AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, NVIDIA, and Meta are dominating the headlines in 2025. It feels like in the business and tech press, everything is about AI.
We know that ChatGPT dominates consumer mindshare for branding, and has been a runaway success since their November 2022 ChatGPT launch. Claude has been hot with developers using Claude Code, but gets very little consumer adoption when looking at the whole population.
Elon Musk has a vendetta against Sam Altman for, as he says it, turning the non-profit into a for-profit and effectively “stealing” ownership.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is aggressively poaching employees from OpenAI and other big labs, with some rumored pay packages worth up to $100 million or even billion-dollar offers.
Through all this hype and total narrative domination, some names can get lost in the shuffle. Most of us outside of tech and finance aren’t aware of CoreWeave, but they’ve grown fast as a key player this year and with their recent IPO.
To cut through some of the noise, we wanted to build our own ranking list of startups gaining traction.
We put our heads together and refined metrics on AI companies that have received lots of funding and are funded in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. This ranking sheds light on the hottest AI companies and allows for clear comparisons with similar funding and business models. It also helps unearth the power laws and their relationships to funding and company concentration in this space.
Top 25 AI Startups Ranking Table
Here’s the big kahuna. The master ranking table. It’s no surprise that OpenAI tops the list, but some may be surprised to see xAI and CoreWeave topping the charts.
We analyzed data from Crunchbase and Keywords Everywhere to uncover the top US AI companies with top investors from Silicon Valley.
| Ranking | Company | GFD Tech100 Final Score* | GFD Funding Score* | GFD Website Score* | GFD Branded Keyword Score* |
| 1 | OpenAI | 100 | 93.8 | 95.4 | 79.1 |
| 2 | Databricks | 97.1 | 100 | 81.4 | 70.3 |
| 3 | Lovable | 96.2 | 87.1 | 87.6 | 86.6 |
| 4 | Anthropic | 94.6 | 90.3 | 84.7 | 77.1 |
| 5 | Mercor | 90.5 | 76.1 | 83.2 | 92.2 |
| 6 | Scale | 89.5 | 86.1 | 77.9 | 74.2 |
| 7 | Anysphere | 89.1 | 92.8 | 69.4 | 67.5 |
| 8 | Hadrian | 88.2 | 95.5 | 64 | 64.4 |
| 9 | Lambda | 86.5 | 86.7 | 71.6 | 68.2 |
| 10 | Cyera | 86.4 | 88.1 | 73.3 | 63.5 |
| 11 (tie) | Fal | 86 | 79.7 | 83.5 | 68.5 |
| 11 (tie) | Vercel | 86 | 73.6 | 86.6 | 77.6 |
| 13 | Saviynt | 85.7 | 87.3 | 74.6 | 61.1 |
| 14 | Thinking Machines Lab | 85.1 | 76.5 | 72.5 | 82.5 |
| 15 | Supabase | 83.6 | 68.9 | 86.2 | 78.9 |
| 16 | Anduril Industries | 83.5 | 79.2 | 77.2 | 66.6 |
| 17 | Luma AI | 83.2 | 83.7 | 82.3 | 51.4 |
| 18 | Physical Intelligence | 83 | 82.3 | 73.9 | 62 |
| 19 | Groq | 82.8 | 77 | 79.6 | 66.3 |
| 20 | Wispr Flow | 82.7 | 67.1 | 84.4 | 81 |
| 21 (tie) | Sesame | 82.5 | 73.7 | 78.9 | 72.7 |
| 21 (tie) | Waymo | 82.5 | 75 | 76.6 | 72.2 |
| 23 | Scribe | 82.4 | 70.4 | 87.2 | 70.2 |
| 24 | Genesys | 82 | 77.5 | 75.3 | 66.7 |
| 25 | Adaptive Security | 81.9 | 79.2 | 72.5 | 65.8 |
*GFD’s Tech100 score is a final composite score of the Funding Score, Website Score, and the Branded Keyword score.
Key Takeaways:
- The three hottest AI companies in January 2026 are OpenAI, Databricks, and Lovable due to the volume and freshness of their funding, the recent performance of their website, and the growth trends of their branded keyword.
