Redwood City's startup scene features a mix of companies across AI, hardware, and enterprise software. The area attracts significant capital, with 3D printing company Carbon securing over $683M in funding.
The local environment supports both new and mature companies, from recent AI robotics firm Dyna Robotics to advertising platform Moloco.
Below is our list of 36 Redwood City startups worth keeping an eye on.
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Get the Sheet for $50FriendliAI builds AI infrastructure that enables companies to deploy, scale, and monitor large language and multimodal models. The team offers a platform focused on simplifying the path for developers to get generative AI applications into production.
| Year Founded | 2021 |
| Founders | Byung-Gon Chun |
| Funding Amount | $26.7M |
| Startup Size | Lean Team (11-50) |
| Last Funding Status | Seed |
| Top Investors | Alumni Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Capstone Partners, KB Investment, KB Securities |
Dyna Robotics develops advanced robotic manipulation models to automate repetitive and stationary tasks. Their technology gives industrial robots the intelligence to handle complex physical jobs that were previously difficult to automate.
| Year Founded | 2024 |
| Founders | Jason Ma, Lindon Gao, York Yang |
| Funding Amount | $143.5M |
| Startup Size | Lean Team (11-50) |
| Last Funding Status | Series A |
| Top Investors | Samsung NEXT, Salesforce Ventures, First Round Capital, NVentures, CRV |
Fireworks AI built an inference platform to help developers quickly build and deploy generative AI systems. Their core product gives teams the speed and infrastructure needed to run large language models in production.
| Year Founded | 2022 |
| Founders | Dmytro Ivchenko, Lin Qiao |
| Funding Amount | $327M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Venture Round |
| Top Investors | Evantic Capital, NVIDIA, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, MongoDB, Index Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners |
Moloco provides machine learning and growth solutions to help mobile companies scale through programmatic advertising. Their technology powers a suite of products that automate user acquisition, retention, and monetization for performance marketers.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | David Sehyuk Park, Ikkjin Ahn |
| Funding Amount | $215.7M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Series D |
| Top Investors | Tiger Global Management, EDBI, Fidelity, Premier Partners, LG Technology Ventures |
Rokid creates augmented reality glasses and devices for consumer, commercial, and industrial applications. Their hardware provides hands-free solutions for enterprise training and manufacturing, as well as immersive experiences for personal entertainment.
| Year Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Mingming Zhu |
| Funding Amount | $2.5M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Product Crowdfunding |
| Top Investors | — |
Workboard offers an enterprise results platform that helps companies align on strategy and automate their business reviews. The platform gives leaders visibility into progress on key objectives, helping to connect strategy with execution across the organization.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Daryoush Paknad, Deidre Paknad |
| Funding Amount | $141.6M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series D |
| Top Investors | Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, Workday Ventures, Intel Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund |
Carbon developed a 3D printing platform that enables manufacturers to create high-performance polymer products. Their technology, known as Digital Light Synthesis, is recognized for its speed and ability to produce durable, end-use parts with a wide range of materials.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Joseph M. DeSimone, Philip DeSimone, Steve Nelson |
| Funding Amount | $683.4M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Venture Round |
| Top Investors | Temasek Holdings, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, Autodesk, GV |
Zilliz develops the open-source vector database Milvus, designed for building AI applications. Their technology enables developers to manage and search massive unstructured datasets.
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Charles Xie |
| Funding Amount | $113M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series B |
| Top Investors | Hillhouse Investment, Trustbridge Partners, Pavilion Capital, Green Pine Capital Partners, 5Y Capital |
MinIO offers high-performance, S3-compatible object storage built for large-scale, multi-cloud environments. As a fully open-source and cloud-native solution, it's widely adopted for managing unstructured data across AI/ML, analytics, and backup workloads.
| Year Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Anand Babu Periasamy, Frederick Kautz, Garima Kapoor, Harshavardhana |
| Funding Amount | $126.3M |
| Startup Size | Lean Team (11-50) |
| Last Funding Status | Series B |
| Top Investors | General Catalyst, Nexus Venture Partners, Index Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund, Intel Capital |
Agiloft develops a data-first contract lifecycle management platform that automates and connects commercial processes. Their no-code software provides businesses with visibility into contract data, helping them manage risk and accelerate revenue.
| Year Founded | 1991 |
| Founders | Colin Earl |
| Funding Amount | $45M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Private Equity |
| Top Investors | FTV Capital |
26 Additional Redwood City Startups Worth Following
Our top ten picks are just a small slice of the activity in Redwood City. Many other founders are working on big ideas in AI and biotech, raising a combined total of over $4 billion.
Some of these companies are early in their journey, while others are scaling quickly. Here’s a look at the rest of the startups that are making the city’s tech scene so vibrant.