for healthcare analytics, clinical decision support, and data integration. With 11-50 employees, it helps healthcare providers use data to improve patient care and address public health challenges. Bitscopic’s customers include federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs and the CDC.
MealMe, Inc. is building Plaid for Food Ordering, connecting consumer applications to the POS of restaurants and grocery stores our Inventory and Ordering API. MealMe has invested the past 5 years into developing AI technology that pulls data from and injects orders to 1M+ stores in the US and Canada, totaling 700M+ unique products.
Berlin-based Choco, founded in 2018, aims to fully digitize the global food wholesale market by 2026. The company’s platform streamlines ordering processes for restaurants and suppliers, reducing food waste and improving supply chain efficiency. With a $1.2B valuation and 400 employees, Choco raised a $100M+ million Series B from investors like G Squared and Insight Partners. Already active in multiple countries, Choco is expanding into new markets and scaling its team to drive sustainability and growth.
Magic Spoon reimagines your favorite childhood breakfast cereal into a high protein, low carb, guilt-free daily indulgence. Since launching in April 2019, Magic Spoon has been featured in media ranging from New York Magazine to Fast Company, and raised $6.5mm+ from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Collaborative Fund, Questlove, Nas, Rick Rubin, Ryan Holliday and the founders of Allbirds, Casper, Warby Parker, Harry's, Native, FabFitFun, and more.
San Francisco’s Instacart is a leading online grocery delivery and pickup service operating across the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2012, the company went public in 2024. The platform connects customers with local retailers, offering same-day delivery for groceries and other household items. With a focus on convenience and partnerships with thousands of stores, Instacart has scaled significantly, diversifying its business through advertising and tech acquisitions.
Zerocater builds revolutionary corporate catering and cafeteria solutions employees love while saving companies millions of dollars as they transition to the hybrid workplace. With its Cloud Cafe, Hybrid Cafe, Managed Cafe, and Event Cafe products; Zerocater has built corporate cafeteria and office catering programs for companies of all sizes from growing startups to the Fortune 500. Thousands of companies like TikTok, Datadog, Airtable, and McKinsey choose Zerocater for the customized, consistent, and diverse meal experiences its products offer, while also reducing costs by giving companies the flexibility to only pay for the employees who come into the office. Zerocater currently offers its corporate cafeteria and office catering products in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Denver, Seattle, and Washington D.C. with additional markets in the U.S. and Canada coming online every month.
MagicSchool leverages AI to reduce teacher burnout and improve student engagement. Founded in 2019 and backed by Y Combinator, MagicSchool's platform offers personalized tools for lesson planning, grading, classroom management, and live 1-on-1 STEM tutoring.
"We look for incredibly curious humans who are uniquely ambitious about learning and comfortable with ambiguity, moving quickly, failing, and iterating," says Becca Bloch, Head of People.
Maven transforms online education with its live, cohort-based course platform. Co-founded by Gagan Biyani (Udemy), Wes Kao (altMBA), and Shreyans Bhansali (Socratic), Maven empowers experts to create scalable, engaging courses. Backed by top investors like Sequoia, Maven recently raised $125M at a $1.7B valuation and serves global learners with a remote-first team of 11-50 employees.
Instrumentl is a San Francisco-based SaaS platform revolutionizing nonprofit fundraising by connecting organizations with funding opportunities. Founded in 2016 and backed by Y Combinator, Instrumentl helps nonprofits streamline operations and grow revenue. With a remote-friendly team of 51–200, it is actively hiring to advance its mission of empowering nonprofits to drive community impact.
Zwift, a Long Beach-based fitness platform, integrates gaming and training by connecting cyclists to virtual races. With over $620M in funding and a valuation exceeding $1 billion, Zwift employs 500–600 people and caters to competitive athletes. Its platform features virtual routes and tools to engage users, with plans to expand into indoor running and broader markets.
New York’s FanDuel is one of the leading sportsbook and fantasy sports platforms in the U.S.. Now owned by Flutter Entertainment, the company employs 201–500 people and has raised $416.2M, achieving a valuation of over $1B. Known for its work/life balance and innovative approach, FanDuel remains a prominent player in the sports betting industry.In 2024, FanDuel’s co-founders launched a cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook with a $6M seed fund.
Founded in 2016, The Athletic is a subscription-based sports media company delivering in-depth local and national coverage across 47 cities in the U.S. and U.K. Known for long-form journalism and analysis, it employs 201–500 people and has raised $68.1M in funding. Acquired by The New York Times for $550M in 2022, The Athletic now serves as the Times’ sports department.
