Top Real Time Startups in 2026

Ably provides an infrastructure layer to handle complex, behind-the-scenes realtime communication that powers things like chat, live updates in maps or apps, IoT device control, and more. There's no infrastructure to provision or manage - just simple yet powerful and versatile SDKs and APIs that let you quickly add innovative realtime capabilities to your application with a few lines of code.

Swiftly develops enterprise software to help transit agencies and cities improve urban mobility. Built by transportation experts for transportation professionals, the Swiftly platform harnesses billions of data points and sophisticated algorithms to improve transit system performance, service reliability, and real-time passenger information. Over 50 cities from coast to coast use Swiftly’s technology platform, improving transportation services for millions of riders each day. Swiftly is backed by leading mobility investors, including Ford Smart Mobility, Samsung NEXT, Via ID, and RATP Dev.

PubNub is a secure global Data Stream Network (DSN) and easy to use API that enables our customers to connect, scale, and manage realtime applications and IoT devices. With over 70 SDKs for every platform, 250ms worldwide data transfer times, and scalability for hundreds of millions of devices, PubNub’s unique infrastructure gives you the ability to easily connect and operate world-class realtime applications and IoT devices. PubNub is headquartered in San Francisco. Visit pubnub.com to start a free trial today.

SkyGrid is your very own custom news, on iPad, iPhone and Android. With over 20k 4.5 star reviews in the App Store the product speaks for itself. SkyGrid uses semantic based search with sentiment analysis to determine the best content for you. The only real custom news source on the web that uses over 100k sources to provide you with great content with no human intervention.

The SiteScout RTB (real-time bidding) Platform is an online display advertising marketplace that is designed for media buying and selling. sitescout.com/rtb The SiteScout AdServer was our first product, which continues to be popular among direct-to-publisher media buyers. sitescout.com/ad-server