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Startup ecosystem

Top startups in San Francisco.

San Francisco and the wider Bay Area remain the densest startup ecosystem on earth — the home base for the current wave of foundation-model and AI companies alongside the fintech and SaaS giants of the last cycle.

16 notable startups · 267 funded companies · $52.3B · 118 accelerators · 45 hiring now · Reviewed Oct 2026

Notable startups

A curated list of companies headquartered in San Francisco, spanning the sectors that define its ecosystem. Each links to the company; where we hold their pitch deck, it's linked too.

OpenAI logo
OpenAI ↗
openai.com
AI
The AI research company behind ChatGPT and the GPT model family, and one of the defining companies of the generative-AI era.
Founded
2015
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$300B
Anthropic logo
Anthropic ↗
anthropic.com
AI
AI safety company building the Claude family of models, focused on reliable, steerable, and interpretable AI systems.
Founded
2021
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$180B
Databricks logo
Databricks ↗
databricks.com
AI
The data and AI platform built around the lakehouse architecture, used by enterprises to unify analytics, data engineering, and machine learning.
Founded
2013
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$62B
Raised (SEC)
$18.8B
Open roles
885
Stripe logo
Stripe ↗
stripe.com
FinTech
Payments infrastructure for the internet — APIs that let businesses accept payments and run financial operations at global scale.
Founded
2010
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$70B
Airbnb logo
Airbnb ↗
airbnb.com
Marketplace
The global marketplace for short-term stays and experiences that turned spare rooms into a category-defining travel business.
Founded
2008
Stage
Public
Instacart logo
Instacart ↗
instacart.com
Marketplace
Grocery delivery and pickup marketplace connecting shoppers with local stores across North America.
Founded
2012
Stage
Public
Plaid logo
Plaid ↗
plaid.com
FinTech
The data network that connects apps to users' bank accounts, powering much of the modern fintech stack.
Founded
2013
Stage
Series D+
Valuation
~$6B
Brex logo
Brex ↗
brex.com
FinTech
Corporate cards and spend management built for startups and growth companies.
Founded
2017
Stage
Series D+
Valuation
~$12B
Notion logo
Notion ↗
notion.so
Software
An all-in-one workspace that blends docs, wikis, and databases, with AI woven throughout.
Founded
2013
Stage
Series C
Valuation
~$10B
Raised (SEC)
$260M
Figma logo
Figma ↗
figma.com
Software
The browser-based collaborative design platform that became the default tool for product and interface design.
Founded
2012
Stage
Public
Scale AI logo
Scale AI ↗
scale.com
AI
Data infrastructure for AI — labeling, evaluation, and model-training data for frontier labs and enterprises.
Founded
2016
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$14B
Coinbase logo
Coinbase ↗
coinbase.com
Crypto
One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges and on-ramps, and a bellwether for the crypto sector.
Founded
2012
Stage
Public
Rippling logo
Rippling ↗
rippling.com
Software
A workforce platform unifying HR, IT, and finance — payroll, devices, apps, and spend in one system.
Founded
2016
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$16B
Anysphere (Cursor) logo
AI
Maker of Cursor, the AI-native code editor that became one of the fastest-growing developer tools.
Founded
2022
Stage
Series C
Valuation
~$10B
Perplexity logo
Perplexity ↗
perplexity.ai
AI
The AI answer engine reframing search as cited, conversational Q&A.
Founded
2022
Stage
Late Stage
Valuation
~$18B
Sierra logo
Sierra ↗
sierra.ai
AI
Conversational AI platform for building customer-facing agents, founded by Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor.
Founded
2023
Stage
Series B
Valuation
~$10B
Valuations are approximate, drawn from the most recent reported figures as of Oct 2026.

Most funded in San Francisco

By total disclosed across the period, one row per company. Combine filters to narrow — "Recently funded" plus "Hiring now" is who just raised and is actively recruiting.

