An index of the top private innovators shaping the future of tech and pushing the boundaries of human achievement.
SELECT MONTH TO DISPLAY
Innovator Spotlight: OpenAI
OpenAI is a pioneering artificial intelligence research organization founded to advance digital intelligence in ways that benefit humanity. Best known for its GPT language models and the widely adopted ChatGPT platform, the company recently converted its main entity into a for-profit benefit corporation in October 2025, shifting from its previous capped-profit structure while continuing to balance commercial pursuits with a mission to ensure safe AGI development. With recent expansions into enterprise solutions, OpenAI serves over 1 million businesses, delivering tools that integrate AI into workflows for measurable ROI.
OpenAI's disruptive advantage comes from its fast-paced development of multimodal AI. This is shown in the 2025 launch of ChatGPT Atlas, a web browser that integrates real-time AI assistance. It also includes projections for AI systems that could enable small scientific discoveries by 2026 and larger breakthroughs by 2028. Envisioning a future where AGI transforms industries from healthcare to finance, OpenAI is pushing boundaries amid financial headwinds, including anticipated losses through 2028 before profitability in 2030, while seeking U.S. policy support for data center expansions. Competitors like Anthropic, which eyes faster profitability, and tech giants Google and Meta are intensifying the race, steering the AI sector toward compute-intensive AGI pursuits that demand trillions in infrastructure investment and ethical safeguards.
Deal Metrics
Median
Recent Deal Size
$0.7 B
0% monthover month
Median
Raised to Date
$1.7 B
0% monthover month
Median
Time Between Financing Rounds
0.9 years
0% monthover month
Average
Recent Deal Size
$1.7 B
0% monthover month
Average
Raised to Date
$5.2 B
0% monthover month
Average
Time Between Financing Rounds
1.2 years
0% monthover month
Top Disrupt 50 Investors
1
Andreessen Horowitz
Menlo Park, CA
11companies
2
Coatue Management
New York, NY
10companies
3
1789 Capital
Palm Beach, FL
9companies
4
Lightspeed Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA
9companies
5
Altimeter Capital Management
Menlo Park, CA
8companies
6
General Catalyst
San Francisco, CA
8companies
7
Nvidia
Santa Clara, CA
8companies
8
Sequoia Capital
Menlo Park, CA
8companies
9
BFA Global Investors
Sydney, Australia
7companies
The Disrupt 50
Tap any company for additional details.
Rank
Rank Move
Company
Industry
Post Money
Recent Deal
Value Trend
Expand row
1
OpenAI
Artificial Intelligence
$500.0B
October 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
OpenAI develops and deploys advanced artificial intelligence to create systems capable of general intelligence, fundamentally transforming industries and setting the direction for how AI interacts with humanity.
Recent News
OpenAI finalized a comprehensive restructuring of its partnership agreement with Microsoft on October 29, 2025, converting to a public benefit corporation. The deal allows OpenAI to explore partnerships with other cloud providers while preserving Microsoft's stake and exclusive rights until AGI is achieved.
Recent Financing
An undisclosed investor sold a $6.6 billion stake in OpenAI to Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, and JP Morgan Asset Management.
2
SpaceX
Space Telecommunications
$400.0B
August 2025
Industry:Space Telecommunications
Recent Deal:August 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
SpaceX is a private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company that aims to reduce the cost of space travel and enable the colonization of Mars through fully reusable rockets and advanced spacecraft.
Recent News
SpaceX launched a new batch of 29 Starlink satellites in late October 2025, furthering the deployment of its global broadband constellation. The company also successfully completed another high-altitude test flight of its Starship prototype in early September 2025.
Recent Financing
Wejchert Capital sold a stake in the company to Korea Investment Partners for $10 million.
3
Anthropic
Artificial Intelligence
$183.0B
September 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Anthropic develops frontier artificial intelligence systems with an explicit focus on safety and reliability, setting a new standard for responsible AI development.
Recent News
Anthropic partnered with the Government of Rwanda and ALX in November 2025 to launch 'Chidi', an AI learning tutor built on the Claude model. This collaboration aims to build AI skills across the continent and expand the use of AI for public good worldwide.
