Top Tech Startups in California, US in 2026

Subject is an AI-powered education start-up that partners with school districts and networks across the country to deliver cinematic, video-first courses with personalized learning supports. Our interactive curriculum is guided by AI copilots that adapt to each student’s needs, provide real-time suggestions for teachers, and translate content instantly. Districts benefit from live dashboards that track progress, credit, and early-warning signals, all seamlessly integrated with SIS and LMS systems. Subject is backed by Kleiner Perkins, SoftBank Opportunity Fund, Owl Ventures, and others.

Revivn is a fully integrated hardware lifecycle solution, promoting global responsibility while providing IT with enterprise-class service and security. Working with companies like Instacart, Lyft & Teach for America we are changing the way companies view old technology with a new model that focuses on repurposing electronics. In partnering with Revivn, companies make the vital choice to manage the hardware lifecycle responsibly and consciously — and we’re here to support them every step of the way. This mission and commitment extends to serving our customers worldwide, supporting communities and organizations in need, and cultivating a culture that inspires our employees to find purpose in their work.

Hi! I'm Benji, the Co-Founder and CEO at Ashby. At Ashby, we're improving the productivity of working professionals with intelligent and powerful software. We put a lot of effort into designing products that are approachable to beginners but mastered & extended by power users. In many ways, spreadsheets set the bar here. Our first products provide talent teams with clever automation, powerful analytics tools, and customizable workflows packaged in great UX. We haven't launched publicly, but we have many paying customers who love us and use us every day like Opendoor, Airtable, Duolingo, and Notion. Notion's Head of Talent said Ashby is "probably the tool we are in the most and rely on the most, as a recruiting team." Our culture is motivated by Abhik's (my co-founder and Head of Engineering) and my belief that a small talented team, given the right environment, can build a great product and service fast (and work regular hours!). We hire exceptional people and provide an environment where we can be happy, feel challenged, and do our best work. We are well funded and backed by great investors, including Y Combinator, Elad Gil, and Lachy Groom. We'll share more once we meet!

Nova Credit is a credit infrastructure and analytics company that enables businesses to grow responsibly through alternative credit data. As a Consumer Reporting Agency (CRA), Nova Credit leverages its unique data infrastructure, compliance framework, and credit expertise to help lenders fill critical gaps in traditional credit analytics. The company transforms the fragmented universe of consumer financial data into compliant, actionable risk insights through a comprehensive platform designed to increase conversion through expanded coverage, speed, and reliability. Leading organizations, including HSBC, RBC, SoFi, Scotiabank, Appfolio, and Yardi, work with Nova Credit to make smarter credit decisions through cash flow underwriting with Cash Atlas™, quickly verify income with Income Navigator, and reach new-to-country consumers with Credit Passport®. Learn more at novacredit.com or reach out to [email protected]

At Veo, we're bringing the next generation of mobility sharing to cities and universities globally through our dockless pedal bike, e-bike and e-scooter systems. We also offer fat-tire bikes, cargo bikes and ADA-compliant bikes – making us the only shared mobility provider with this breadth of options. We design and engineer our own vehicles, hardware and software systems to provide a greener, healthier mode of transportation to make the communities we serve more sustainable and livable. Our mission is to offer the best combination of multi-modal sharing technology and seamless customer service, so users can unlock joy in their day. We are looking for exceptionally talented individuals who are ready to take on exciting challenges and own solutions. We are headquartered in Chicago, IL, but we are hiring across the U.S. Join us!

Modern Health is a mental health benefits platform for employers. They are the only solution to cover the full spectrum of mental well-being needs through both evidence-based technology and professional support from a certified coach or therapist. Whether someone wants to proactively manage stress or treat depression, Modern Health guides people to the right care at the right time and helps companies save money in engagement and healthcare costs. Modern Health has raised over $11M from Kleiner Perkins and Y Combinator and works with top companies that want to take a proactive approach to mental well-being.

Aview empowers content producers to seamlessly scale, globalize and monetize their media worldwide.

At Mixpanel, our mission is to increase the rate of innovation. Not only as a company, but for the businesses we serve. Through our analytics platform, companies can analyze how and why their users engage, convert, and retain in real time across web, mobile, and smart devices. Then they can use that data to improve their business and products.

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.