The Startup Atlas · Verified 2026-11-13 · North America · Latin America · Europe · Africa · Middle East & Israel · China · India · Southeast Asia

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The leading startups of every region.

69 companies that lead their markets or are rising fast, from Latin America to China. Founders in their own words. Every fact and quote links to the source we checked, and the date we checked it.

Rising in 2026

Rounds, Y Combinator or a16z batches and standout coverage since May 2026.

Morocco · Software

Journify

Advertising data infrastructure that feeds online and offline purchase signals back to ad platforms so campaigns optimize on real outcomes.

Nigeria · Technology

Terra Industries

Defense-tech manufacturer building autonomous drones, sentry towers and ground vehicles to protect critical infrastructure across Africa.

Egypt · Energy

NoorNation

Builds self-contained solar units that supply power and clean water for irrigation and off-grid farms and communities.

Israel · Commerce

ZyG

AI-agent operating system that helps product makers and direct-to-consumer brands validate, launch, market and finance e-commerce growth.

Spain · AI

THEKER

Builds AI-native, general-purpose industrial robots that adapt to changing factory, logistics and retail tasks without manual reprogramming.

Portugal · AI

Augusta Labs

Works alongside executives, mainly at private-equity portfolio companies, to redesign businesses as AI-native and build custom AI solutions.

Mexico · AI · Kaszek, General Catalyst

Primero

Builds an AI layer, Primia, that connects big Latin American companies' internal systems and runs supervised agents to automate their processes.

Brazil · Software · NXTP, ONEVC

Sharpi

Turns B2B sales reps' WhatsApp chats into orders and quotes and pushes them into ERPs such as SAP and Totvs.

Colombia · AI · SP Ventures, Fulcrum Global Capital

Celes

Uses AI agents and demand forecasting to automate inventory restocking and store-level distribution for retailers, plugging into ERPs like SAP and Oracle.

Argentina · Fintech · North Island Ventures, Road Capital Management

Takenos

Stablecoin-powered platform giving Latin American people and businesses dollar accounts, cards and APIs for cross-border payments, payroll and treasury.

United Kingdom · AI · Index Ventures, ICONIQ

Conduct

AI platform that analyses code and configurations in sprawling ERP systems so companies can understand them, change them faster and migrate SAP.

Lithuania · Health · Astanor, UVC Partners

Biomatter

Designs custom enzymes from scratch with computational models and lab testing for pharma, diagnostics, agriculture and industrial biotech.

India · AI · Dallas Venture Capital, NVIDIA

Simplismart

Software layer between AI models and GPUs that tunes how models are deployed so companies hit their speed and cost targets.

India · Health · Blume Ventures, South Park Commons

Cent

Preventive health clinics combining full-body MRI, low-dose CT and other scans with AI to screen symptom-free people for 300+ conditions.

United States · AI · Sequoia, NVIDIA

Trajectory

Continual-learning platform that retrains open-source models on real-world feedback so domain experts can improve AI at specialised tasks.

United States · AI · a16z, SV Angel

Dream

Builds 'built world models', AI trained on US permit data that generates structurally sound building designs and cost estimates.

North America

United States · AI · 2015 · Public or filing

OpenAI

Builds large AI models and sells access to them through ChatGPT and a developer platform.

“We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started.” Sam Altman

United States · AI · 2021 · Public or filing

Anthropic

AI safety and research company that builds the Claude family of AI models and sells them to businesses and consumers.

“I think that most people are underestimating just how radical the upside of AI could be” Dario Amodei

United States · AI · 2013

Databricks

Cloud platform that lets companies store, analyze and govern their data and build AI applications and agents on it.

“The tremendous investor demand for this round shows that our AI strategy is winning the market and building what every business needs to maximize their impact with agents.” Ali Ghodsi

United States · Fintech · 2009

Stripe

Payments and financial infrastructure that lets online businesses accept payments, run billing and manage money through software.