Recent Financing
Anthropic secured $13 billion in Series F venture funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, ICONIQ Capital, and Fidelity Management & Research Company.
4
xAI
Artificial Intelligence
$113.0B
July 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:July 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
xAI is developing advanced artificial intelligence systems that aim to understand the true nature of the universe, offering an alternative approach to current foundational AI research.
Recent News
The US Department of Defense awarded xAI a $200 million contract in September 2025 to integrate its AI technology into national security workflows. This move has raised questions regarding data privacy and competition among government contractors.
Recent Financing
xAI secured $10 billion in venture funding, consisting of debt and equity.
5
Databricks
Data Analytics
$100.0B
September 2025
Industry:Data Analytics
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Databricks combines data warehousing and data lakes into a single platform for data and AI workloads, fundamentally streamlining the process for enterprises to build and deploy machine learning models.
Recent News
Databricks was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems, recognized for its new Lakebase architecture and 'Agent Bricks' capabilities. The company is actively focusing on vertical expansion into sectors like healthcare and finance and is optimizing workloads to manage rising operational expenses.
Recent Financing
Databricks raised $1 billion of Series K venture funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Insight Partners (New York).
6
Stripe
Fintech
$91.5B
February 2025
Industry:Fintech
Recent Deal:February 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Stripe provides the underlying infrastructure that enables online businesses to easily accept and manage digital payments, challenging traditional financial institutions.
Recent News
Stripe announced new product updates on September 30, 2025, during Stripe Tour New York. These updates include new agentic commerce capabilities and modular infrastructure for the crypto stack, such as the ability to collect subscription payments using stablecoins.
Recent Financing
The company completed a secondary transaction with existing and new investors to provide liquidity for current and former employees, which also involved Stripe repurchasing shares.
7
Waymo
Autonomous Vehicles
$45.0B
October 2024
Industry:Autonomous Vehicles
Recent Deal:October 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Waymo develops fully autonomous driving technology to replace human drivers in vehicles for both ride-hailing and trucking.
Recent News
Waymo announced in late August 2025 that it is expanding its autonomous ride-hailing services in San Francisco, now offering driverless rides throughout the city. This expansion follows regulatory approval and marks a significant step in the company's deployment of commercial self-driving technology.
Recent Financing
Waymo secured $5.6 billion in Series C venture funding, led by Alphabet, with participation from Silver Lake and Perry Creek Capital.
8
Ripple
Fintech
$40.0B
November 2025
Industry:Fintech
Recent Deal:November 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Ripple offers a faster, more efficient, and less expensive cross-border payment system using blockchain technology, challenging traditional financial methods.
Recent News
The first US spot XRP ETF, the Canary XRP ETF, began trading on November 13, which is expected to support XRP's price. Additionally, Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin has seen its total circulating supply surge to $1.26 billion within 12 months of its launch.
Recent Financing
Ripple secured $500 million in venture funding, led by Citadel Securities and Fortress Investment Group, with participation from Galaxy Digital.
9
Figure AI
Humanoid Robotics
$39.0B
May 2025
Industry:Humanoid Robotics
Recent Deal:May 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots designed for a wide range of daily tasks, aiming to integrate robotics into everyday life.
Recent News
Figure AI introduced Figure 03 on October 9, 2025, demonstrating its ability to perform autonomous household chores, which is considered a significant step toward developing truly general-purpose physical AI. The robot features a new vision system and updated tactile sensors for handling fragile objects.
Recent Financing
Figure AI secured $1.5 billion in Series C venture capital, with the round led by Parkway Venture Capital and supported by Intel Capital and Microsoft.
10
Safe Superintelligence
Artificial Intelligence
$32.0B
April 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:April 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Safe Superintelligence develops superintelligent systems by integrating safety and capability to ensure long-term, impactful technological advancements are scaled safely.
Recent News
Co-founder Daniel Gross departed the company in July 2025 to join Meta, leaving Ilya Sutskever as the sole CEO to lead the company's research efforts. The company continues to focus exclusively on solving the technical challenges of safe superintelligence without near-term commercial distractions.
