There are over 40.000 startups in Silicon Valley.
Yes, you’ve read right, forty thousand startup companies -only in Silicon Valley alone, most of which promise to meet the needs of modern times or offer new and more efficient solutions to the problems that have existed for years, such as productivity.
However, they’re not all long-lasting initiatives: 10% of startups fail within their first year.
Therefore, I did a long research and listed 22 startups that are promising with unique ideas and fast growth rates.
Let’s get started, then 🏃♀️
#1: Linktree
Funding: Series B (latest funding on March 16, 2022)
Revenue: Undisclosed
Employee Size: 305 (est.)
Linktree is an Australian tech company that provides an organized marketing platform for brands, publishers, and influencers.
With one link, they say, you can control different pages and forward your customers to the most relevant page.
Digital marketing is becoming more and more important, and millions of companies prefer to meet their customers online. But then website links fly in the air from different social media accounts, blog pages to consumer help pages.
Linktree, on the other hand, connects online platforms and audiences in a single interface and directs everyone to the website they need.
And the interest for them? Exploding 💥
The percentage increase in global searches for the company in the last 5 years 👇
#2: Funnel
Funding: Series C (latest funding round on October 12, 2021)
Employee Size: 350+ (information provided by the company itself)
Funnel is a Swedish SaaS company that helps marketers analyze data and present insights.
It’s a no-code tool with different plans for different types of companies and their needs.
While marketing becomes more and more mechanical, a more numerical job -almost a data science- Funnel collects and visualizes data from more than 500 platforms/apps.
#3: So Syncd
Funding: Pre-Seed funding (raised $1M)
Employee Size: 7 (est.)
So Syncd is a free dating app matching people according to their personality types.
Jess and Lou, the founding sisters of So Syncd, believed the time spent finding a good match was too long and most of the time ill-spent. Dozens of bad dates for the sake of a few cute photos…
In 2019, in the United Kingdom, they started their own business and founded So Syncd, the first dating app based on personality tests.
No more meaningless swiping, they say; it’s time for modern dating.
#4: Manychat
Funding: Series A
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Flint Capital, and 3 more
Employee Size: 202
Manychat is a marketing tool that automates interactive conversations through various social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook Messenger.
You can customize the chatbox bot and generate qualified leads. Also, you can combine SMS and/or e-mail services with your automation.
While almost every brand tries to reach their potential customers via cold and ordinary ads, business owners who have direct access to the DMs of their customers shine out.
#5: Group Greeting
Revenue: $5M
Employee Size: 27
I love to receive cards when I’m sick, happy, successful… Because it makes me feel considered and cared for. And to be honest, I really wait for a message card, even if it’s short and very superficial.
Seems like so does everyone!
Group Greeting allows people to write and sign cards for various occasions collectively.
No more space restraint for signatures!
As more and more companies proceed to work remotely, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, we will be seeing these virtual cards more often, I believe.
#6: Loom
Funding: Series C
Employee Size: 160+
Hundreds of millions now work from home.
Though it brings comfort and freedom to some extent, it can be hard -or tiring- to keep up with online meetings.
That’s where Loom comes into play.
They promise productivity and effectiveness beside saving time. You can create clear and target-oriented video messages for your co-workers and even customers with Loom.
With 14 million users and 200K companies, including Netflix, Atlassian, and HubSpot, it values more than $1.5 billion.
#7: Preply
Funding: Series C (latest funding round on March 30, 2022)
Employee Size: 400+
With more than 5 million active students and 170K tutors, Preply is one of the leading online language learning platforms in the market.
They do not only offer individual students a successful language learning process but also corporates too.
Companies can join language training programs specifically tailored for business people. Zendesk, Viessmann, and TikTok have already adopted Preply for their teams!
#8: Printify
Funding: Series A (with a total amount of $541M)
Sales Growth: +87% (over the last 2 years)
Employee Size: 600
Printify is a technology startup that makes almost everyone possible to become an entrepreneur and start selling merchandise with minimal risk.
You can add your design on t-shirts, mugs, socks, bags, etc., and start selling!
Backed by different angel investors from Europe and Silicon Valley, Printify was ranked as the 15th fastest-growing technology company in the USA in 2020, and it is still one of the most promising startups today.