Ranking the Top Startups by Funding Score
Funding is huge. This breakout highlights those firms that have raised the most venture capital rounds, ranked by a combination of date and volume. Note we are also including post-IPO raises as well. These are worth considering because they’re all part of the competitive system that all cybersecurity startups are competing in.
| Ranking | Company | Total Funding Amount | Most Recent Funding Amount | Last Funding Date | GFD Funding Score* | Public or Private? |
| 1 | Databricks | $25.81B | $4.00B | 12/16/2025 | 100 | Private |
| 2 | Hadrian | $608M | $131M | 12/30/2025 | 95.5 | Private |
| 3 | OpenAI | $79.00B | $1.00B | 12/11/2025 | 93.8 | Private |
| 4 | Anysphere | $3.37B | $2.30B | 12/8/2025 | 92.8 | Private |
| 5 | Anthropic | $33.74B | $13.00B | 9/2/2025 | 90.3 | Private |
| 6 | Cyera | $1.70B | $400M | 12/16/2025 | 88.1 | Private |
| 7 | Saviynt | $1.08B | $700M | 12/9/2025 | 87.3 | Private |
| 8 | Lovable | $552M | $330M | 12/18/2025 | 87.1 | Private |
| 9 | Lambda | $3.19B | $1.50B | 11/18/2025 | 86.7 | Private |
| 10 | Scale | $15.90B | $14.30B | 6/10/2025 | 86.1 | Private |
*GFD’s Funding Score captures funding volume and velocity by combing total funding with recent funding amount and recency.
Key Takeaways:
- When accounting for funding volume and freshness, Databricks leads the industry as it is the artificial intelligence company with the highest total funding of $25.81B and has recently in the past two months received a funding amount of $4.00B.
- Lovable is a rising company within the artificial intelligence space that has been heavily funded in the past month. Their most recent funding amount was $330M and this funding amount accounts for more than half of their total funds.
- OpenAI leads the artificial intelligence industry with a total funding amount of $79.00B.
1. Databricks
GFD Funding Score*: 100
Total Funding Amount: $25.81B
Most Recent Funding Amount: $4.00B
Days Since Last Funding: 17
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Databricks ranks #1 in funding. The company’s total funding is $25.81B and the last time they were funded was on December 16, 2025 for $4.00B. The last funding type was Venture – Series Unknown. The total amount of lead investors that Databricks has is 15 and their top investors are: Andreessen Horowitz, Blue Owl, Temasek Holdings, NVIDIA, Lightspeed Venture Partners.
2. Hadrian
GFD Funding Score*: 95.5
Total Funding Amount: $608M
Most Recent Funding Amount: $131M
Days Since Last Funding: 3
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Hadrian ranks #2 in funding. The company’s total funding is $608M and the last time they were funded was on December 30, 2025 for $131M. The last funding type was Series D. The total amount of lead investors that Hadrian has is 4 and their top investors are: Andreessen Horowitz, Caffeinated Capital, Village Global, Lux Capital, Founders Fund.
3. OpenAI
GFD Funding Score*: 93.8
Total Funding Amount: $79.00B
Most Recent Funding Amount: $1.00B
Days Since Last Funding: 22
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, OpenAI ranks #3 in funding. The company’s total funding is $79.00B and the last time they were funded was on December 11, 2025 for $1.00B. The last funding type was Corporate Round. The total amount of lead investors that OpenAI has is 11 and their top investors are: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, TPG, NVIDIA, Khosla Ventures.
GFD Website Score Breakdown
Website traffic and traffic growth are important but don’t always line up perfectly with other attributes and events like funding. We were curious to see which of these companies saw the strongest website traffic and growth. Our website score captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the company’s website growth trends.
| Ranking | Company | Last Month Total Visits | Average Visits (6 Months) | Monthly Visit Growth | GFD Website Score* | Private or Public? |
| 1 | Brave | 627.3M | 530.2M | 4.56% | 95.8 | Private |
| 2 | OpenAI | 730.1M | 918.1M | -15.67% | 95.4 | Private |
| 3 | Perplexity | 240.0M | 200.5M | -13.21% | 92.2 | Private |
| 4 | Character.ai | 141.1M | 129.6M | -2.04% | 91.7 | Private |
| 5 | Suno | 80.5M | 57.2M | 18.64% | 91.2 | Private |
| 6 | xAI | 42.3M | 27.2M | 19.66% | 89.5 | Private |
| 7 | ElevenLabs | 43.3M | 45.1M | -1.32% | 89 | Private |
| 7 | QuillBot | 59.1M | 54.6M | -10.52% | 89 | Private |
| 9 | Hugging Face | 32.5M | 35.4M | -1.82% | 88.3 | Private |
| 10 | Paradox | 22.1M | 19.3M | 10.30% | 87.8 | Private |
*GFD’s Website Score captures the volume of recent website visits and combines it with the company’s website growth trends.