Recent Financing
The company secured $2 billion in venture funding, led by Greenoaks Capital Partners, with participation from Nvidia and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
11
Anduril Industries
Defense Technology
$30.5B
June 2025
Industry:Defense Technology
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Anduril Industries builds advanced autonomous systems and software-defined weapons for military defense, aiming to modernize defense capabilities with cutting-edge technology.
Recent News
Anduril Industries began flight testing its new YFQ-44A autonomous aircraft on October 30, 2025, as part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program. This development marks a significant step in deploying affordable mass in the air for defense applications.
Recent Financing
Anduril Industries secured $2.5 billion in Series G venture capital funding, led by Founders Fund, with additional participation from Baillie Gifford and V12 Partners.
12
Scale AI
Data Annotation
$29.2B
June 2025
Industry:Data Annotation
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Scale AI transforms raw data for artificial intelligence applications, making it possible for companies to train and deploy advanced machine learning models.
Recent News
Scale AI laid off its entire 'New Projects Organization' team in Dallas on October 20, 2025, signaling a strategic shift toward expert-level AI training. The company is now focusing on specialized data annotation tasks rather than generalist work and has invited affected workers to its gig platform.
Recent Financing
The company secured $14.3 billion in venture funding, led by Meta Platforms, with participation from Accel and TMT Investments.
13
Motional
Autonomous Vehicles
$28.2B
August 2025
Industry:Autonomous Vehicles
Recent Deal:August 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Motional develops and commercializes SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles for ride-hail and delivery services, aiming to fundamentally change everyday transportation.
Recent News
Motional published a technical blog on October 30, 2025, covering their strategy for prediction in autonomous driving. Motional also introduced Omnitag, an ML-Powered Multimodal Data Mining Framework in a blog post on July 14, 2025, which refines autonomy data for next-generation autonomous vehicles.
Recent Financing
Motional received KRW 629.1 billion in venture funding from Hyundai Motors Group to strengthen its autonomous driving capabilities.
14
Ramp
Fintech
$22.5B
July 2025
Industry:Fintech
Recent Deal:July 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Ramp uses artificial intelligence and automation to streamline and reduce corporate spending and financial management for businesses.
Recent News
Ramp released its Fall 2025 Business Spending Report on October 29, 2025, revealing that AI adoption is accelerating in unexpected sectors like healthcare and manufacturing. The report highlights that businesses are maintaining spend despite tariff concerns, with healthcare companies increasing AI investment faster than any other category.
Recent Financing
Ramp secured $514.09 million in Series E2 venture funding, led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from GV and Sands Capital.
15
Epic Games
Video games
$22.5B
November 2024
Industry:Video games
Recent Deal:November 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Epic Games fundamentally changed the video game landscape by offering a highly successful, free-to-play battle royale game and creating a digital storefront with more favorable revenue splits for developers.
Recent News
Epic Games concluded October 2025 with a major Halloween event, giving away 'Bendy and the Ink Machine' to mobile gamers on Android and iOS. The company also continues to expand its Epic Games Store offerings, maintaining its strategy of weekly free titles to drive user acquisition.
Recent Financing
Epic Games received $1.5 billion in venture funding, led by The Walt Disney, with contributions from Andalusian Private Capital & Advisory and Excedea Capital.
16
Kraken
Cryptocurrency Exchange
$20.0B
November 2025
Industry:Cryptocurrency Exchange
Recent Deal:November 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Kraken provides an AI-powered operating system that fundamentally changes how energy utilities manage operations, customer relations, and innovation.
Recent News
Kraken acquired the crypto-native prop trading platform 'Breakout' in late September 2025, becoming the first major exchange to enter the prop trading space. Additionally, Kraken launched a Mastercard debit card for UK and European users in November 2025 to increase crypto utility.
Recent Financing
Kraken secured $800 million in Series C venture funding, led by Jane Street, Oppenheimer Partners, and Tribe Capital.
17
Perplexity AI
Artificial Intelligence, Search Engine
$20.0B
September 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence, Search Engine
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine that redefines information discovery by providing direct, cited, and conversational answers to user questions instead of just links.
