Current macroeconomic trends have undeniably affected the startup and VC investment landscape, with the world grappling with inflation, threats of recession, and high interest rates.
Yet some startups continue to strive, creating innovative products and services that are transforming industries like tech, health, beauty, and more.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Gurley, who backed companies like Uber, Grubhub, and Nextdoor, says that while startups ought to be realistic about the current economic environment, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to get things going.
“The environment for launching a startup was really crazy the past five years. And the truth is that if you’re going to build something from scratch, this might be as good a time as you’ve had in a decade,” Gurley shared in a 2022 interview with McKinsey Digital.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), an estimated 305m startups are created annually. In 2023, there are an increasing number of startups focused on financial technology (fintech), artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, and data management.
The Hustle rounded up a list of top startups in 2023, all of which have made impressive strides in their business model, funding, market share, and technology.
However, with thousands of startups launching and pushing forward around the globe, this list is by no means exhaustive. The startups below are not officially ranked or listed in any particular order. However, with thousands of startups launching and pushing forward around the globe, thanks to easily accessible startup tools & resources for entrepreneurs, this list is by no means exhaustive. The startups below are not officially ranked or listed in any particular order.
Best Startups in 2023
1. AiSight.ai (formerly SurveyAuto)
- Industry: AI
- Investor: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Funding: Undisclosed
AiSight offers a data analytics platform that allows users to create customized surveys, track performance, and get insights like underperforming sales routes or population clusters not served by your products.
The firm also uses machine learning to analyze satellite images, which helps with collecting data like population density. It’s particularly helpful for conducting research in remote areas and developing countries.
2. SoundHound
- Industry: AI
- Investor: Bracket Capital
- Funding: $351m
SoundHound’s voice AI platform allows brands to create customized conversational assistants using their desired language, tone, and messaging. For example, a restaurant can create a voice assistant for automated phone ordering, while a car manufacturer can use it for an in-car voice assistant.
3. People.ai
- Industry: AI
- Investors: Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Ventures
- Funding: $200m
This company’s AI-powered revenue platform for enterprise teams in sales, marketing, and customer service can help businesses analyze revenue opportunities.
People.ai documents customer contacts, activity, and customer engagement, providing companies with actionable insights to help drive business growth.
4. Snackpass
- Industry: Ecommerce
- Investor: Andreessen Horowitz
- Funding: $400m+
Snackpass combines food ordering with social media. Its app focuses on pickup orders, and offers social features like sharing rewards and an activity feed of your friends’ orders. The app has gained popularity in multiple universities in the US.
5. Eatigo
- Industry: Ecommerce
- Investor: Tripadvisor
- Funding: $25.5m
Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand, Eatigo is a top restaurant reservation platform in many Asian countries. Users can search for restaurants, make reservations, and claim discounts and exclusive deals through the app. Users can also browse reviews, photos, locations, and menus to help them decide on a dining destination beforehand.
6. Blinkist
- Industry: Education Technology
- Investors: Insight Partners, Greycroft
- Funding: $34.8m
Blinkist contains 2.5k+ nonfiction books distilled into 15-minute reads or audio tracks that users can access on their mobile devices. It offers a convenient way for busy students and professionals to read books and discover new titles.
7. Babbel
- Industry: Education Technology
- Investors: IBB Ventures, NGP Capital, REV
- Funding: $33.3m
Babbel is a language-learning app known for its engaging, bite-sized, and practical lessons. The app’s lessons are based on real-world conversations, features speech recognition technology to help with pronunciation, and uses games and podcasts to help students explore the language further.
8. Realworld
- Industry: Education Technology / Apps
- Investors: Bezos Expeditions, Techstars
- Funding: $7.7m
Founded in 2017, Realworld is an app that provides tools and resources for young adults to learn useful life skills they can use in the real world, such as filing taxes, building credit, saving for retirement, buying a home, or getting a pet. The app is available for individuals to use for free (with in-app purchases) and for companies to customize and help new and younger employees transition smoothly into the workforce.
9. Securitize
- Industry: Fintech
- Investor: Morgan Stanley, Blockchain Capital
- Funding: $100.2m
Securitize is a blockchain-based company offering secure access to private markets. It allows traders and investors to access investment opportunities such as real estate, startup equity, commodities, and more — all vetted by Securitize.
10. Saie
- Industry: Beauty and Wellness
- Investors: Unilever Ventures, G9 Ventures
- Funding: Seed, Undisclosed
Saie, a clean beauty startup, focuses on using nature-derived ingredients through its range of skin balms, tints, and beauty kits. The brand also aims to use mostly plastic-free and recyclable materials, from packaging to manufacturing.
11. Kinship
- Industry: Beauty and Wellness
- Investors: Sugar Capital, True Beauty Ventures
- Funding: $2.85m
This beauty startup specializes in ethical skin care offerings. Kinship’s products boast certifications from Ocean Waste Plastic (OWP) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), in addition to being GMO-free, reef-safe, cruelty-free, and packaged in post-consumer recycled materials.