Key Takeaways:
- The artificial intelligence company with the most average monthly website traffic over the last six months is OpenAI with 918.1M visits per month.
- Two artificial intelligence industry leaders with the most average monthly website traffic volume over the last six months are OpenAI and Brave.
- Two companies in the artificial intelligence space with fast growing websites over the past month are xAI and Suno. Both companies have seen their website traffic increase by 18.00% over the last month.
1. Brave
GFD Website Score*: 95.8
Last Month’s Total Visits: 627.3M
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 530.2M
Monthly Visit Growth: 4.6%
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Brave ranks #1 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 627.3M total visits and increased by 4.6% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 530.2M.
2. OpenAI
GFD Website Score*: 95.4
Last Month’s Total Visits: 730.1M
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 918.1M
Monthly Visit Growth: -15.7%
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, OpenAI ranks #2 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 730.1M total visits and decreased by -15.7% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 918.1M.
3. Perplexity
GFD Website Score*: 92.2
Last Month’s Total Visits: 240.0M
Monthly Average Visits Over 6 Months: 200.5M
Monthly Visit Growth: -13.2%
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Perplexity ranks #3 in website traffic. Last month, the website saw 240.0M total visits and decreased by -13.2% from the month before that. The average visits over the past 6 months were 200.5M.
AI Startups with Strongest Branded Search Growth
A great way to measure brand growth is by analyzing keyword growth for the company across a period of time. We sourced Google Search keyword data for companies on the list and ranked by a score that accounted for total keyword search as well as search volume change over the last year.
| Ranking | Company | Total Keyword Search Volume | Average Monthly Search Volume Change (1 Year) | 1 Year Trend Positive or Negative? | GFD Company Keyword Ranking* | Private or Public |
| 1 | Stickerbox | 3K | 1K | + | 96.4 | Private |
| 2 | Mercor | 135K | 36K | + | 92.2 | Private |
| 3 | Emergent | 165K | 41K | + | 91.2 | Private |
| 4 | Periodic Labs | 5K | 2K | + | 90 | Private |
| 5 | Global Work AI | 1K | 376 | + | 87.7 | Private |
| 6 | Lovable | 1.0M | 148K | + | 86.6 | Private |
| 7 | Cluely | 165K | 32K | + | 85.6 | Private |
| 8 | JARS AI | 8K | 2K | + | 84.3 | Private |
| 9 | Kilo Code | 27K | 6K | + | 84.1 | Private |
| 10 | Vercept | 4K | 1K | + | 83 | Private |
*GFD’s Branded Keyword Ranking is a metric that combines monthly branded keyword search volume with a 1-year linear trend that is observed weekly and adjusted by search volume.
Key Takeaways:
- Stickerbox is the fastest growing branded keyword in the artificial intelligence industr relative to its size.
- Lovable is the company among the top ten companies for branded keyword search for artificial intelligence that has the most volume. It has a search volume of 1.0M searches.
- Two fast rising companies in the artificial intelligence space are Stickerbox and Global Work AI according to their branded keyword search trends.
1. Stickerbox
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 96.4
Total Keyword Search Volume: 3K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 1K
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Stickerbox ranks #1 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 3K. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 1K, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
2. Mercor
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 92.2
Total Keyword Search Volume: 135K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 36K
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Mercor ranks #2 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 135K. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 36K, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
3. Emergent
GFD Branded Keyword Score*: 91.2
Total Keyword Search Volume: 165K
Average Weekly Search Volume Change: 41K
Out of our 1132 ranked Artificial Intelligence companies, Emergent ranks #3 in branded keyword searches. Last month, their total branded keyword search volume was 165K. Over the course of the last year, the average monthly change for their branded keyword search volume was 41K, indicating an increase in their 1-year trend.
Methodology and Sources
- Methodology: We collected data for 10k+ companies from Crunchbase and aggregated it into a set of scores through the use of quantitative transformations and expertly curated weighted averages.
- Sources: Crunchbase and Keywords Everywhere
Update Log
- January 2nd, 2026: Monthly Update
- December 1st, 2025: Monthly update.
- November 1st, 2025: Monthly update.
