20 Most Competitive Startups, According to AngelList

Being competitive in the startup world is a necessity at this point in the game. Sure, some might have referred to startups as “rare” or “a novelty” in a few decades ago. But now, everyone and their mothers are starting businesses, building everything from WiFi-enabled egg trays to fidgets spinners. The newly saturated market makes competing impossible without a good team, a good ideas, and plenty of luck. And these 20 companies have all three of those in spades.

According to data compiled by AngelList, being a competitive startup on their platform is based on the number of candidates applying to a particularly company and how active they are to responding. And with every entrepreneur under the sun claiming that a good team is the biggest difference maker in the startup world, it’s hard to argue.

“If hiring volume and candidate interest is any indication, these companies have big plans in the months ahead,” read a post from the AngelList blog.

If you’re curious which companies are making the biggest impact on AngelList, take a look at the rankings below and get that résumé ready!

1. Flexport

Flexport is revolutionizing the global logistics industry by using software to manage all of the nuances and complexities of international trade. The company recently raised a massive $110M Series C from top investors, and is currently moving hundreds of tons of air freight and thousands of containers of ocean freight each month. Flexport has 50+ open positions across all departments, with dozens of roles in marketing and operations available.

2. Opendoor

Opendoor is on a mission to make it easier to buy and sell homes. The company has raised more than $300 million from top investors like Khosla Ventures, NEA, and others to fix the process of home buying and selling. Opendoor recently announced that more than $100 million of homes are bought and sold each month on the platform, and is hiring in multiple engineering roles and operations.

3. Coinbase

Coinbase is the leading platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum. The company raised a $100M Series D in August of 2017 and has been on fire since (reportedly adding 100,000 new users in a single day). If you are interested in helping build the future of currency and payments and are passionate about cryptocurrencies, join their team in SF — the company is hiring in design, engineering, sales, and operations.

4. Forkable

Forkable finds the tastiest single-serving meals from the best restaurants nearby. Each team member shares what foods they like, as well as their restrictions. The intelligent learning platform will automatically select individual lunches for everyone based on their individual preferences. Forkable is currently hiring for engineering, marketing, and operations.

5. Castle Global

Castle Global is building machine learning enabled technology products in a number of verticals across both consumer and enterprise spaces. Their ​enterprise visual intelligence platform Hive offers the complete deep learning toolkit, ranging from a data labeling platform that helps university researchers with their research to fully integrated solutions for enterprise clients. The company has dozens of engineers roles available, and is also hiring in design, marketing operations, and sales.

6. Heap

Heap builds analytics infrastructure that powers decisions for over 6,000 online businesses. While other analytics tools require you to define events upfront and manually instrument code, Heap automatically captures everything: clicks, submissions, and taps — which lets users analyze data instantly and retroactively without writing code. In May 2017 the company raised a 27M Series B and is hiring in design, engineering, operations, and marketing in San Francisco.

7. Textio

Textio invented augmented writing, which is writing supported by outcomes data in real time. The first application of Textio’s technology was in talent acquisition, where customers could submit draft job postings and get feedback on how well those postings would perform. The company raised a $20M Series B in June 2017 and is looking to expand beyond recruiting and job postings. Textio is based in Seattle and is hiring in sales, data, customer success, and in multiple engineering positions.

8. eero

eero is the WiFi service Apple should’ve built. The hardware and software system blankets your entire home in fast and reliable WiFi. No dead spots, slow spots, drop-offs, or buffering. In 2016 the company raised an additional $50M, bringing their total funding to date to $90M. If you believe that WiFi is the new electricity join this world-class team — they are hiring in multiple positions.

9. Hammerhead

Hammerhead is building a software layer for the bike. Designed by cyclists and build on Android, the latest version bring the best maps, social features, and training tools to the bike. Cyclists can use it to explore new routes, create and track training plans, and it also calculates power, cadence, heart rate average, and more. The company is hiring in engineering and customer support roles.

10. BuildZoom

BuildZoom is revolutionizing the $1 trillion construction industry. If you’ve ever tried to undertake a home construction project, you know what an expensive and time-consuming process it can be. With BuildZoom you can get it done under budget and ahead of schedule by working with a project consultant who will go through a database of 2.5 million licensed contractors to find the best ones for your project. The company raised a $10.6M Series Ain October of 2016 and is a graduate of Y Combinator. BuildZoom is currently hiring salespeople and has multiple engineering roles available.