$18.8B
$3.32B
$2.04B
$1.83B
Commure, Inc. commure.com ↗
Software & Technology · 5 offerings · 75 open roles
$1.10B
Chime Financial, Inc.
$1.10B
$934M
Flexport, Inc.
$709M
$665M
$604M
Discord Inc. discord.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 51 open roles
$500M
$496M
$487M
Whatnot Inc. whatnot.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 3 open roles
$484M
$473M
Rothy's, Inc.
$469M
$435M
$400M
$364M
$341M
$339M
BetterUP, Inc.
$314M
$310M
REMOTE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
$300M
Niantic, Inc.
$289M
Gusto, Inc. gusto.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 94 open roles
$260M
Notion Labs, Inc.
$258M
$250M
Checkr, Inc.
$248M
$241M
GrubMarket, Inc.
$232M
Maplebear Inc.
$221M
Coalition, Inc.
$202M
$201M
6Sense Insights, Inc.
$200M
Aurora Solar Inc.
$200M
$199M
Anyscale, Inc.
$195M
$190M
$188M
$181M
$180M
$169M
$168M
$166M
Clarify Health Solutions, Inc.
$158M
$157M
$151M
$150M
$150M
Algolia, Inc.
$150M
$150M
$145M
R Software Inc.
$145M
$137M
$130M
Apollo Graph, Inc.
$126M
$126M
$124M
Rad AI, Inc. radai.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 18 open roles
$119M
Hubilo Technologies Inc.
$118M
Nova Labs, Inc.
$113M
LOFT ORBITAL SOLUTIONS INC.
$113M
$110M
CRITICAL IDEAS, INC.
$108M
Horizon 3 AI, Inc. horizon3.ai ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 110 open roles
$108M
$106M
$103M
Hasura, Inc.
$102M
$100M
Redaptive, Inc.
$96M
$95M
$94M
$89M
$88M
Omni Analytics, Inc. omni.co ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 26 open roles
$88M
$87M
$85M
Starship Technologies Holdings, Inc.
$80M
$80M
$79M
CLERK, INC. clerk.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 2 open roles
$74M
$74M
Nozomi Networks, Inc.
$74M
$72M
Wisetack, Inc. wisetack.com ↗
Business Services · 2 offerings · 3 open roles
$72M
Mutiny HQ Corp mutinyhq.com ↗
Software & Technology · 2 offerings · 9 open roles
$71M
Bright Machines, Inc.
$71M
$71M
Sundae, Inc.
$70M
$70M
$70M
Qualified.com, Inc.
$70M
$68M
$68M
ZEROEX HOLDINGS, INC.
$67M
$66M
$66M
MobileCoin, Inc.
$65M
Marea Therapeutics, Inc.
$65M
ConductorOne, Inc.
$64M
Samasource Impact Sourcing, Inc.
$62M
Human Interest Inc.
$62M
$60M
Town.com, Inc.
$59M
$57M
Joy Life, Inc.
$57M
$57M
$56M
KENTIK TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
$56M
$56M
$54M
Descript, Inc.
$53M
$52M
Wetravel Inc
$52M
Platzi, Inc.
$51M
$51M
BrightAI Corp
$51M
Tactivos, Inc.
$51M
$50M
Sense Talent Labs, Inc.
$50M
$50M
$50M
Hound Technology, Inc.
$50M
NATURAL CAPITAL EXCHANGE INC.
$50M
Twelve Labs, Inc.
$47M
Voxel Labs Inc.
$45M
AllStripes Research Inc.
$45M
Ambagon Therapeutics Inc.
$45M
Blacksmith Software Inc.
$45M
Bugcrowd Inc.
$44M
Atomwise Inc.
$44M
$43M
Succinct Inc.
$42M
newtrul inc.
$42M
Zora Labs, Inc.
$41M
Tabnam, Inc.
$40M
Arable Labs, Inc.
$40M
Arkestro Inc.
$40M
Unify AI Business Corp
$40M
Career Karma, Inc.
$40M
Yurts Technologies, Inc.
$40M
$40M
Sirona Medical, Inc.
$39M
$38M
Cardless, Inc.
$38M
Ulysses Ecosystem Engineering Inc.
$38M
Wizeline, Inc.
$38M
$38M
$38M