Recent News
Perplexity AI was sued by Reddit in October 2025 for allegedly scraping data without permission to train its models. This legal challenge highlights the growing tension between AI platforms and content publishers over data rights.
Recent Financing
Perplexity AI secured $200 million in venture funding, backed by Glade Brook Capital Partners, Alpha Partners, and OurCrowd.
18
Deel
Global Payroll
$17.3B
October 2025
Industry:Global Payroll
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Deel is a unified platform that eliminates geographical barriers for hiring, paying, and managing a global workforce while ensuring local compliance.
Recent News
Deel announced a significant product expansion on September 25, 2025, launching new compliance features tailored for global employment laws, which allows companies to manage international teams more smoothly. This update simplifies complex payroll and HR requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Recent Financing
Deel secured $300 million in Series E venture funding, led by Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz.
19
Rippling
Workforce Management
$16.8B
May 2025
Industry:Workforce Management
Recent Deal:May 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Rippling unifies and automates HR, IT, and finance functions on a single platform, fundamentally simplifying and eliminating administrative work for running a business.
Recent News
Rippling launched 'Rippling 1:1s' on August 19, 2025, a new feature designed to automate and structure manager-employee check-ins. The tool provides guided agendas and action-item tracking to improve consistent feedback within organizations.
Recent Financing
Rippling secured $460 million in Series G venture funding, led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and Elad Gil, with additional participation from Dubin & Co.
20
Veeam
Data Protection
$15.0B
December 2024
Industry:Data Protection
Recent Deal:December 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Veeam provides a platform for data resilience, enabling organizations to quickly recover from disruptions like cyberattacks to maintain business continuity.
Recent News
Veeam announced a partnership with IBM in September 2025 to deliver enhanced data protection and ransomware recovery solutions for hybrid cloud environments. Earlier, in June 2025, Veeam unveiled a new data platform update focusing on AI-powered anomaly detection and immutable storage capabilities.
Recent Financing
Insight Partners (New York) completed a $2 billion stake sale, supported by $22.7 million in debt financing, with TPG, NB Capital Solutions, and Alkeon Capital Management as purchasers.
21
Applied Intuition
Autonomous Vehicles
$15.0B
June 2025
Industry:Autonomous Vehicles
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Applied Intuition provides essential software tools and AI technology that accelerate the development and safe deployment of autonomous and software-defined vehicles.
Recent News
Applied Intuition completed ISO/SAE 21434 Cybersecurity Certification on October 23, 2025, validating its security standards for automotive software. The company also announced a partnership with Stellantis on October 21, 2025, to redefine intelligent in-vehicle infotainment systems.
Recent Financing
Applied Intuition secured $600 million in Series F venture funding, led by Kleiner Perkins and BlackRock, with additional participation from CE-Ventures.
22
Surge AI
AI Data Labeling
$15.0B
July 2025
Industry:AI Data Labeling
Recent Deal:July 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Surge AI provides high-quality human intelligence feedback and data annotation services crucial for training and improving advanced artificial general intelligence models.
Recent News
No major non-financing news within the last 12 months.
Recent Financing
Surge AI is currently engaging in discussions with undisclosed investors to secure a round of venture capital funding.
23
Labs Companies
Software
$12.5B
August 2025
Industry:Software
Recent Deal:August 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Labs Companies develops innovative human-enhancement technologies delivered through apps to improve social experiences and personal well-being.
Recent News
No major non-financing news within the last 12 months.
Recent Financing
Labs Companies secured $35 million in Series 2 seed funding, structured as convertible debt, with JetDebt Finance as the lead investor.
24
Wiz
Cloud Security
$12.0B
May 2024
Industry:Cloud Security
Recent Deal:May 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Wiz provides a cloud security platform that gives organizations full visibility into their cloud environment to identify and fix critical risks and vulnerabilities.
Recent News
Wiz announced a collaboration with Check Point Software Technologies in October 2025 to deliver a fully integrated network and cloud-native application protection platform. This initiative is aimed at addressing emerging security challenges for enterprises moving workloads to the cloud and adopting AI.
Recent Financing
Wiz secured $1 billion in Series E venture funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Thrive Capital.