#9: Adalo
Funding: Series A (closed $8M worth round led by Tiger Global in May 2021)
Employee Size: less than 50
Adalo is a no-code tool for creating apps.
You don’t have to hire a developer or learn how to code to build your app now; with Adalo, you only need to drag and drop.
You can create lists, forms, dashboards, add payment or navigation buttons, and send push notifications.
Adalo helps companies and other startups grow and professionalize at less cost with different pricing plans for different needs.
#10: Elmo Drive
Funding: Pre-Seed funding (raised £350K)
Backed by: Constellation Automotive Group
Transportation is the leading contributor to carbon emission rates in the UK, with 26%.
For the UK to achieve its Net Zero target, all vehicles -including light-duty and heavy-goods vehicles- must be pulled out of use.
It means acceleration of the transition process to electric vehicles.
Elmo is a mobility-as-a-service company that provides different subscription plans for electric cars -just like Spotify or Netflix.
The subscription fee includes insurance, repair & maintenance services, and safety measures.
#11: Figma
Funding: Series E (with $332.9M total funding)
Industry: Design
Figma is a cloud-based platform that enables teams to work -design- effectively and collaboratively on the same project.
No more saving tons of different documents for the same project!
No more endless document traffic within the design team!
With their solid business plan, Figma teams continue to add new plug-ins and design ideas that increase productivity and convenience every day.
Thus, the platform plays an essential part in the life of product and design teams.
#12: Bubble
Funding: Series A (with total amount of $106.3M)
Investors: Betaworks, Insight Partners, Third Kind Venture Capital, and 20 more
Employee Size: 182
Bubble is a groundbreaking no-code tool used for building web apps, SaaS platforms, and marketplaces.
Once you’ve finalized your outline in your mind, you can start building it step by step only by clicking and dragging.
Bubble helps people with sparkling ideas become entrepreneurs. It’s quick and functional and requires no previous coding experience/knowledge.
#13: Charthop
Funding: Series B
Investors: Andreessen Horowitz and 18 more
Whether you’re a SaaS startup or a courier company, if you work with people, you need to keep people data.
You need to have their personal information such as birthdays, professional information including salary and job experience, and keep track of their accomplishments and performance.
Charthop is a data collection and visualization platform.
”For more informed, empowered, and connected organizations”.
It enables to control all people data from one place, thus saves from tons of different spreadsheets. One wholistic data repository.
Charthop helps organizations/companies enhance alignment within the company, simplify access to personal information such as salary and bonus with individual dashboards, automate HR data for celebration and appreciation, or keep track of performance stats, and more!
#14: Nuro
Funding: Series D ($600M)
Investors: Gaorong Capital, and 11 more.
#Unicorn
Autonomous delivery.
Nuro is a robotics company that was founded by Google’s former engineers working on self-driving car projects.
It’s your neighborhood’s vehicle now. It brings groceries, and prescriptions, carries your food delivery, or any other goods from your local shop.
It has no driver, you enter your delivery code on the vehicle and take your products.
Electric cars are powered by renewable energy, thus more environmental-friendly than your going out for shopping.
Big companies have already started working with Nuro for safer roads and a cleaner environment.
#15: Remove.bg
Remove.bg is one of the most popular tools for removing the background from a photo. As it’s AI-powered, you don’t have to select the background manually.
It clears the background automatically within seconds.
You can add a different background or keep it white. Or, you can also save the new photo in PNG format and keep the background transparent.
It has official plug-ins for Windows, Mac, and Linux, as well as Photoshop, the most popular editing program.
Companies such as Samsung, Sony Music, and Canva are among the customers of Remove.bg.
#16: Attentive
Funding: Series E
Investors: Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, and 18 more
Employee Size: 1.1K
Revenue: $4.5B+ (2020 wrap up)
#Unicorn
Attentive is a SaaS company that provides personalized SMS messages for marketing purposes.
SMS marketing is not dead yet; it’s just overly automatized. If they’re used in the right way, text messages can keep your customers active and loyal to your brand.
You can create sign-up units (for notifications) on your website and grow your customer/subscriber list, customer segments for more personalized and target-oriented marketing strategies, and get detailed reports afterwards!
