Startups

The Information team’s approach to covering up-and-coming companies focuses on previously unreported news of funding, plus the impact on the surrounding tech and finance ecosystems. Our newsroom produces The Information 50, an annual list of promising startups.

Recent Articles Subscriber Posts Most Popular Articles
Recent Articles about Startups
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo by Andrej Sokolow/Getty Images
The Briefing

Anthropic Is Likely Generating at Least 35% More Revenue Than OpenAI

By Amir Efrati and Sri Muppidi · May 26, 2026 6:04pm PDT
On New Year’s Day, OpenAI leaders would have been happy to hear that the company’s monthly revenue would rise more than 50% over the first five months of 2026, roughly in line with the projections it previously shared with investors. But they’re not likely to feel that way now: That pace looks downright tame compared to that of Anthropic, whose... On New Year’s Day, OpenAI leaders would have been happy to hear that the company’s monthly...
Art by Clark Miller.
Dealmaker

Boom Times for Inference Providers?

By Laura Mandaro and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 26, 2026 5:31pm PDT · 2 comments
Less than a year ago, our reporters kept hearing doubts about a group of startups called inference providers. Companies like Fireworks, Baseten and Together AI, which rent out Nvidia servers to app developers and help them customize open-source models, had grown quickly but seemed at risk of getting steamrolled by major cloud providers that... Less than a year ago, our reporters kept hearing doubts about a group of startups called...
Tuhin Srivastava, CEO of Baseten. Photo via Getty Images
Exclusive

AI Inference Provider Baseten in Talks to Raise $1 Billion at $11 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Katie Roof · May 26, 2026 3:09pm PDT
AI startup Baseten has recently been in talks with investors to raise $1 billion at an $11 billion valuation including the money, according to a person with knowledge of the fundraise. That would more than double the company’s $5 billion valuation from its last round, which was announced just three months ago. The fundraising comes on the back... AI startup Baseten has recently been in talks with investors to raise $1 billion at an $11...
Wayve, May Mobility, Einride and Nuro self-driving vehicles. Photos: Wayve, May Mobility, Nuro, Einride, Getty. Art: Shane Burke
Startups to Watch

Nine Self-Driving Startups Chasing Waymo’s Lead

By Alex Perry · May 8, 2025 10:30am PDT · 5 comments
For years, self-driving cars were a feature of the sci-fi future. But Waymo’s leap from testing to ferrying paying customers in four cities has made robotaxis a reality. That’s set off a race among newcomers and industry stalwarts to expand new businesses that support autonomous vehicles. Below we provide exclusive details on nine startups worth... For years, self-driving cars were a feature of the sci-fi future. But Waymo’s leap from testing...
Skild AI robots. Photo by Skild AI
Startups to Watch

9 Robotics Startups to Watch

By Rocket Drew · Dec 27, 2024 6:00am PST · 4 comments
To train artificial intelligence–powered robots to pick a book off a shelf a decade ago, researchers had to direct the robots to perform the task roughly 500 times before the robots learned to imitate the motion, recalls Brad Porter, founder and CEO of Collaborative Robotics, which is developing robots to work in hospitals and warehouses.... To train artificial intelligence–powered robots to pick a book off a shelf a decade ago,...
Image by Clark Miller and Midjourney.
Startups to Watch

Eight Startups Challenging Nvidia in AI Chips

By Kevin McLaughlin, Anissa Gardizy, Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Aug 24, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Nvidia dominates the market for graphics processing units used to train artificial intelligence models, although rivals like AMD and Intel are trying to catch up. Now some scrappy startups are entering the fray with alternative designs for AI chips they claim work better and more efficiently than Nvidia’s GPUs. Other startups are targeting... Nvidia dominates the market for graphics processing units used to train artificial intelligence...