Hot 25 Startups To Watch
Meet the startups entering Q2 2025 with the most momentum. The Harmonic Hot 25 ranks the top early-stage companies based on aggregated investor interest from the hundreds of VCs using Harmonic.
Welcome back to another edition of NEW ECONOMIES, which is rooted in my experiences working in venture. We’re living in extraordinary times—the most exciting era ever for technology, with groundbreaking trends emerging constantly that will redefine how we live and work in the future. Join me on this journey—subscribe to NEW ECONOMIES to stay ahead of the curve in technology. We’re just getting started!
This week’s sponsor: Harmonic
Accel, GV, Menlo, Brex and hundreds of others trust Harmonic to identify visionary entrepreneurs launching companies before any other provider.
By analyzing backgrounds, tracking talent movements, monitoring new filings, and keeping tabs on social media updates, Harmonic discovers startups 6-12 months ahead of the competition.
Throughout this edition, we have teamed up with Harmonic who recently published the hottest 25 startups to watch.
The Harmonic Hot 25 ranks the top early-stage companies based on aggregated investor interest from the hundreds of VCs using Harmonic to find their next investments. They include:
1. LangChain
A platform to build AI apps from prototype into production. LangChain was founded in 2022 by Harrison Chase and Ankush Gola, who met while working at Robust Intelligence. The company boasts a list of impressive clients and raised money from Benchmark and Sequoia.
Founders: Ankush Gola, Harrison Chase
Headcount: ~60 | Latest Funding: $25M (Series A - Feb 2024)
2. Lovable
Build apps with no coding needed. Founded in 2023, Lovable has exploded in early 2025 after raising money from Scandinavian VC strongholds, byFounders and Creandum, as well as Hummingbird.
Founders: Anton Osika, Fabian Hedin
Headcount: ~50 | Latest Funding: $15M (Seed - Feb 2024)
3. Hadrius
SEC & FINRA compliance in one platform. Co-founders Som, Allen, and Thomas are back for their second act—after launching Quantbase (acquired by Surmount), they’re now tackling compliance with Hadrius.
Founders: Allen Calderwood, Som Mohapatra, Thomas Stewart
Headcount: ~20 | Latest Funding: $2M (Seed - Sep 2023)
4. Didero
AI agents for procurement.
Founders: Tim Spencer, Lorenz Pallhuber, Tom Petit
Headcount: ~15 | Latest Funding: $7M (Seed - Jul 2024)
5. Profound
Helping brands gain AI visibility.
Founders: Dylan Babbs, James Cadwallader
Headcount: ~20 | Latest Funding: $3.5M (Seed - Aug 2024)
6. Norm AI
AI agents for regulatory compliance.
Founder: John Nay
Headcount: ~35 | Latest Funding: $48M (Series B - Mar 2024)
7. Browser Use
Browser automation with AI agents.
Founders: Gregor Žunič, Magnus Müller
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $500K (Pre-seed - Jan 2025)
8. Basis
AI agents for accountants.
Founders: Mitchell Troyanovsky, Matt Harpe
Headcount: ~25 | Latest Funding: $34M (Series A - Dec 2024)
9. Zocks | AI for Advisors
Meeting assistant for financial advisors.
Founders: Ákos Ratku, Mark Gilbert
Headcount: ~30 | Latest Funding: $13.8M (Series A - Mar 2025)
10. Artisan
AI employees, automating outbound.
Founders: Sam Stallings, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack
Headcount: ~110 | Latest Funding: $11.5M (Seed - Oct 2024)
11. Sapien
Financial analysis platform for enterprises.
Founders: Ron Nachum, Arya Grayeli, Pranav Ravella
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $8.7M (Seed - Oct 2024)
12. CrewAI
Build and deploy automated agent workflows.
Founders: João (Joe) Moura, Rob Bailey
Headcount: ~20 | Latest Funding: $18M (Series A - Oct 2024)
13. Star Cloud
Space-based data centers.
Founders: Philip Johnston, Ezra Feilden, Adi Oltean
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $21M (Seed - Dec 2024)
14. Harper
Insurance brokerage for SMBs.
Founders: Dakotah Rice, Tushar Nair
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $500K (Pre-seed - Jan 2025)
15. Albert Invent
R&D platform for chemistry and materials science.
Founders: Zach Kisner, Ken Kisner, Nick Talken, Neelesh Vaikhary
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $23M (Series A - Dec 2024)
16. Tabs
Revenue automation for B2B.
Founders: Rebecca Schwartz, Deepak Bapat, Ali Hussain
Headcount: ~60 | Latest Funding: $25M (Series A - Oct 2024)
17. LlamaIndex
Build LLM-powered knowledge agents on top of any private data source.
Founders: Simon Suo, Jerry Liu
Headcount: ~45 | Latest Funding: $19M (Series A - Mar 2023)
18. Greenboard
SEC & FINRA compliance tools.
Founders: Dave Feldman, Edward Schembor
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $4.5M (Seed - May 2024)
19. Pylon
Customer support platform, built for B2B.
Founders: Marty Kausas, Robert Eng, Advith Chelikani
Headcount: ~50 | Latest Funding: $17M (Series A - Aug 2024)
20. Agree
Contract management platform.
Founders: Will Hubbard, Evan Dudla, Marty Ringlein
Headcount: ~10 | Latest Funding: $3M (Pre-seed - Aug 2024)
21. Granola
AI meeting notepad.
Founders: Sam Stephenson, Christopher Pedregal
Headcount: ~20 | Latest Funding: $20M (Series A - Oct 2024)
22. General Agency
AI coworker.
Founders: Harvey Hu, Mo Nasir
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $500K (Pre-seed - Feb 2025)
23. Trace
Voice solutions for customer support in financial services.
Founders: Yash Vardhan Pansari, Saner Cakir, Kayla Lee
Headcount: <10 | Latest Funding: $500K (Pre-seed - Jan 2025)
24. Landbase
Agentic AI for go-to-market.
Founders: Emily Zhang, Daniel Saks, Raheem Syed
Headcount: ~50 | Latest Funding: $13M (Seed - Sep 2024)
25. Braintrust
End-to-end platform for building AI applications.
Founder: Ankur Goyal
Headcount: ~20 | Latest Funding: $36M (Series A - Oct 2024)
If you're enjoying reading New Economies, help this edition reach more readers by clicking ❤️ and 🔄 at the top of this post.
Upgrade your New Economies subscription to become a premium subscriber and receive:
Complete access to our members-only community.
Complete access to The Ultimate Startup AI Handbook.
Are you a creator and looking for new sponsors? Subscribe to access our data room which includes hundreds of platforms sponsoring creators.
The Operator’s Handbook: All the resources to launch your entrepreneurial career.
$1 million in discounts at HubSpot, Notion, and other platforms.
Full access to all New Economies newsletter editions.
Very interesting thank you
Love it. How many of them are in climate?