For the tenth consecutive year, Forbes, in partnership with TrueBridge Capital Partners, has compiled a list of 25 U.S. venture-backed companies deemed most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation. This year’s list highlights the dominance of artificial intelligence, with many promising startups leveraging AI across diverse sectors.
Of the 225 companies that have previously appeared on the list, 131, or 58%, have attained unicorn status. These include prominent names like DoorDash, Figma, and Rippling. However, it’s worth noting that 21 of these unicorns now have valuations below the $1 billion mark. Furthermore, 42 alumni have been acquired, while only three (1%) went public with a valuation less than $1 billion. The track record has been largely positive, with only five startups experiencing significant setbacks.
This year’s selection process involved over 150 nominations. The following companies, presented alphabetically, are betting on the power of artificial intelligence:
CLAY
- Founders: Kareem Amin (CEO), Varun Anand, Nicolae Rusan
- Equity Raised: $62 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $3 million
- Lead Investors: BoxGroup, First Round Capital, Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital
Clay, based in New York City, has developed an AI-powered assistant designed to streamline customer relationship management by automating tasks like email drafting and follow-ups. The company serves 2,500 corporate clients, including Notion, Reddit, and Opendoor.
COACTIVE AI
- Founders: Cody Coleman (CEO), Will Gaviria Rojas
- Equity Raised: $44 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $0
- Lead Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cherryrock Capital, Emerson Collective
San Jose, California-based Coactive AI focuses on using AI to analyze and categorize the vast amounts of visual data used in marketing. The company aims to resolve the challenges of managing promotional photos and videos across different platforms.
CODEIUM
- Founders: Douglas Chen, Varun Mohan (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $93 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $1 million
- Lead Investors: Greenoaks, Kleiner Perkins
Codeium provides an AI-driven coding application that functions similarly to autocomplete, accelerating the software development process. The freemium app has secured 700 paying customers, including Anduril, Dell, and Zillow. According to CEO Varun Mohan, revenue is doubling each quarter.
CORTEX
- Founders: Ganesh Datta, Anish Dhar (CEO), Nikhil Unni
- Equity Raised: $52 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $6 million
- Lead Investors: IVP, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator
Cortex, a San Francisco-based startup, creates tools to help software teams track who worked on what parts of projects. Cortex helps organize complex development projects by eliminating administrative tasks and improving deadlines. Its customers consist of major companies such as Adobe, TripAdvisor, and Unity.
EMPOWER FINANCE
- Founders: Justin Ammerlaan, Warren Hogarth (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $53 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $100 million
- Lead Investors: Blisce, Icon Ventures, Initialized, Sequoia Capital
Empower Finance, located in San Francisco, uses AI to analyze a user’s finances, including cash flow, to provide instant advances of up to $300. The service charges members $8 monthly and has around 2 million users. Additionally, Empower Finance offers credit lines and credit monitoring.
EQUIP
- Founders: Erin Parks, Kristina Saffran (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $110 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $35 million
- Lead Investors: The Chernin Group, General Catalyst, Optum Ventures
Equip offers family-focused virtual therapy for eating disorders. It has contracts with 25 insurers and has helped more than 5,000 patients. The company was created by Kristina Saffran and Erin Parks.
EVENUP
- Founders: Rami Karabibar (CEO), Saam Mashhad, Ray Mieszaniec
- Equity Raised: $100 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $12 million
- Lead Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, NFX, SignalFire
EvenUp utilizes AI to assist over 800 personal-injury law firms by sorting through extensive medical records for demand letters. The company’s software aims to save time, identify missing documents, and potentially increase settlement amounts.
FIREWORKS AI
- Founders: Benny Chen, Dmytro Dzhulgakov, Pawel Garbacki, Dmytro Ivchenko, Lin Qiao (CEO), James Reed, Chenyu Zhao
- Equity Raised: $77 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $3 million
- Lead Investors: Benchmark, Sequoia Capital
Fireworks AI helps companies launch AI applications at a reduced cost by improving the way AI models are trained and optimizing hardware use. The company also enables customers to deploy new AI products quickly. Approximately 35,000 developers are using Fireworks AI in companies like Uber and DoorDash.
HADRIAN
- Founder: Chris Power (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $180 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $3 million
- Lead Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Construct Capital, Founders Fund, Lux Capital
Hadrian has developed a high-tech factory in Torrance, California, to manufacture metal precision parts for multinational aerospace and defense companies. The company aims to produce higher-quality parts at a quicker pace and lower price. Hadrian is growing rapidly and Power is planning to establish additional factories.
HEYGEN
- Founders: Wayne Liang, Joshua Xu (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $74 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $8 million
- Lead Investors: Benchmark, Conviction
HeyGen, based in Los Angeles, creates marketing videos featuring AI-generated avatars, offering a cost-effective alternative to using human actors. The company has clients such as Salesforce, Amazon, and Volvo.