Swish Analytics, based in San Francisco, provides data-driven insights for the sports and entertainment industry. Its Bet Request engine and Pre-built Accumulators enhance fan engagement by offering real-time odds and customizable betting options, helping partners like Sky Bet expand their U.S. sports betting offerings.
Founded in 2009, TeamSnap has taken the organization of youth, recreational, and competitive sports into the 21st century.25+ million coaches, administrators, players, and parents use TeamSnap’s web and smartphone apps to sign up, schedule, communicate and coordinate everything for the team, the club, and the season.
Faire was founded in 2017 by Square alums on the belief that the future is local. Our mission is to empower brands and retailers to strengthen the unique character of local communities. Faire plays a vital role in ensuring independent retailers survive and thrive by empowering them with the advantages of big-box terms, while helping brands build and simplify their wholesale business. By connecting retailers with the brands that make their stores special, we help create the magic of local retail.
San Francisco-based Parafin empowers small and medium businesses with embedded financial services delivered through APIs and SDKs. Since its 2020 founding, the company has raised $94M and secured a $125M warehouse facility from Silicon Valley Bank and Trinity Capital to expand its offerings. Valued at over $500M, Parafin has a team of 51–200 employees and partners with platforms like DoorDash and Amazon to provide fast, flexible financing solutions.
Gusto is a modern, online people platform that helps small businesses take care of their teams. On top of full-service payroll, Gusto offers health insurance, 401(k)s, expert HR, and team management tools. Today, Gusto offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York serve more than 100,000 businesses nationwide.Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at Gusto.
Yotpo is the leading eCommerce marketing platform that helps thousands of forward-thinking brands like Rebecca Minkoff, Patagonia, and Steve Madden accelerate direct-to-consumer growth. Our single-platform approach integrates data-driven solutions for Loyalty & Referrals, SMS Marketing, Reviews and Visual UGC, empowering brands to save time and create smarter, higher-converting customer experiences. Yotpo is a Forbes Cloud 100 company with offices worldwide including New York, London, Tel Aviv, Yoqneam, Sofia and Australia.
OrdinalsBot is a fully remote blockchain platform empowering developers to innovate with Bitcoin's Ordinals protocol. Specializing in developer APIs and tools for inscriptions and collectibles, the company operates with under $10M in valuation and actively hires. In late 2024 the company inscribed the largest-ever Bitcoin file.
San Francisco and New York-based thirdweb is a full-stack development platform for web3, providing tools to build decentralized applications and games on any Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain. Founded in 2021, thirdweb supports over 70,000 monthly developers and has raised $29M, backed by investors like Haun Ventures, Polygon Labs, and Coinbase Ventures. With a team of 11–50 employees, thirdweb empowers developers to create products for a decentralized internet and partners with industry leaders like Shopify, AWS, and Coinbase. The company is hiring across engineering and data science roles.
Monad Labs is advancing blockchain performance with its high-throughput, Ethereum-compatible Layer-1 protocol. Backed by $225M in Series A funding and valued at over $1B, Monad is a team of 11–50 people focused on optimizing decentralized application performance and enabling parallel execution on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Recent hires include top talent in design and APAC leadership roles. The company is actively growing its team, with openings primarily in engineering to support its ambitious vision for decentralized innovation.
LibLab is building the future of connected software through SDKs and AI. Founded in 2021 by Sagiv Ofek—who previously led the AWS SDK organization—the Austin-based company has raised $50M and grown to a team of 11-50. LibLab prioritizes ownership, agility, and proactivity.
"Ownership is a huge value that we have here in the company. You own your decisions," Ofek says. "Everything is measured by output, not input. Input is just the mean to an end. And the end is like, what have you shipped?”
Feathery is the most powerful form and workflow automation platform. Build pixel-perfect forms, set up advanced logic, and connect to hundreds of different systems.
Sendbird is trusted by 4000 of the world’s most popular apps – including DoorDash, Match Group, Noom, and Yahoo Sports – to power messages between businesses and over 300 Million people every month; to build relationships and get things done. The company offers an award-winning communication platform that modern digital experiences are built on, unlocking the potential of unified customer communications across omnichannel business messaging, in-app chat, voice, video, and AI virtual assistants. Headquartered in California, Sendbird is backed by ICONIQ, Softbank, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator, and other reputable investors.
Sourcegraph is the one tool to find and fix things across all your code. Companies of all shapes and sizes use Sourcegraph every day to build software you rely on. Works across any code host, any repo, any language.
Code navigation and code exploration improve developer productivity, contextual code intelligence enables better code reviews and onboarding for new hires, and code change campaigns automate large-scale changes.