25
Whatnot
E-commerce
$11.5B
October 2025
Industry:E-commerce
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Whatnot is a live shopping platform where users can buy, sell, and trade collectibles and other products via streamed auctions and shows.
Recent News
Whatnot implemented a new policy on October 1, 2025, to regulate the sale of 'repacks' and surprise products, requiring manufacturers to meet strict vetting and auditing standards. The move aims to increase transparency and trust within the collectibles community on the platform.
Recent Financing
Whatnot secured $225.00 million in Series F venture funding, led by CapitalG and DST Global, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz.
26
Quantinuum
Quantum Computing
$10.8B
November 2025
Industry:Quantum Computing
Recent Deal:November 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Quantinuum is accelerating the development of the world's most powerful quantum computers and advanced quantum software, pioneering breakthroughs in computing, cybersecurity, and materials discovery.
Recent News
Quantinuum recently announced the commercial launch of its new Helios quantum computer, which is designed to accelerate quantum computing adoption. The company claims the Helios platform offers unprecedented accuracy and enables Generative Quantum AI (GenQAI).
Recent Financing
Quantinuum secured $838.85 million in Series B venture funding, led by NVentures, with participation from Cambridge Quantum Computing and Honeywell.
27
Colossal Biosciences
Biosciences
$10.3B
September 2025
Industry:Biosciences
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Colossal Biosciences uses genetic engineering and reproductive technology to pursue the de-extinction of species and advance conservation biology.
Recent News
Colossal Biosciences introduced gene-edited Dire Wolves on April 9, 2025, marking a significant milestone in their de-extinction efforts. This announcement showcases their use of genetic engineering to bring back extinct species.
Recent Financing
Colossal Biosciences secured $320 million in Series C venture funding, led by Thomas Tull and Mark Walter, with contributions from North Equity.
28
Cognition
Software Development Applications
$10.2B
September 2025
Industry:Software Development Applications
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Cognition develops an AI software engineer capable of autonomously planning and executing complex, multi-step software development tasks.
Recent News
Cognition introduced SWE-1.5, a fast agent model, on October 28, 2025, and announced its availability in Windsurf. On September 29, 2025, they released the Devin Agent Preview featuring Claude Sonnet 4.5, which is reported to be over 2x faster and 12% better on their Jr. Developer Evals.
Recent Financing
Cognition secured $400 million in Series C venture funding, led by Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Lux Capital.
29
Crusoe
AI Infrastructure
$10.0B
October 2025
Industry:AI Infrastructure
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Crusoe utilizes stranded natural gas that would otherwise be flared to power compute-intensive operations, such as Bitcoin mining and cloud computing, transforming wasted energy into valuable resources.
Recent News
Crusoe announced on October 24, 2025, that it is expanding its Digital Flare Mitigation technology to new oil and gas fields globally to help reduce methane emissions. The company's innovative solution captures natural gas that would otherwise be flared and uses it to power modular data centers.
Recent Financing
Crusoe secured $1.38 billion in Series E venture funding, led by Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital, with participation from Nvidia.
30
Thinking Machines Lab
Artificial Intelligence
$10.0B
June 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Thinking Machines Lab conducts research and co-designs products that integrate iterative learning into deployment, aiming to solve highly impactful problems in AI safety.
Recent News
Thinking Machines Lab announced Tinker, an API for fine-tuning language models, on October 1, 2025. This new API allows users to submit jobs for fine-tuning various open-weight models, which the Lab runs on its internal clusters and training infrastructure.
Recent Financing
The company raised $2 billion in seed funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Nvidia and ServiceNow Ventures.
31
Sierra
Artificial Intelligence
$10.0B
September 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Sierra develops AI agents for businesses that deliver continuous, human-like customer experiences on every channel.
Recent News
Sierra AI announced its first customer conference, Sierra Summit 2025, scheduled for November 5, 2025, to showcase new AI products for customer experience. The company also introduced 'Agent Studio' in October 2025, a tool allowing businesses to build sophisticated AI agents without code.
Recent Financing
Sierra AI raised $350 million in venture funding, led by Greenoaks Capital Partners and Singtel Innov8.