HORIZON3.AI
- Founders: Snehal Antani (CEO), Anthony Pillitiere
- Equity Raised: $80 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $11 million
- Lead Investors: Craft Ventures, SignalFire
Horizon3.ai uses AI to find and fix vulnerabilities in order to prevent ransomware attacks. The company employs an attacker’s perspective to identify security weaknesses. Horizon3.ai was founded by veterans from U.S. special operations and the national security industry.
IMPRINT
- Founders: Gaurav Ahuja, Daragh Murphy (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $161 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $25 million
- Lead Investors: Affirm, Kleiner Perkins, Ribbit Capital, Stripe, Thrive Capital
Imprint offers technology that lets consumer brands, such as Holiday Inn Club Vacations and HEB, launch their own credit cards quickly. Imprint’s tech can tailor rewards and discounts to individual consumers.
LANGCHAIN
- Founders: Harrison Chase (CEO), Ankush Gola
- Equity Raised: $35 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $0
- Lead Investors: Benchmark Capital, Sequoia Capital
LangChain’s software provides developers insights into the behavior of AI models, improving app development. Launched in 2022, it has over 1 million developers using its software.
LINEAR
- Founders: Tuomas Artman, Jori Lallo, Karri Saarinen (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $52 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $11 million
- Lead Investors: Accel, Sequoia Capital
Linear, founded in San Francisco, streamlines workflows and improves product team communication. Linear’s software is used by 66% of companies on the Forbes AI 50 list.
METRONOME
- Founders: Kevin Liu, Scott Woody (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $79 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $9 million
- Lead Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, New Enterprise Associates
Metronome’s billing platform supports usage-based pricing models for software companies. The company works with Nividia, Databricks, and OpenAI.
MIDI HEALTH
- Founders: Jill Herzig, Kathleen Jordan, Sharon Meers, Joanna Strober (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $104 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $7 million
- Lead Investors: Emerson Collective, Felicis, GV, SemperVirens Venture Capital
Midi Health offers virtual health care for women focused on menopause-related issues. The services include online options that are covered by health insurance.
OWNER
- Founders: Dean Bloembergen, Adam Guild (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $59 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $10 million
- Lead Investors: Activant Capital, Alt Capital, Redpoint Ventures, SaaStr Fund
Owner builds websites and powers online ordering for small restaurants. The company’s AI automates marketing and offers a way for restaurants to provide meals without large fees.
PEREGRINE
- Founders: Nick Noone (CEO), Ben Rudolph
- Equity Raised: $60 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $10 million
- Lead Investors: Fifth Down Capital, Friends & Family Capital, Godfrey Capital, Goldcrest Capital
Peregrine has developed a search tool for law enforcement to access multiple datasets and surveillance footage. It has contracts with 53 agencies in the U.S.
PINECONE
- Founder: Edo Liberty (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $138 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $17 million
- Lead Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Iconiq Growth, Menlo Ventures, Wing Venture Capital
Pinecone helps its customers sort through large datasets and provides services to help businesses sort through data. For example, a financial services company uses Pinecone to check profile photos for fraud.
PROMISE
- Founders: Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins (CEO), Diana Frappier
- Equity Raised: $51 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $20 million
- Lead Investors: 8VC, First Round Capital, Kapor Capital, the General Partnership, XYZ Venture Capital
Promise is a debt collection company that helps municipalities and utilities collect unpaid bills with zero-interest payment plans.
REDPANDA
- Founder: Alexander Gallego (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $166 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $8 million
- Lead Investors: GV, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Redpanda helps companies process large data streams in real-time, allowing its customers to promptly receive their information. Customers include Cisco and Vodafone.
REPLICATE
- Founders: Ben Firshman (CEO), Andreas Jansson
- Equity Raised: $60 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $15 million
- Lead Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital
Replicate provides a library of 25,000 open-source models, helping developers choose the right one for their applications. They can then run their applications through Replicate.
RUNPOD
- Founders: Zhen Lu (CEO), Pardeep Singh
- Equity Raised: $20 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $15 million
- Lead Investors: Dell Technologies Capital, Intel Capital
RunPod enables AI companies to use GPUs without needing to acquire their own. The startup is profitable and received seed funding from Intel and Dell.
SCRIBE
- Founders: Aaron Podolny, Jennifer Smith (CEO)
- Equity Raised: $55 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $15 million
- Lead Investors: Amplify Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Tiger Global Management
Scribe’s app captures onscreen actions and generates detailed, step-by-step guides. It is designed to simplify training and has over 2.5 million users.
TURNKEY
- Founders: Bryce Ferguson (CEO), Jack Kearney
- Equity Raised: $23 million
- Estimated 2023 Revenue: $0
- Lead Investors: Lightspeed Faction, Galaxy Ventures, Sequoia Capital
Turnkey is designed to simplify the process of creating and managing crypto wallets. The company simplifies the wallet-building process for users.
