13 Top San Francisco 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 most exciting San Francisco startups of 2023 that startup lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.

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

• Industry: Fintech, Neobanking
• Founders: Immad Akhund, Jason Zhang, Max Tagher
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Secondary Market, $152.2 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, Serena Ventures

Mercury is a digital banking platform designed specifically for growing startups. Its powerful suite of tools includes cash flow management, payments processing, and analytics, delivered seamlessly through an intuitive online platform. With a focus on flexibility and innovation, Mercury is transforming how businesses manage their finances.

• Industry: AI, Martech
• Founders: Rolan Reichel, Pablo Munoz De Cote
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Seed, $500,000
• Investors Include: ARCADIAN Fund, Cosmos Global Holdings

Arrow is an AI-powered B2B SaaS platform that automates social media content creation and management for businesses. With features like ready-to-use posts, custom content channels, and dedicated user success managers, Arrow helps busy professionals seamlessly post engaging content, grow their following, and build credibility.

• Industry: Cryptocurrency, Software, Blockchain, Web Apps
• Founders:  Adeniyi Abiodun, Evan Cheng, George Danezis, Konstantinos Chalkias, Sam Blackshear
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series B, $336 Million
• Investors Include: Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, 9Yards Capital, Protofund

Mysten Labs is a cryptocurrency and blockchain startup working on accelerating the adoption of Web3 technology worldwide by creating tools and infrastructure for a decentralized future. Some of their current projects include Sui, a proof of stake fully decentralized blockchain with horizontal scalability capabilities in storage and throughput, and Move, an open-source programming language that allows developers to build Web3 smart contracts.

• Industry: Cybersecurity, Insurance Technology
• Founders:  Etai Hochman, Roman Itskovich, Rotem Iram, Tilli Kalisky-Bannett
• Founded In: 2016
• Funding: Series D, $295.7 Million
• Investors Include: ION Crossover Partners, M12 Microsoft Venture Fund, Icon Ventures

At-Bay is an innovative startup in the insurance technology or “InsurTech” space that’s bringing world-class, modern technology to the insurance industry. In our increasingly digital world, insurance doesn’t have to look the same way it did at the turn of the century – in fact, by rethinking how insurers interact with customers, gauge risk, and how customers submit claims, At-Bay can develop better solutions that are more applicable to today’s day and age. Their primary product and service offerings include better insurance coverages, modern risk-management innovations, instant quotes on their broker platform, and more.

• Industry: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Developer Tools, Software
• Founders:  Furqan Rydhan, Obabtc Wurld, Steven Bartlett, Tristan Gerhardt
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series A, $29 Million
• Investors Include: Blockpay, Haun Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Polygon

thirdweb is a startup in the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and developer tools space, making it easier than ever for developers to build Web3 applications and smart contracts without the hassles of poor documentation and complex libraries. With thirdweb’s powerful software development kits (SDKs) and intuitive development tools, Web3 developers can ship their innovations on-chain faster than ever. Developers will find a secure, convenient, and optimized platform, as well as a number of starter templates, dashboards, and contract kits that allow them to rapidly build and prototype.

• Industry: Fintech, Payments, Sustainability, Transportation
• Founders:  Harshita Arora, Tushar Misra, Vignan Velivela
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series B, $257 Million
• Investors Include: General Catalyst, Contrary, Jetstream, Leadout Capital, Elad Gil

AtoB is a financial technology and transportation startup that allows transportation businesses with fleets of vehicles to spend less on fuel, instantly process payrolls and save money from an intuitive and easy-to-use platform. They partner with companies in public services, education, construction, delivery fleets, local services, trucking, electric vehicles, renewables, and supply chain to power vehicle fleets locally and nationwide.

• Industry: Internet, Domain Registrar, Blockchain
• Founders:  Bogdan Gusiev, Brad Kam, Braden Pezeshki, Matthew Gould
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Series A, $72 Million
• Investors Include: Pantera Capital, Alt Tab Capital, Boost VC, Mayfield Fund

Unstoppable Domains is a blockchain and domain registrar startup that allows Web3 and NFT enthusiasts to own their own identity in the digital world through what they term “NFT domains.” An NFT domain is a website domain that anyone can create, with endings such as: .crypto, .nft, .x, .wallet, .bitcoin, .dao, .888, .zil, or .blockchain. Rather than typing a long address of random letters and numbers, users can easily log in across Web3 using an NFT domain.

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• Industry: Social, Fintech
• Founders:  Andy Choi
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Bootstrapped

Do Good Points is a social fintech startup offering a gamified approach to charitable giving. Users are encouraged to give more through their rewards-based system, the first of its kind. Additionally, the startup boasts an internal non-profit, the Do Good Foundation, as well as an influencer-charity program called Creators For Good.

• Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Enterprise Software, Machine Learning, Customer Service
• Founders:  Colm Doyle, Deon Nicholas, Sami Ghoche
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series C, $92 Million
• Investors Include: Cleo Capital, Steadfast Financial, K9 Ventures

Forethought is a startup aiming to transform the customer service experience with human-centered artificial intelligence. With their technology, businesses can instantly resolve customer service cases, predict and prioritize tickets, and help support agents by providing them with relevant knowledge on the fly.

• Industry: Financial Services, Developer APIs, Fintech, Identity Management
• Founders:  Ethan Winchell, Ryan Sandler, Victor Kabdebon
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series C, $94.9 Million
• Investors Include: G Squared, American Express Ventures, Activant Capital

Truework is an employment and income verification startup company that’s helping its clients close mortgages, candidates, rentals, and loans faster than ever. With the services Truework provides, users can quickly verify employment and income on one single platform, with data being returned instantly on over 35 million employees within the United States.

• Industry: Healthcare, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning
• Founders:  Andy Atwal, Benjamin Beadle-Ryby, Malinka Walaliyadde, Varun Ganapathi
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Series B, $85 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, Bond, Costanoa Ventures

AKASA is an artificial intelligence startup built for healthcare and revenue cycle operations that is building the future of healthcare through AI. By using AI technology, AKASA is able to reduce operating costs within the healthcare industry and help medical professionals, providers, and centers allocate resources optimally.

• Industry: Health Care, Hospital, Human Resources (HR), Medical, Recruiting
• Founders:  Iman Abuzeid, Rome Portlock
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series B, $97.3 Million
• Investors Include: Stardust Equity, Base10 Partners, Andreessen Horowitz

Incredible Health is a startup transforming the way nurses are hired. Rather than nurses applying for job opportunities on their own, employers actually apply to nurses in order to hire them for their specific skills and expertise! Hospitals love the speed at which this innovative system from Incredible Health operates, and it is an excellent way to pair the best hospitals with the best clinicians.

• Industry: Developer Platforms, Developer APIs, Content Creators, Developer Tools
• Founders:  Achintya Gupta, Akhil Bhiwal, Mohit Kumar
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series A, $17.8 Million
• Investors Include: Nexus Venture Partners, RTP Global, iSeed, Better Capital

Phyllo is a startup focused on helping developers by providing a universal application programming interface (API) for creator data. Using Phyllo, developers can get continuous access to various creator-permissioned, verified data sets across hundreds of different platforms.