12. Golde
- Industry: Beauty and Wellness
- Investors: Rose Street Capital, Newtype Ventures
- Funding: Seed, Undisclosed
Golde is a wellness company that uses single-origin turmeric in many of its products such as juice mixes, ready-to-drink lattes, ceremonial-grade teas, and other health supplements. It also carries matcha, cacao, and fruit-based products. The brand was launched in 2017 and was picked up by Target in 2021.
13. NuvoAir
- Industry: Health Care
- Investor: Industrifonden
- Funding: $28.2m
NuvoAir is a platform focused on tracking, improving, and treating a myriad of respiratory health issues. It also offers devices that can be used to track and monitor respiratory health, with the data automatically synced to a mobile app for seamless monitoring.
14. iRise
- Industry: Health Care
- Investor: Deutsche Bank
- Funding: $47.6m
iRise Mechanics produces robotic mobility devices that help people with disabilities navigate daily tasks. The company is focused on engineering and manufacturing mobility devices for people with lower limb disabilities. The company covers everything from design to mechanics, software, and assembly of the devices.
15. Kindbody
- Industry: Health Care
- Investor: GV
- Funding: $181.3m
Kindbody is a fertility care provider that offers services ranging from traditional gynecology to conception consulting and mental health. With a virtual care facility plus physical locations in 10 US cities, Kindbody makes it easy for users to get assistance in reproductive matters. They also cater to LGBTQ+ couples and single mothers.
16. Chainalysis
- Industry: Blockchain
- Investors: Techstars, Accel, SV Angel
- Funding: $536.6m
Chainalysis is a platform designed to help protect blockchain users from fraud, hacked funds, and money laundering. Its anti-money laundering software provides financial institutions, government agencies, and other members of the blockchain ecosystem with an array of resources to identify and eradicate illicit activities.
17. Nodle.io
- Industry: Internet of Things (IoT)
- Investors: Blockchain Ventures
- Funding: $5m
Nodle allows users to connect anything to the internet — from home appliances, to fitness trackers, smartwatches, air sensors, and more. Nodle provides hardware manufacturers with lower barriers to entry for IoT solutions. Its architecture enables smartphones to be used as nodes for the network, allowing mobile app developers to easily connect their software with the IoT.
18. Zypp
- Industry: IoT
- Investor: IANFund
- Funding: $50.9m
Zypp, a scooter-sharing startup, is India’s largest tech-enabled EV-as-a-Service platform. It has a fast-growing user base of over 500k users. Its app allows people to unlock a scooter, ride it, park it, and pay, all in one place.
19. XFarm
- Industry: IoT
- Investors: TiVenture
- Funding: $22.7m
xFarm is an agricultural startup that provides tools to help farmers adopt digital farming — a practice that uses data to make smarter decisions about field irrigation, crop treatments, inventory management, and more.
20. Infraspeak
- Industry: IoT
- Investors: TiVenture
- Funding: $16.7m
Infraspeak specializes in facility management, allowing organizations to gain control over their buildings, operations, assets, and teams by integrating these with software and IoT through an Intelligent Maintenance Management Platform.
With Infraspeak, any user in an organization can report a technical failure directly to the relevant technicians in a quick time. The tool identifies and notifies the failures in an electrical system with respect to type, location, equipment, or priority.
21. Kairos Living
- Industry: Real Estate
- Investor: N/A
- Funding: Undisclosed
Kairos Living offers a technology-driven approach to leasing homes. It offers renters an online resident portal, automatic payment options, 24/7 emergency maintenance services, and smart-home features like keyless entry.
22. HomeLight
- Industry: Real Estate
- Investors: 500 Startups, GV, Menlo Ventures
- Funding: $742.5m
HomeLight is a real estate platform that offers services for buyers, sellers, and agents. The platform can match local Realtors with potential homebuyers or sellers and provides a listing service for agents.
The platform also offers home loans, home trade-ins, and a service called “HomeLight Simple Sale” that allows homeowners to sell their homes as-is for cash in as little as ten days — no repairs or agent commissions needed.
23. Speechly
- Industry: Software and SaaS
- Investor: Cherry Ventures
- Funding: $2.2m
Speechly provides software for developers looking to build voice assistants in their apps, which can help improve customer experience and engagement. Use cases include online shopping and real-time transcription. Currently, over 10k users across 140+ countries use Speechly.
24. ButterCMS
- Industry: Software and SaaS
- Investors: N/A
- Funding: N/A
This San Francisco-based startup provides back-end content management software (CMS) that allows developers to add content and blog systems to their web apps. Butter also provides a dashboard for site owners to organize their content, allowing nontechnical team members (like marketing writers) to add content without needing to code.
25. Tego
- Industry: Software and SaaS
- Investors: Cherry Ventures
- Funding: $21.4m
Tego is a personal security device and app that can be used for location tracking among friends and family members. In case of any emergency, the app ensures that a user’s friends and family are instantly updated on their location in real time. With just a single click of a button, you can keep everyone close to you informed about where you are.
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