32
Mercor
AI Hiring
$10.0B
October 2025
Industry:AI Hiring
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Mercor uses artificial intelligence to disrupt the traditional job market by matching talent and engineering new ways of working.
Recent News
Mercor shuttered its 'Musen' project with Meta in October 2025, affecting thousands of data labelers who were training AI models. The company subsequently offered workers opportunities on a new project, 'Nova', albeit at a lower wage rate, sparking controversy over labor practices in the AI supply chain.
Recent Financing
Mercor completed a $350 million Series C venture funding round led by Felicis, with participation from General Catalyst and Benchmark Capital Holdings.
33
Anysphere
Software Development
$9.9B
June 2025
Industry:Software Development
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Anysphere provides an AI-powered code development environment accessible through a web browser, streamlining the process of building software.
Recent News
Anysphere updated its Cursor teams plan and Auto model pricing in August 2025 to better support agentic workflows. The updates include variable request costs for agents and the transition of the 'Auto' model to standard monthly usage limits.
Recent Financing
Anysphere raised $900 million of Series C venture funding, led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Accel.
34
Neuralink
Therapeutic Devices
$9.7B
January 2025
Industry:Therapeutic Devices
Recent Deal:January 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Neuralink is developing brain-machine interfaces that aim to restore sensory and motor function and eventually enable direct communication between the human brain and computers.
Recent News
Neuralink received approval for a second human trial for its brain-computer interface in late September 2025. This trial is expected to enroll more participants than the first, expanding the scope of their research into restoring motor functions.
Recent Financing
Neuralink completed a $650 million Series E funding round, with investments from Group 42 Holding, SaxeCap, and 1802 Ventures.
35
Harvey AI
Legal AI
$9.3B
October 2025
Industry:Legal AI
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Harvey AI develops customized large language models that automate complex tasks for legal professionals, fundamentally transforming the delivery of legal services.
Recent News
Harvey AI announced in August 2025 that it had reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) just three years after its founding. This milestone underscores the rapid adoption of its AI-powered legal tools among major law firms.
Recent Financing
The company raised $160 million of venture funding in a deal led by EQT, Andreessen Horowitz, and OpenAI Startup Fund.
36
Gusto
Business Software
$9.3B
June 2025
Industry:Business Software
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Gusto simplifies and automates essential and complex human resources tasks, like payroll and benefits, making comprehensive HR accessible to smaller businesses.
Recent News
Gusto launched the Business Insurance Hub in 2025, allowing businesses to discover, purchase, and manage various types of business insurance, including General Liability and Workers' Comp, directly within the platform. The company also introduced Gusto 401(k) in 2025, enabling the management of payroll and 401(k) from a single dashboard.
Recent Financing
Gusto is currently seeking venture funding, led by Teachers' Venture Growth, with other investors also participating.
37
Vercel
Cloud Infrastructure
$9.3B
September 2025
Industry:Cloud Infrastructure
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Vercel is a cloud platform that streamlines the deployment and scaling of modern web applications, disrupting traditional hosting and infrastructure management.
Recent News
Vercel introduced a new feature for their platform on September 15, 2025, that enhances collaboration for front-end development teams. The company also announced a strategic partnership with a major cloud provider on August 28, 2025, to optimize serverless function deployment and performance.
Recent Financing
Vercel secured $300 million in Series F venture funding, led by Enterprise Holding (Singapore), Accel, and GIC Private.
38
VAST Data
Data Storage
$9.1B
November 2023
Industry:Data Storage
Recent Deal:November 2023
Value Trend:
Company Description
VAST Data provides an operating system for AI that unifies data management and high-performance storage infrastructure to support the scaling of intelligent applications.
Recent News
VAST Data Federal and Leidos introduced Agentic Cybersecurity with NVIDIA AI on October 28, 2025, which delivers the AI Operating System to the U.S. public sector. The company also announced the expansion of its strategic partnership with Cisco on June 3, 2025, to provide scalable, turnkey infrastructure for enterprise AI.
Recent Financing
The company raised $118 million of Series E venture funding in a deal led by FMR (United States), with participation from Nvidia and 2B Global Capital.
