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As we enter a new era, startups are changing rapidly in response to various economic factors, such as a weak economy, higher loan rates, and a lack of VC funding. Despite the challenging climate, some new enterprises are defying the odds and experiencing rapid growth in various industries.
From IT to retail, these are some of the fastest-growing firms in 2025:
1. AI Perplexity
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– Search growth: 7,200% in 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 123.6 million (21.7 million unique)
– Year founded: 2022
– Location: San Francisco, California
– Series C funding: $915M
AI Perplexity is a generative AI-powered conversational search engine that answers user inquiries like a chatbot. Users can access multiple LLMs, current information, and high accuracy and contextual awareness. With 10 million monthly users and $20 million ARR, AI Perplexity recently received a $500 million investment, increasing its worth to $9 billion.
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2. ZeroTier
– Search growth: 456% over 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 1.5 million (559,100 unique)
– Year founded: 2015
– Location: LA, California
– Series A funding: $15.9M
ZeroTier deploys and maintains secure peer-to-peer networks that are encrypted, ensuring maximum security. With support for over 2 million monthly active devices in 220 countries and territories, ZeroTier received $13.5 million in Series A investment in June 2024 to expand into new markets and develop innovative products.
3. Deepgram
– Search growth: 2,800% in 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 838,100 (574,400 unique)
– Year founded: 2015
– Location: San Francisco, California
– Series B funding: $85.9M
Deepgram specializes in automating speech recognition and voice AI, offering speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and audio intelligence AI models. With the introduction of Aura, a real-time text-to-speech API, Deepgram serves clients like NASA, Sharpen, and Five9.
4. Scale AI
– Search growth: 579% over 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 464,800 (289,000 unique)
– Year founded: 2016
– Location: San Francisco, California
– Series F funding: $3.5B
Scale AI provides AI applications with high-quality training data and digital infrastructure, annotating and labeling huge datasets to train AI models. With $1 billion in Series F fundraising, Scale AI is valued at $13.8B.
5. Cradlewise
– Search growth: 9,500% in 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 55,400 (46,900 unique)
– Year founded: 2019
– Location: San Francisco, California
– Seed funding: $7M
Cradlewise sells baby monitor-equipped smart bassinets that track sleep depth and soothe infants when they wake up. After making $8 million in 2023, Cradlewise is experiencing rapid growth.
6. PhotoRoom
– 5-year search growth: 99x+
– Monthly website visits: 18.5 million (8.4 million unique)
– Year founded: 2019
– Location: Paris, France
– Series B funding: $64M
PhotoRoom offers AI-powered picture and video editing, allowing users to remove backgrounds, choose from a variety of new backgrounds, and edit photos quickly and efficiently. With 150 million app downloads and 30 million active users, PhotoRoom raised $43 million in Series B investment.
7. Preply
– 5-year search growth: 1,011%
– Monthly website visits: 21.8 million (6.8 million unique)
– Year founded: 2012
– Location: Brookline, Massachusetts
– Series C funding: $171M
Preply is a one-on-one language tutoring business that is rapidly growing, with over 1 million active students and 50,000 tutors from 180 countries.
8. Airalo
– Search growth: 3,650% in 5 years
– Monthly website visits: 3.9 million (2.9 million unique)
– Year founded: 2019
– Location: Singapore, Singapore
– Series B funding: $67.3M
Airalo provides eSIM to travelers in over 200 countries, allowing users to activate 3G–5G eSIM data subscriptions for 7–180 days. With over 10 million users globally, Airalo is experiencing significant growth.
9. Oura
– 5-year search growth: 1,129%
– Monthly website visits: 2.9 million (1.9 million unique)
– Year founded: 2013
– Location: Oulu, Finland
– Series D funding: $421M
Oura’s elegant rings track heart rate, sleeping habits, and body temperature, providing users with precise data through a smartphone app. With over 1 million rings sold, Oura is gaining popularity for its lightweight design and accurate data tracking.
10. Tailwind
– 5-year search growth: 467%
– Monthly website visits: 6.6 million (1.7 million unique)
– Year founded: 2012
– Location: Oklahoma City
– Series B funding: $10.7M
Tailwind’s visual production platform helps companies and influencers stand out on Pinterest and Instagram by automating tedious tasks like hashtagging, color palettes, and scheduling. With over 1 million small businesses using Tailwind, the platform is simplifying content creation and marketing for its users.
In conclusion, these startups are a testament to the innovation and growth happening in the business world today. Despite economic challenges, these companies are thriving and reshaping their respective industries, paving the way for even more exciting developments in the future.
