LinkedIn Top Startups 2025: The 10 companies on the rise in San Francisco
Our second annual list of Top Startups in San Francisco highlights the 10 emerging companies making waves in the Bay Area right now. These startups aren’t just attracting top talent and investment — they’re gaining attention locally and shaping the future of their industries. Silicon Valley’s tech roots shape the rankings, from AI chatbot Perplexity and hiring platform Mercor to newly-founded AI research startup Thinking Machines Lab . “Affordable luxury” clothing brand Quince also made the list for the first time.
To compile the list, we evaluated startups across four pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement with the company and its employees; and how well they’ve pulled talent from LinkedIn Top Companies. While these are the same pillars used for our U.S. Top Startups list, the methodology reflects activity at the city level vs. the country. To be eligible, companies must be headquartered in the U.S., fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees in the city and be 7 years old or younger.
Below each company, you can dig into the top skills, roles and job functions — and navigate to people you may know or open jobs.
Check out this year’s 10 Top Startups in San Francisco — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.
This ranking is based on LinkedIn data and was compiled by LinkedIn data scientist Alejandra Budar in partnership with editors on the LinkedIn News team (Juliette (Faraut) Bell, Ashley (Peterson) Botarelli and Sarah McGrath). You can read our full methodology at the bottom of the article.
All headcounts are rounded to the nearest five and provided by the companies, unless marked with an asterisk. Those headcounts are from LinkedIn data. The most common job titles, functions and skills reflect aggregated, anonymized public member data from active LinkedIn profiles of employees at each company.
1. Perplexity
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 100+ | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: Python, Java, Machine Learning | Most common job titles: Business Researcher, Growth Specialist, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Education, Business Development
2. Medallion
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 30 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Provider Enrollment, Credentialing, Provider Relations | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Licensing Specialist, Software Account Executive | Largest job functions: Sales, Customer Success and Support, Engineering
3. Glean
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 310 | Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Sales Prospecting, Brand Marketing, PyTorch | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Account Executive, Business Development Representative | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Product Management
4. Quince
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 90* | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Merchandise Planning, E-Commerce, Retail Sales | Most common job titles: Merchandiser, Head of Retail | Largest job functions: Marketing, Arts and Design, Operations
5. Inworld AI
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 40 | Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. | Year founded: 2021 | Most common skills: Virtual Reality, Game Design, Unity | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Product Management, Marketing
6. Ramp
Recommended by LinkedIn
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 100 | Headquarters: New York City | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Lead Qualification, Redux.js, Ruby on Rails | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Account Executive, Business Development Representative | Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Marketing
7. Mercor
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 150 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2023 | Most common skills: Computer Vision, Next.js, PyTorch | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Project Lead, Machine Learning Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Research, Education
8. Fireworks AI
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 120 | Headquarters: Redwood City, Calif. | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: PyTorch, Computer Vision, Large Language Models | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Founder, Machine Learning Engineer | Largest job functions: Engineering, Business Development, Product Management
9. Thinking Machines Lab
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 45* | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2025 | Most common skills: Python, C++, Machine Learning | Most common job title: Technical Staff Member | Largest job functions: Engineering, Operations
10. Inflection AI
Full-time headcount in San Francisco: 50 | Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: Product Management, Agile Methodologies, Python | Most common job title: Technical Staff Member | Largest job functions: Business Development, Product Management, Engineering
You can check out the Top Startups in the U.S., as well as the Top Startups in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
💡 If you’re interested in joining a fast-growing startup — or starting your own business — check out these LinkedIn Learning courses on topics like leveraging AI for business growth and establishing an entrepreneur mindset.
Methodology
LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase in the city over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 5%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page among members in the city, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts the rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company in the city, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees in the city the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees in the city, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 10% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2024 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.
About company insights
*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant metropolitan area and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2025. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.
Excited to see Quince at #4 on the list of top 10 startups in San Francisco / Bay Area
Love Comet too. So far it is the best AI browser out there.
All are deserving of this recognition. However, the AI market is saturated, and not every company will endure; a significant consolidation cycle seems likely in the coming years.
LinkedIn, strong list. The energy in the Bay Area has evolved — and it’s a good thing. The companies breaking through right now aren't just chasing momentum. They're building with discipline. They're pairing imagination with operating rigor. They’re architecting scale before chaos sets in. Innovation still matters — deeply. But systems, clarity, and execution are the quiet superpowers of this era. The founders who win next won’t just create breakthroughs. They’ll build the structures that carry those breakthroughs all the way to impact — from concept to customer, from pipeline to patients. Less theater, more traction. Less noise, more signal. This is the new Bay Area playbook.
LinkedIn It's always inspiring to see the fresh wave of innovation in the Bay Area. From the list, I’m particularly drawn to companies blending AI with human-centered design especially in industries like healthcare and education. The potential here to create both efficiency and empathy is powerful. In terms of trends, I see a growing shift towards purpose-driven innovation. Startups today are focused on creating sustainable, impactful solutions, whether in climate tech, DEI, or mental health. Additionally, I believe decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 will redefine ownership and transactions in the near future. It’s an exciting time for the Bay Area startup scene, and I’m curious to see how these emerging companies shape the next chapter.