Startups in San Francisco: Top 20 Funded Companies (2025)
OpenAI, Anthropic, and Scale AI led a massive funding wave in San Francisco. See the top startups in San Francisco in 2025.
Published December 11, 2025 by Jacob Klionsky
- 01Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$40BEquity
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI raised $40B private round at a $300B valuation led by SoftBank; Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter, and Thrive participated.
- 02Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$15BEquity
Anthropic, the creator of Claude AI models, secured up to a $10 B investment from Nvidia and up to a $5 B investment from Microsoft as part of a broader $45 B strategic commitment.
- 03Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$14.3BEquity
Data-labeling company for generative AI Scale AI raised about $14.3B strategic investment from Meta at a $29B valuation; Meta took a roughly 49% stake.
- 04Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$10BSeries J
Databricks, a unified data-and-AI platform, raised $15.3B (Series J equity plus $5.25B debt) with investors including Temasek, Qatar’s QIA, Meta (strategic), JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
- 05Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$2.3BSeries D
Cursor, an AI software development platform, raised a $2.3 billion Series D round led by existing backers Thrive, a16z, Accel, and DST with new participation from Coatue, NVIDIA, and Google.
- 06Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$2BSeed
Thinking Machines Lab, an AI startup founded by Mira Murati, raised a $2B seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz; NVIDIA, Accel, ServiceNow, CISCO, AMD, and Jane Street participated, valuing it at $12B.
- 07Apps • Blockchain and Cryptocurrency•California$1.6BEquity
Solana raised a $1.65 billion private placement backed by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital.
- 08Blockchain and Cryptocurrency • Financial Services•California$1BEquity
Blockchain payments firm Ripple Labs is seeking to raise at least $1 billion through a SPAC-structured financing from undisclosed investors to capitalise a Digital Asset Treasury focused on accumulating XRP.
- 09Blockchain and Cryptocurrency • Financial Services•California$1BEquity
Institutional XRP treasury firm Evernorth raised a $1 billion funding round from SBI Holdings, Pantera Capital, Kraken, GSR and Rippleworks.
- 10Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Content and Publishing•California$1BEquity
AI productivity platform Grammarly raised a $1B growth financing from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund.
- 11Manufacturing • Science and Engineering•California$650MEquity
eVTOL air-taxi company Archer Aviation raised a $650 million equity round from undisclosed investors.
- 12Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$600MSeries B
Physical Intelligence, an AI robotics software startup, raised a $600 million round led by Alphabet’s CapitalG with participation from Lux Capital, Thrive Capital, Jeff Bezos, Emergence, Index Ventures, and T. Rowe Price.
- 13Financial Services • Lending and Investments•California$575MEquity
Bank-accounts connectivity fintech Plaid sold $575M of common stock at a $6.1B valuation led by Franklin Templeton; Fidelity, BlackRock, NEA and Ribbit Capital participated
- 14Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$500MSeries D
AI-powered search engine Perplexity raised a $500M funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners at a $9B valuation, Bloomberg reported.
- 15Blockchain and Cryptocurrency • Financial Services•California$500MSeries A
Payments blockchain startup Tempo raised a $500 million Series A led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, with Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel participating.
- 16Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$500MSeries C
AI coding assistant startup Cognition raised nearly $500M Series C at a $9.8B valuation; investors include 8VC, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures and others.
- 17Administrative Services • Financial Services•California$450MSeries G
HR platform for businesses Rippling raised a $450M Series G and is conducting a $200M tender offer, with participation from Sands Capital, GIC, Goldman Sachs Growth, Baillie Gifford, Elad Gil, Y Combinator, and others.
- 18Information Technology • Internet Services•California$435MEquity
Cybersecurity startup Armis raised a $435 million pre-IPO round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with CapitalG and Evolution Equity Partners participating.
- 19Blockchain and Cryptocurrency • Financial Services•California$359MICO
Hybrid DAG-PoW Layer 1 BlockDAG raised a $359M presale to fund liquidity, exchange listings, and infrastructure; presale price $0.0016 and confirmed listing price $0.05.
- 20Artificial Intelligence (AI) • Data and Analytics•California$350MEquity
Enterprise customer-service AI agent startup Sierra raised a $350M funding round at a $10B valuation led by Greenoaks; ICONIQ, Thrive Capital, Sequoia and Benchmark also participated.