39
Polymarket
Prediction Market
$9.0B
October 2025
Industry:Prediction Market
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Polymarket is a decentralized information markets platform where users bet on the outcome of real-world events, challenging traditional news and forecasting methods.
Recent News
Polymarket launched a market on October 15, 2025, allowing users to bet on the outcome of the next US presidential election. On September 5, 2025, the platform announced an expansion of its available prediction categories to include various current events beyond politics and crypto.
Recent Financing
Polymarket received $2 billion in venture funding, a combination of debt and equity, with key investors including Intercontinental Exchange, Dubin & Co., and Electric Feel Ventures.
40
Altos Labs
Biotechnology
$8.8B
February 2024
Industry:Biotechnology
Recent Deal:February 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Altos Labs is a biotechnology company focused on cell rejuvenation to reverse disease, injury, and age-related disabilities.
Recent News
Altos Labs launched its Institute of Computation to drive advances in AI and computational biology for understanding cellular resilience. Additionally, in 2025, Altos Labs acquired Dorian Therapeutics.
Recent Financing
Altos Labs secured $1.50 billion in development capital, with funding provided by General Catalyst and Mubadala Capital.
41
Cerebras Systems
AI Hardware
$8.1B
September 2025
Industry:AI Hardware
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Cerebras Systems builds specialized computer systems using wafer-scale technology to accelerate complex artificial intelligence and deep learning computation.
Recent News
Cerebras Systems set a new AI speed record on September 10, 2025, achieving 2,000 tokens/second inference performance on MBZUAI and G42's K2 Think. In August 2025, Cerebras and Core42 delivered record-breaking performance for OpenAI's GPT-OSS-120B model.
Recent Financing
Cerebras Systems secured $1.1 billion in Series G venture funding, led by Fidelity, Tiger Global Management, and Atreides Management.
42
Reflection AI
Artificial Intelligence
$8.0B
October 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Reflection AI develops generative artificial intelligence chatbots that can mimic a person's communication style for automated customer service, marketing, and other communication efforts.
Recent News
Reflection AI launched its flagship autonomous coding agent, Asimov, in July 2025. Asimov is designed to reason, write, debug, and optimize code autonomously, marking a step toward the company's goal of open-source superintelligence.
Recent Financing
Reflection AI received $2 billion in venture funding through Series B-1 and B-2 rounds, led by Nvidia and Disruptive.
43
Flock Safety
Safety Technology
$7.5B
March 2025
Industry:Safety Technology
Recent Deal:March 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Flock Safety creates a network of automated license plate readers, cameras, and gunshot detectors that enable law enforcement and community groups to share surveillance data for real-time crime prevention and investigation.
Recent News
Flock Safety launched the Flock Aerodome\'99 Drone as an automated security system for private enterprises on September 25, 2025. The company also unveiled Alpha, a U.S.-built drone first responder system designed to improve industry standards for speed, flight endurance, and camera capability on October 16, 2025.
Recent Financing
Flock Safety received $275 million in combined Series H and Series H-1 venture funding, with the round led by Andreessen Horowitz, and major participation from Sands Capital and Stripes.
44
Glean
Enterprise Search
$7.2B
June 2025
Industry:Enterprise Search
Recent Deal:June 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Glean provides an AI-powered enterprise search and knowledge discovery tool that connects and surfaces information across a company's disparate applications.
Recent News
Glean launched an AI search tool tailored for engineers in a private preview on September 15, 2025. This tool aims to help developers quickly find relevant internal code, documents, and knowledge across disparate company systems.
Recent Financing
The company secured $150 million in Series F venture funding, led by Wellington Management.
45
PsiQuantum
Quantum Computing
$7.0B
September 2025
Industry:Quantum Computing
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
PsiQuantum is developing a fault-tolerant quantum computer using silicon photonics, aiming to be the first to deliver a commercially useful machine capable of solving complex problems beyond the reach of classical computers.
Recent News
PsiQuantum and Lockheed Martin signed a memorandum of understanding on September 30, 2025, to accelerate the development of quantum computing applications in aerospace and defense. Also on September 30, 2025, the company broke ground on its site in Chicago to build America's first million-qubit scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Recent Financing
PsiQuantum secured $1 billion in Series E venture funding, led by Baillie Gifford, Temasek Holdings, and BlackRock.
