Top 35 Santa Clara Startups to Watch in 2026
Santa Clara remains a key hub for deep technology, with a strong focus on semiconductor, hardware, and AI development. The city hosts a range of companies creating foundational technologies for data centers and cloud computing.
This includes heavily funded players like Ampere Computing, which has secured $813.8M, and Celestial AI with $593.9M in funding.
Below is our list of 35 Santa Clara startups worth keeping an eye on.
Failory's Top 10 Picks
Rivos designs high-performance systems using the open-standard RISC-V architecture. Their integrated hardware and software solutions are built to power demanding workloads for enterprise clients.
| Year Founded | 2021 |
| Founders | Mark Hayter |
| Funding Amount | $250M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series A |
| Top Investors | Walden Catalyst, Intel Capital, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Cambium Capital Partners, MediaTek |
PayNearMe offers a flexible payments platform that simplifies how businesses collect payments from their customers. The platform handles everything from cards and digital wallets to cash payments made through a network of retail stores.
| Year Founded | 2009 |
| Founders | Danny Shader |
| Funding Amount | $168.2M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Series E |
| Top Investors | Khosla Ventures, AVP, Costanoa Ventures, True Ventures, Maveron |
Aisera builds an Agentic AI platform that automates service experiences for enterprise companies. Their solutions use generative AI to provide self-service resolutions for employees and customers in areas like IT, HR, and customer support.
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Abhi Maheshwari, Christos Tryfonas, Muddu Sudhakar |
| Funding Amount | $164.5M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Series D |
| Top Investors | Norwest Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Goldman Sachs, First Round Capital |
Celestial AI develops an optical interconnect technology platform to handle the demanding workloads of AI and data center computing. Their Photonic Fabric technology is engineered to overcome memory and compute limitations by enabling much faster data movement between chips.
| Year Founded | 2020 |
| Founders | David Lazovsky, Michelle Tomasko, Preet Virk |
| Funding Amount | $593.9M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series C |
| Top Investors | Temasek Holdings, BlackRock, Tiger Global Management, Fidelity, US Innovative Technology Fund |
Ampere Computing develops high-performance processors for servers operating in large-scale cloud computing environments. Their cloud-native processors are built to deliver both predictable performance and power efficiency for modern applications.
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Renee James |
| Funding Amount | $813.8M |
| Startup Size | Major Organization (1,001-5,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Convertible Note |
| Top Investors | The Carlyle Group, Oracle, Arm Holdings |
AiFi builds an AI platform that uses computer vision to enable autonomous shopping for retailers. Their technology creates checkout-free experiences and provides real-time analytics for stores of any size.
| Year Founded | 2016 |
| Founders | Steve Gu, Ying Zheng |
| Funding Amount | $87.1M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Venture Round |
| Top Investors | Plug and Play, Cervin Ventures, Translink Capital, CVC Capital Partners, Amino Capital |
Eltropy created a unified digital communications platform tailored for credit unions and community banks. The system combines text, voice, video, and secure chat to help financial institutions engage with their customers on modern channels.
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Ashish Garg, Chandra Bhople |
| Funding Amount | $25M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series A |
| Top Investors | Curql, K1 Investment Management, TruStage Ventures |
d-Matrix develops a chiplet-based computing platform to handle demanding AI inference workloads within datacenters. Its digital in-memory compute architecture provides an energy-efficient solution for deploying large language models and other generative AI applications.
| Year Founded | 2019 |
| Founders | Sid Sheth, Sudeep Bhoja |
| Funding Amount | $154M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series B |
| Top Investors | Temasek Holdings, Industry Ventures, Playground Global, Amino Capital, SK Hynix |
Malwarebytes creates cybersecurity software that protects against and removes a wide range of digital threats, including malware, ransomware, and viruses. Their products serve both home users and businesses, offering powerful tools to detect and clean infected devices.
| Year Founded | 2008 |
| Founders | Bruce Harrison, Doug Swanson, Marcin Kleczynski, Marcus Chung |
| Funding Amount | $180M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Private Equity |
| Top Investors | Highland Europe, Fidelity, Highland Capital Partners, Vector Capital |
Upscale AI develops purpose-built networking solutions designed for the demands of high-performance compute and AI. Their platform provides a secure and scalable fabric to connect and manage large-scale AI infrastructure.
| Year Founded | 2025 |
| Founders | Rajiv Khemani |
| Funding Amount | $100M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Seed |
| Top Investors | Mayfield Fund, Celesta Capital, StepStone Group, Cota Capital, Stanford University |
25 Additional Santa Clara Startups Worth Following
Our top picks only scratch the surface of what's happening in the area. Together, the companies on this wider list have raised over $4 billion, with many focusing on AI and hardware.
Some of these companies are just getting started, while others are already well established. Here’s a look at the rest of the startups shaping Santa Clara's scene.
| Startup | Industry | Year Founded | Amount Raised | Last Funding Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Plus | AI | 2016 | $520M | Series C |
 Anker | Hardware | 2009 | $5.8M | Product Crowdfunding |
 Natron Energy | Hardware | 2012 | $352.6M | Venture Round |
 EnCharge AI | AI | 2022 | $162.9M | Series B |
 Stellar Cyber | Security | 2015 | $93.5M | Venture Round |
 Forward Networks | Hardware | 2013 | $112.1M | Series D |
 DoiT | Analytics | 2011 | $100M | Series A |
 DataStax | AI | 2010 | $342.6M | Venture Round |
 Auradine | AI | 2022 | $314M | Series C |
 Versa Networks | Security | 2012 | $316.3M | Private Equity |
 Aviatrix | Cloud | 2014 | $340.8M | Venture Round |
 MoBagel | AI | 2015 | $30.5M | Undisclosed |
 Bluwhale | AI | 2022 | $109.1M | Series A |
 xMEMS | Media | 2018 | $15M | Series C |
 Docyt | Fintech | 2016 | $25M | Series B |
 Eightfold AI | AI | 2016 | $396.8M | Series E |
 Nexthop AI | AI | 2024 | $110M | Series A |
 Reevo | SaaS | 2024 | $10M | Seed |
 Seclore | Security | 2003 | $46M | Series C |
 WSO2 | Enterprise | 2005 | $133.5M | Series E |
 Jobright | AI | 2023 | $7.7M | Seed |
 Dremio | Analytics | 2015 | $410M | Series E |
 Realtor.com | Real Estate | 1996 | — | — |
 Espressive | AI | 2016 | $53M | Series B |
 Baya Systems | Hardware | 2023 | $36M | Series B |