11. BetterUP

BEtterUP provides personalized leadership development for employees at all levels — the first mobile platform designed to improve work performance. Through coaching, a library of content, and actionable insights, you’ll be able to track your progress and connect it to tangible business results. The company raised a $12.9M Series A in November of 2016 from DFJ, Social Capital, SV Angel, and others, and is hiring in all departments, with multiple operations roles available.

12. Soder

Soder is building the future of hospitality. If you want the authentic local feel of an Airbnb with the comfort of hotel hospitality, Sonder is the answer. Explore one-of-a-kind neighborhoods, with professional cleaning where you stay, and a 24/7 concierge service. The company raised a $10M Series A in November of 2016 and is hiring in dozens of operations roles and multiple engineering positions available.

13. Coffee Meets Bagel

Coffee Meets Bagel is one of the more unique dating apps out there. Guys will receive up to 21 quality matches—“bagels”—and have the option to either “like” or “pass” — then the app curates the best potential matches for women among the men who expressed interest in them. The company raised a $7.8M Series A in 2015 and has multiple engineering, marketing, and design roles available.

14. Lark

Lark is the first medically-reimbursed A.I. for preventing diabetes. Managing the cost curve down, & quality of life up, for those who suffer from chronic diseases. The company is on a mission to improve people’s health and happiness through artificial intelligence. The app uses data from your phone and wearables to create a personalized health “chat bot” buddy to help them get better sleep, eat healthier, and stay active. Lark has multiple openings in engineering, as well as in marketing, operations, and sales.

15. Zumper

Zumper makes makes finding your next apartment as easy as booking a hotel. There are more than a million available apartments and homes on the platform each month, all of which pass Zumper’s authenticity verification process. You can schedule apartment tours and apply for places you love instantly. The company raised a $17.6M Series B in October of 2016 and is hiring engineers and designers in San Francisco, with other roles available.

16. ThousandEyes

ThousandEyes is a network intelligence monitoring toolkit for enterprises. As organizations rely more on cloud services the network has become a black box they can’t understand, ThousandEyes gives them visibility into the network, arming them with an accurate understanding of how decisions impacts their applications. The company raised a $35M Series C in February of 2016 led by GV, with Sequoia being a major investor from previous rounds. ThousandEyes is hiring in dozens of engineering roles in San Francisco.

17. Compass 

Compass is a New York based startup that helps homebuyers, sellers, and renters navigate the real estate market in a unique way. Homes—which are curated by design, amenities, and neighborhood—are hand-selected by local experts, for example. The company raised a massive $100M Series E at a $1.8B valuation in November 2017 and is hiring for multiple roles in all departments.

18. Leap Motion

Leap Motion is transforming how we interact with technology using the original interface: the human hand. As you can see in the video, Elon Musk is a fan. You can also check out the short video of Orion — Leap Motion’s new hand tracking software that’s built from the ground up for virtual reality. The company has multiple engineering roles available in San Francisco, as well as sales and operations.

19. Envoy 

Envoy is a visitor registration product that is changing how visitors are greeted in the workplace. Say goodbye to old paper sign-in books, and say hello to the iPad-based guest sign-in experience from Envoy. To date, Envoy has served 4 million visitors in 55 countries, and is quickly expanding to include more types of services. The company raised a $15M Series A from Andreessen Horowitz in 2015 and has multiple roles available in design, operations, engineering, and sales.

20. Joy

Joy helps you with your wedding from engagement to honeymoon, and everything in-between. Get a beautiful wedding website, app, and more, all for free. The company believes software can help organize and bring people together in the real world and raised a $4.5M Seed round in November 2016 on that premise. Joy is a graduate of Y Combinator and is hiring in multiple engineering roles and a designer in San Francisco.

Did you find this article helpful? Click on one of the following buttons
We're so happy you liked! Get more delivered to your inbox just like it.

We're sorry this article didn't help you today – we welcome feedback, so if there's any way you feel we could improve our content, please email us at contact@tech.co

Written by:
Conor is the Lead Writer for Tech.co. For the last six years, he’s covered everything from tech news and product reviews to digital marketing trends and business tech innovations. He's written guest posts for the likes of Forbes, Chase, WeWork, and many others, covering tech trends, business resources, and everything in between. He's also participated in events for SXSW, Tech in Motion, and General Assembly, to name a few. He also cannot pronounce the word "colloquially" correctly. You can email Conor at conor@tech.co.
Back to top