46
Groq
Artificial Intelligence
$6.9B
September 2025
Industry:Artificial Intelligence
Recent Deal:September 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Groq develops a custom-built processing chip specifically designed for rapid and cost-effective artificial intelligence inference.
Recent News
Groq expanded its data center capacity by more than 10% in September 2025 to meet surging demand for AI inference workloads. The company also announced plans to open its first Asia-Pacific location by the end of the year to support global adoption of its LPU inference engine.
Recent Financing
The company raised $750 million of Series D2 venture funding in a deal led by Disruptive.
47
Grafana Labs
Observability Platform
$6.6B
August 2024
Industry:Observability Platform
Recent Deal:August 2024
Value Trend:
Company Description
Grafana Labs provides an open-source platform that fundamentally changes how organizations monitor, visualize, and analyze their IT systems.
Recent News
Grafana Labs was named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms for the second consecutive year. New announcements for Grafana Cloud from October 8, 2025, include AI-powered incident response, Adaptive Telemetry for cost control, and Database Observability.
Recent Financing
Grafana Labs raised $327.90 million in Series D venture funding, with the round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, NY Technology Capital Partners, and GIC Private.
48
ClickHouse
Real-time Analytics
$6.4B
October 2025
Industry:Real-time Analytics
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
ClickHouse offers a database management system that enables real-time generation of analytical reports and supports AI-related workloads like vector search.
Recent News
ClickHouse acquired LibreChat on October 7, 2025, which is an open-source AI chat platform. The acquisition aims to enhance ClickHouse's offerings by integrating the leading open-source agentic data stack.
Recent Financing
The company raised $444.07 million of Series C venture funding, led by Khosla Ventures, Nebius Group, and Stifel Financial.
49
Plaid
Fintech Infrastructure
$6.1B
April 2025
Industry:Fintech Infrastructure
Recent Deal:April 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Plaid creates the digital infrastructure that connects consumers' financial accounts to thousands of applications and services.
Recent News
Plaid announced a new suite of machine learning-powered risk scores in October 2025, including LendScore for credit risk, Trust Index for fraud risk, and Signal for transaction risk, as part of their Fall 2025 Product Release. The company also partnered with FICO to leverage cash flow data through its open finance network.
Recent Financing
Plaid secured $575 million in venture capital, led by Franklin Resources, with Fidelity and CE-Ventures also participating.
50
Redwood Materials
Battery Recycling
$6.0B
October 2025
Industry:Battery Recycling
Recent Deal:October 2025
Value Trend:
Company Description
Redwood Materials is disrupting the traditional battery supply chain by recycling end-of-life batteries to recover and produce critical materials for new energy storage and electric vehicle production.
Recent News
Redwood Materials announced on June 26, 2025, that it is building the most sustainable and scalable battery materials process to support the electric vehicle transition. The company is focusing on recovering critical battery components to strengthen the domestic supply chain.
Recent Financing
Redwood Materials secured $350 million of Series E venture funding, led by Eclipse Ventures, Coatue Management, and nVentures.
Data that informs the Disrupt 50 index is collected as of the last day of the previous month.
Metric definitions:
Rank: Based on the most recently available post money value estimate.
Move: The rank move from the previous month.
Post Money: The most recently disclosed or estimated post money value based upon available information.
Recent Deal: The most recent deal either publicly disclosed or announced.
Value Trend: The trend in post money value. A down arrow suggests that the most recent round was a down round.
The information contained in this newsletter is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Scalar and while we endeavor to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the newsletter or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the newsletter for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this newsletter. However, Scalar takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the newsletter being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
Every effort is made to keep the newsletter up and running smoothly. However, Scalar takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the newsletter being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
Data Sources: S&P Global Market Intelligence and PitchBook Data, Inc. Data was also retrieved from various sources using Google's Gemini.
Get the monthly The Disrupt 50 delivered to your email
** By clicking the button I agree to receive a monthly E-mail from Scalar