Ranked #12 on Forbes Cloud 100 List in 2021, Attentive proves it’s one of the most promising startups of its time.
#17: Pinata
Funding: Seed (total amount of $3.8M)
Industry: Software, Cloud Computing
Pinata is the world’s leading media/content management company. It’s also the first multimedia hub for NFT creators and artists.
”Your home for NFT media”, they say.
With Pinata, you can build on any blockchain.
Also, you don’t have to be an IPFS expert to upload your content.
It changes how we create, upload, and store content. It creates web3.
#18: Confluera
Funding: Series A
Industry: Cyber Security
We use cloud-based platforms at schools, organizations, and workplaces.
Company emails, meeting links, business plans, datasheets…
Clouds are convenient and easy to use but also complicated systems, thus open to threats and cybercrime.
Confluera is a cyber-security startup that detects and intercepts cyberattacks.
With continuous protection, you can minimize your response time and operational cost. Also, as Confluera automizes the process, you can increase your coverage and analyze each and every alert.
#19: Airtable
Funding: Secondary Market
Investors: Silver Lake, Salesforce Ventures, and 47 more
Industry: Developer Tools
If you’re looking for a tool to increase team collaboration and work efficiency, Airtable might be your answer.
You can use templates for event planning, content calendar, or inventory tracking.
It brings all your company information and data together, in one place. You can integrate over 1000 apps and websites, which enables you to share data/info between Airtable and other platforms.
Trusted by the leading companies in the sector, such as Shopify, Netflix, and GitHub, Airtable is running to the top!
#20: Brex
Funding: Series D
Industry: FinTech
#Unicorn
Brex is a financial technology company that offers payment and expense management 💳
You can issue cards, automate payments and invoices, enhance your financial planning, and get special offers/ discounts.
You don’t have to spend hours on accounting. You only need a financial platform that works fast.
Brex can be integrated with more than 1000 platforms.
#21: Wardrobe
Funding: Seed ($5.6M)
Industry: Fashion
Wardrobe is a high fashion rental platform.
You like a high fashion piece, but it’s too expensive, and even if you buy it, you probably won’t be able to use it very often? Then why not borrow it!
Or, maybe you have that item. Why not lend and earn some money 💸
Wardrobe works both ways. You can borrow to save money or lend to earn.
Clothes, bags, shoes… Hundreds of millions use it for the best pieces. It’s eco-friendly, sustainable, and convenient.
#22: Calm
Funding: Series C
Industry: Healthcare and Wellness
#Unicorn
Calm is the #1 app for meditation and sleep 🧘♀️
You can listen to stories that improve overall sleep quality, music, and nature sounds, join masterclasses led by professionals that help to increase work performance and creativity, and watch guided exercise videos for different types of meditation and breathing techniques.
Calm has different plans for individuals, teams, and businesses.
Don’t forget, mental health matters!
Conclusion
Some ventures are born to become an indispensable part of our lives, while others cannot find a place for themselves in the marketplace and die…
One way to hold onto life in this startup hustle is to have a solid business plan.
And for us customers, let’s not hesitate to give a chance to these platforms that promise to make our lives easier for us and enjoy them!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which startup is best for the future?
Startups focusing on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and SaaS are the most popular ones right now. It’s expected that it will continue like that in the near future too.
Also, web3 and the blockchain industry improve really fast; thus, startups based on NFT and cybersecurity will be seen a lot too.
What companies are growing fastest?
According to Fortune’s World’s Top Growing Companies List, the top 10 can be listed as follows:
What industry will boom in 2023?
- Cloud Computing
Remote working is the new trend now. And it doesn’t seem like to end. So cloud-based platforms will continue to be developed more and more.
- Information Security
As internet-dependent tools and cloud-based platforms get popular, and every one of us gets at least one digital asset (NFTs), we become more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. We are gonna need insurance companies for those digital assets too…
- Artificial Intelligence and Information Technologies
Automation is the key to the future. From marketing messages to delivery services, everything is getting automated.
- Green Energy and Sustainable Industries
Not only individuals but also companies show their eagerness to leave a fairer and cleaner world for the next generations. So companies that offer eco-friendly solutions will be preferred more.
