Top Tech Startups in California, US in 2024

Distru is a software platform focused on solving supply chain problems for the cannabis industry. Many of the top cannabis brands and distributors in California use our software to manage their entire supply chain from source to sale. We are cash flow positive and are growing rapidly with over $500M in transactions per year passing through our platform. Recently we were funded by Felicis Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Village Global, along with angels including Elad Gil, Katie Stanton, and Avichal Garg.

We are solving a huge problem in financial services that has been lying unsolved for decades. All major payment systems (including wallets ) require two sided onboarding i.e. Payor and Payee need to onboard before they can transact. We have built a way to generate and transmit Digital Payments without onboarding the Payee/Recipient. This is huge in terms of bringing traditional paper and cash payments online. Add to that, we've figured out a clever way to monetize from both sides thereby changing the financial equation from Customers paying us to us paying our customers cash back from card fees! Our investors, whom we call our "believers," include Tim Draper, Adam Draper (Tim Draper's family), Naval Ravikabt through his AngelList Maiden Fund, co-founder of Intuit and more! Institutional investors include a top 4 bank and top 5 insurance company. Checkbook lets businesses move away from paper to deliver Digital Checks directly to a recipients email. This allows businesses to keep all their existing Accounts Payable (or Accounts Receivable processes) in place while moving to a completely online solution. All you need to send a check is the name and email of the recipient along with the amount you are sending. Recipients do not need to sign up for any service, download any app or pay any fees to receive payments. Digital Checks can be deposited and cashed online after instantly verifying banking credentials. No more paying high % based transaction fees on credit and debit cards or sharing sensitive bank account and routing numbers to payor.

The better freelancer marketplace for AI natives, with rewards & controls for better quality, interactions and payments.

BlueSpace.ai is assured and explainable AI for navigation and autonomy. We are building the next generation of self-driving technology to create safety certainty needed for truly driverless vehicles. Our patented 4D Dynamic Perception and Prediction OS enables this by calculating all objects’ motion from next-gen 4D sensors. BlueSpace.ai’s team brings experience from all over the autonomous vehicles (AV) industry, including OEMs, world class research institutions, and autonomous driving companies.

CleverX powers market and product researchers by giving them access to the most hard-to-reach business audiences and AI Automation tools all in one place.

Sardine helps fintech, crypto, and web3 companies "move money confidently" by developing fraud, compliance, and payment infrastructure. With Sardine, builders can focus on growing their business instead of spending time, fighting against fraudsters. We're growing incredibly fast and powering over 100 customers around the world like Brex, MoonPay, Bakkt, Luno, Transak, Chippercash, Candy Digital, Metamask, Brave, and RelayFi.

Exergy recovers water at “Point of Use”(POU) at 1/3 of current cost with <18 mo. ROI. POU eliminates need for fresh water, wastewater, and their treatment. Our first product, EthorCEL®, uses patented "electro-membrane" separation technology (U.S., PCT, and other patents). Our customers are the largest users of water worldwide; companies in wet process manufacturing, such as semiconductor,  disk drive, solar, Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and pharmaceutical companies. They spend billions making water for use, and then throw it away after one use - this is done continuously, while making high tech products. The existing market for pure water is estimated at $16 Billion per year and the industrial wastewater market is estimated to be in excess of $300 Billion annually. Exergy delivers technologies to make the concept of "closed-loop Factory" a reality. We can no longer waste resources and expect to continue to have access to the latest tech products.

Classroom education in India has stifled many brilliant minds. With Unacademy, India's largest education platform, we are changing that. In a span of 6 months, over 300,000 students have benefited from over 2,400 online lessons and specialised courses on cracking various competitive examinations, on our platform. We have on board some of the top educators in the country, including Kiran Bedi, India's first woman IPS officer and now the Governor of Pondicherry. With over 2 million views every month, we are touching the lives of people in the remotest corners of the country. Our success stories include thousands of students who have cracked toughest of examinations, improved their ability to speak and write better and increase their knowledge. Our vision is to partner with the brightest minds and have courses on every possible topic in multiple languages so the whole world can benefit from these courses. India is home to 19% of the world's youth and we are empowering them to take on the world in a manner that classrooms will never do.

Since launching in 2009, Grindr has grown into the largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people. We have millions of users who use our location-based technology in almost every country in every corner of the planet. And we’re still evolving. Today, Grindr proudly represents a modern LGBTQ lifestyle that’s expanding into new platforms. From social issues to original content, we’re continuing to blaze innovative paths with a meaningful impact for our community. At Grindr, we’ve created a safe space where you can discover, navigate, and get zero feet away from the queer world around you. Keep connecting.

Firstcard helps everyone build credit no matter who they are, where they are from, or their credit history. Firstcard primarily focuses on serving immigrants, non-US citizens, international students, first-generation college students, and underserved low-credit communities in the US who are often denied credit due to the limited access to credit-building tools provided by traditional banks. Members can build credit, open a credit card and a bank account, earn cashback, and grow savings — all within a single platform. Firstcard is on a mission to democratize credit for all. Firstcard is based in Silicon Valley and has raised $7.8M to date from angel investors and venture capital firms such as AngelList Early Stage Quant Fund, CyberAgent Capital, and East Ventures. Popular Japanese soccer player Keisuke Honda is also a participating investor.