12 Best App Startups to Watch in 2023

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the top startup apps of 2023 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.

Disclaimer: With so many exciting startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Funding: Series C, $34.8 Million

SparkNotes are a distant memory with the power of the Blinkist app. This app contains key insights from more than 6,500 nonfiction books into 15-minute reads or audio tracks — all accessed from your mobile device.

• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Funding: Series C, $33.3 Million

Babbel is a market-leading language learning app that boasts millions of subscribers globally. The first language learning app in the world, Babbel offers easy-to-navigate courses and bite-sized lessons to make learning a new language easier than ever. In fact, 73% of users have said they’d be able to have a simple conversation in their new language with only five hours of Babbel courses.

• Location: New York, New York
• Funding: Seed, $7.7 Million

The Realworld app is a game-changing innovation for the next generation of adults. With its easy-to-use app, Realworld provides the resources and tools for young adults to navigate adulthood in nearly every way. From tax filing assistance to everything users need to know about getting their first pet — Realworld lays the foundation for organization and success.

Check out our interview with the founder of Realworld!

• Location: London, England
• Funding: Pre-Seed, $1 Million

So Syncd is a sister-founded startup that is changing the way consumers use dating apps. By utilizing Myers Briggs Personality Types, So Syncd users are paired up based on how compatible their personalities are using an advanced algorithm, rather than swiping left and right based on physical appearance alone.

Check out our interview with the co-founders of So Syncd!

• Location: San Diego, California
  
• Funding: Venture Capital, Angel Investors

Fig (Food is Good) is a food app offering users a much-needed strategy for managing dietary restrictions and food allergies. From the app, users can easily navigate grocery stores and restaurants to determine the safest food choices for their unique needs. 

See more of the top food startups to watch.

• Location: Paris, France
• Funding: Series B, $75.3 Million

Heetch is a ride-sharing app geared towards late-night transportation as an alternative to taxis. By offering low commission fees, transparent prices and destinations, and lower prices for customers — Heetch is effectively taking on ride-share giants across the globe. Heetch is currently available in France, Belgium, Angola, Algeria, the Netherlands, and Morocco.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Funding: Seed, $3.5M

Maple is a family tech app that provides users with AI and machine learning technologies to structure and plan weekly and daily schedules. With further use of the app, Maple also offers users smarter recommendations to ensure their time is well-spent.

Feeling inspired? Learn how to launch your company with our guide on how to start a startup.

• Location: Stockholm, Sweden
• Funding: Series Unknown, $7.5 Million

TipTapp is an app and platform that allows users to buy and sell used and recyclable products such as low-value used items, large waste items, and other recyclable materials. Users connect through TipTapp’s user-friendly app to easily buy and sell their goods.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Funding: Series B, $132 Million

Instabase is a platform for businesses to build their own apps that are unique and tailored to their company’s needs. The platform offers a myriad of helpful features such as data extraction and classification, natural language processing, and the ability to read documents like pay stubs, tax filings, and bank statements. For customers that aren’t interested in building their own app from scratch, Instabase has a store complete with a variety of pre-made business apps for everything from financial spreading to income verification.

• Location: Los Angeles, California
• Funding: Seed, $1 Million

e-gree is a mobile application that allows users to create, negotiate, sign, and manage a wide variety of legal contracts from the convenience of their mobile device — providing an alternative to traditional legal services, putting agency back into the hands of users.

• Location: Silicon Valley (Redwood City, California)
• Funding: Series B, $20 Million

Miles is an app that rewards users earned miles through all forms of travel redeemable from major retailers such as Walgreens and Postmates. Based on the concept of a “frequent flyer program,” Miles applies its rewards program to a more extensive list of travel methods such as cars, planes, trains, subways, boats, and buses.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Funding: Series B, $174.5 Million

Empower is a mobile app that leverages the power of AI to offer an impactful financial assistant and digital bank for millennials that works for users, not against them. Empower’s financial assistant works to help users improve their financial health and get ahead.

Recommended: Check out our full list of the top startups to watch in 2023!