Octave Health Group, Inc.
$37M
Tempus Ex Machina, Inc.
$36M
Essential AI Labs, Inc.
$36M
Nexusbird, Inc
$36M
Kepler Software, Inc.
$36M
$36M
CyberCube Analytics, Inc.
$35M
$35M
Contentstack Inc.
$35M
$35M
Xatabase, Inc.
$35M
Numeral Two Inc.
$34M
Treasury Prime Inc.
$34M
Almanac Labs, Inc.
$34M
Lava.ai, Inc.
$34M
Nova AI Software Inc.
$33M
Elementl, Inc.
$33M
Uniform Systems, Inc.
$32M
Replicate, Inc.
$32M
$32M
CrescendoAI Inc.
$31M
$31M
Rain Neuromorphics Inc.
$31M
$31M
PayMongo Inc.
$31M
Pylon Labs, Inc.
$31M
$31M
Pathpoint, Inc.
$30M
$30M
$30M
$30M
Particle Industries, Inc.
$30M
$30M
Rasa Technologies Inc.
$30M
Acceldata, Inc.
$30M
Halliday International Inc.
$30M
Parnassus Labs, Inc.
$30M
Iron Fish Inc.
$30M
Tint Technologies Inc.
$29M
$29M
RutterAPI, Inc.
$29M
Workshop for Emotional & Spiritual Technology Corp
$29M
$29M
$29M
Vanna Health, Inc.
$29M
Perplexity AI, Inc.
$29M
Zipongo, Inc.
$29M
$28M
Zumper, Inc.
$28M
Kargo Technologies Corp.
$28M
Fleet Device Management Inc.
$27M
BackOps-ai Inc.
$27M
$27M
$27M
$27M
$27M
$26M
Lyric Hospitality, Inc.
$26M
Workstep Inc.
$26M
$26M
PostEra Inc.
$26M
$25M
Stackwatch, Inc.
$25M
$25M
keenwawa, inc.
$25M
Thunkable, Inc.
$25M
Reactor Technologies, Inc.
$25M
Casetext, Inc.
$25M
$25M
Orchard Healthcare, Inc.
$25M
Trunk Technologies, Inc.
$25M
$25M
Mekonos, Inc.
$25M
$25M
Ikigai Labs, Inc.
$25M
All Blue Labs, Inc.
$24M
$24M
$24M
Banyan Infrastructure Corp
$24M
$24M
TigerBeetle, Inc.
$24M
$24M
$24M
Utopia Labs Corp
$24M
Broccoli Intelligence, Inc.
$24M
Here Not There, Inc.
$23M
Perry Health, Inc.
$23M
Driver Bioengineering, Inc.
$23M
$23M
Beacons AI Inc.
$23M
$23M
Turnstile Software Inc.
$23M
Rune Labs, Inc.
$22M
Molekule, Inc.
$22M
$22M
$22M
$22M
Mosaic ML, Inc.
$22M
$22M
Apto Payments, Inc.
$21M
Vendia, Inc.
$21M
Leapfrog Power, Inc.
$21M
Copilot Labs, Inc. \ DE
$21M
Datafold, Inc.
$21M
Halcyon Carbon, Inc.
$21M
$21M
Aquabyte, Inc.
$21M
$21M
Botrista Technology, Inc.
$21M
Klarity Intelligence, Inc.
$20M
Verse Enterprises, Inc.
$20M
Mountaintop Studios, Inc.
$20M
OneSkin, Inc.
$20M
Ria Technology Management Inc.
$20M
Mosey Works, Inc.
$20M
Dewdrop Labs Inc
$20M
Concentric Analgesics, Inc.
$20M
Sandbox Inc.

Filter definitions — Hiring now: open roles on the company's public job board as of Oct 3, 2026. Hiring remote: that board lists remote or distributed roles. Recently funded: a Form D filed in the trailing twelve months. $100M+/$500M+: cumulative disclosed amount across all offerings. Repeat raisers: more than one offering on file. Up-and-coming: incorporated within the last four years and recently funded — incorporation year is disclosed by roughly half of filers, so this undercounts.

Accelerators in San Francisco

San Francisco founders can apply to 118 accelerator programs in our directory — including 500 Global, Age 1, Alchemist Accelerator, alliance.sv, AngelHack, AngelPad.

The best accelerators in San Francisco → Accelerators with open applications →

Other startup ecosystems

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