AngelList. It’s the place for startups to connect with funding and talent. Just this month, the site has helped raise $12 million in venture funding for a wide collection of startups. It may be the one site that best represents all players in the tech startup universe – from glamorous poster-child to hopeless wanna-be.
But AngelList is huge. For every top-notch team on the site, you’re guaranteed to find dozens of others that will eventually give up and move on. That’s why we decided to create a collection of 100 top AngelList startups.
Just be aware that it’s not the definitive list, it’s merely a definitive list. In fact, there arere so many worthy startups on AngelList that it was very difficult to settle on these 100.
To make the collection a useful as possible, I chose 10 exciting startups for each of 9 categories – based on factors ranging from concept to design to traction (in my estimated order of importance). To round out the list, I added 10 more hot startups without regard to category.
Not every company on this list will be brand new to every reader (many have been covered in ReadWrite in one way or another), but I promise you’ll find some new gems you’ve never heard of before.
Just as important, taken as a whole, the list represents a powerful cross-section of today’s best technology startups. It should be a useful jumping off point for entrepreneurs to find inspiration and for consumers to find something cool to try.
What startups would you add to or leave off this list? Share your picks in the comments below.
Category-Busting Startups
- Thumb – A mobile social network that helps people get instant opinions.
- Lift – A simple way to achieve any goal and track your progress.
- Clarity – Online consulting. Find, schedule and pay for expert advice.
- Gumroad – Enables creators to sell directly to their audience.
- DuckDuckGo – A search engine with lots of extra goodies.
- CustomMade – Connect with expert makers who can bring your ideas to life.
- Science Exchange – The scientific services marketplace.
- StoreEnvy – Shop the world’s most creative businesses.
- Spindle – Discover and share what’s happening around you.
- Wanderfly – Visual travel discovery.
Consumer Electronics Startups
- Leap Motion – Next-gen motion control.
- Dropcam – A high-definition Wi-Fi video camera with remote viewing and two-way sound.
- Space Monkey – Moves cloud storage into your home.
- Boosted Boards – The world’s lightest electric vehicle.
- Interaxon – Control games and more with your thoughts.
- Memoto – A life-logging camera that lets anyone have a photographic memory.
- Ouya – A $99 Android-based game console that’s just plain tiny.
- Scout – Hassle-free home security that is sleek, secure and smart.
- Double Robotics – Be somewhere else in the world without flying there.
- Tindie – Etsy for electronics. The marketplace for makers.
Data Startups
- Kaggle – Connect with a data scientist and find the answers in your data.
- Chartio – Your data’s interface.
- Chartbeat – Real-time data for front-line website handlers.
- Mocavo – A genealogy search engine.
- Freshplum – Brings the power of data science to businesses that sell electronically.
- Origami Logic – Visual Big Data analytics for marketers.
- Fliptop – A customer intelligence platform for marketers.
- Umbel – Increases the value of your audience by measuring billions of audience traits.
- Sift Science – Monitors site traffic in real time and alerts you instantly to fraudulent activity.
- Swipp – Social intelligence platform generating real-time sentiment data.
Design Startups
- Creative Market – Marketplace for handcrafted, mouse-made creative assets.
- Mural.ly – Google Docs for creative people.
- Strikingly – Gorgeous, mobile-optimized sites in minutes.
- Codiqa – Build a real mobile website or app with no coding required. Fast.
- Scoutzie – An exclusive network of the best mobile designers.
- Divshot – Drag-and-drop interface builder for Web apps.
- Smore – Design beautiful online flyers and publish instantly.
- Forrst – Where designers and developers improve their craft based on feedback.
- BrandCrowd – Buying and selling logos made easy.
- Markupwand – Photoshop to HTML in minutes.
Education Startups
- Treehouse – A better way to learn technology.
- Lore – Reinventing classrooms for the Internet age.
- Udemy – The world’s largest destination for online courses.
- Memrise – Uses images and science to make learning easy and fun.
- Minerva Project – A top-tier university for the 21st Century.
- Boundless – Free digital textbooks with built-in study tools.
- Skillshare – Learn real-world skills from incredible teachers.
- BenchPrep – Unlimited access to hundreds of courses on all your devices.
- Class Dojo – Behavior management software for teachers.
- Clever – Online learning platform used by more than 3,000 schools.
Food Startups
- Plated – Chef-designed meals you order online and cook at home.
- Yummly – Search every recipe in the world.
- Munchery – Home-delivered meals from local chefs.
- Locu – Manage and design your menu in one place. Publish to many places.
- Foodem – Connecting food sellers with food buyers.
- Food Genius – Big Data for the food industry.
- Love With Food – Sample the best gourmet food, delivered to your door.
- Momentum Machines – Gourmet hamburger robots.
- Caviar – Get delivery from your favorite San Francisco restaurants. Real time GPS tracking!
- Wholeshare – Save money on good food by buying as a group.
Health Care Startups
- CakeHealth – Track and optimize your health care for free.
- OpenCare – Find health providers and book appointments online.
- Counsyl – Prevent genetic disease before pregnancy with a DNA test.
- Scanadu – Bringing you the medical tricorder. Check your health as easily as your email.
- ShopWell – Your personal nutrition expert.
- Ringadoc – A better answering service for a fraction of the price.
- GymPact – Never miss another workout.
- CareDox – Making health information easily accessible and securely portable.
- Meddik – Get answers from people who have been there.
- drchrono – Electronic health records built for the iPad.
News Startups
- Umano – Interesting news read to you by real people.
- Circa – News without the fluff, filler or commentary.
- Guide – Turns the web’s news into TV.
- Blottr – Wikipedia for news.
- Newsle – Track your friends in the news.
- Bloglovin’ – Follow your favorite blogs and discover new ones.
- Demotix – The network for freelance photojournalists.
- Watchup – Your daily newscast.
- Unfold – Your guide to all sides on every issue.
- Communitee – The latest news from your friends and followers.
Publishing Startups
- Submittable – Content submissions made simple. Accept and review digital files.
- Marquee – Easier, faster, more beautiful publishing.
- Inkling – Interactive books for iPad, iPhone and the Web.
- Atavist – Quickly and easily tell a story through digital apps, ebooks and magazines.
- Markerly – Promote your trending content, engage your audience, personalize and repeat.
- Pen.io – Give your writing a home and an audience.
- Storify – Make the Web tell a story.
- 24Symbols – Access a world of free ebooks.
- Libboo – Help talented authors get discovered.
- Tactilize – Real-time publishing on the iPad.
Ventures For Good
- Rally – Raise money for what matters.
- NationBuilder – Community building software for every type of leader.
- POPVOX – Your voice verified, quantified and amplified.
- Vittana – Microfinance for education.
- ElectNext – Data-driven politics from national to neighborhood.
- Fundly – Online fundraising made easy.
- Carrotmob – Crowdbuying for social good.
- Causecast – Complete corporate philanthropy and employee volunteering platform.
- Fundraise – Social fundraising.
- StayClassy – Online fundraising software.