“The sorting machine is now whirring faster: winners and losers are being anointed more quickly and more intensely.” Patrick Collison and John Collison

United States · Defense · 2017

Anduril Industries

Defense technology company building autonomous drones, aircraft and the software that links military sensors and weapons.

“When we founded Anduril in 2017, defense was not a category that attracted significant venture investment. That has changed meaningfully over the last several years” Brian Schimpf

Canada · AI · 2019

Cohere

Canadian AI company building language models that governments and regulated businesses can run under their own control.

“We can't see in. We can't switch it off. We can't intervene in any way” Aidan Gomez

United States · AI

TrajectoryRising

Continual-learning platform that retrains open-source models on real-world feedback so domain experts can improve AI at specialised tasks.

“But what the economy values is someone who worked on the job for 30 years,” Ronak Malde

United States · AI

DreamRising

Builds 'built world models', AI trained on US permit data that generates structurally sound building designs and cost estimates.

“We’ve gone from dial-up internet to superintelligent AI, but our ability to build the physical world around us has actually decreased,” Arjun Mathur

Latin America

Brazil · Fintech · 2013 · Public or filing

Nubank

A branchless digital bank offering cards, accounts, loans and investments through a mobile app to customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

“a bank built on technology, with no branches and no legacy to defend, could serve hundreds of millions of people better, and at a fraction of the cost.” David Vélez

Mexico · Mobility · 2016

Kavak

An online platform for buying, selling, financing and servicing used cars, handling inspection, reconditioning and credit in one place.

“That means liquidity when someone needs to sell, access when someone needs to buy, and trust when something goes wrong.” Carlos García Ottati

Colombia · Commerce · 2015

Rappi

A delivery super app that brings restaurant meals, groceries and other goods to customers' doors, alongside payments and financial services.

“Ya llegamos a una fase de escala, en la que está demostrado que el modelo funciona” Simón Borrero

Colombia · Proptech · 2019

Habi

A proptech that buys, sells and helps finance homes, using property data and AI-driven valuations to speed up residential deals in Colombia and Mexico.

“Nos permite acelerar nuestra capacidad de acompañar a millones de familias colombianas, en la decisión financiera más importante de sus vidas.” Sebastián Noguera

Argentina · Fintech · 2017

Ualá

A mobile-first neobank offering accounts, cards, loans, investments and merchant payments, with banking licenses in Argentina and Mexico.

“En Argentina ya hemos sido rentables, aunque el año pasado la volatilidad de tasas y el crecimiento de la mora afectaron a todas las instituciones financieras del país” Pierpaolo Barbieri

Chile · Foodtech · 2015

NotCo

A food-tech company whose AI platform, Giuseppe, helps food makers design and reformulate products; it began by selling its own plant-based foods.

“Today, we are working with seven out of the top 10 CPGs in the world.” Matías Muchnick

Brazil · Fintech · 2013

CloudWalk

An AI-driven payments company behind InfinitePay in Brazil and JIM.com in the US, giving small merchants card machines, accounts and credit.

“Toda fintech diz que usa IA. Nós somos uma empresa de IA que, por acaso, opera no setor financeiro” Luis Silva

Brazil · Proptech · 2013

QuintoAndar

A digital housing platform that handles home rentals and sales end to end, from listing and visits to contracts and monthly payments.

“A nossa IA hoje consegue conversar com esse proprietário, entender o momento que ele está, por que ele quer vender e quão rápido ele quer vender” Gabriel Braga

Mexico · Crypto · 2014

Bitso

A crypto and digital-finance platform letting people trade digital assets and businesses move cross-border payments using stablecoins.

“Las stablecoins abren ese acceso y también permiten reemplazar infraestructura tradicional como Swift, reduciendo tiempos y costos.” Daniel Vogel

Mexico · Fintech · 2021

Clara

A corporate spend-management platform giving companies corporate cards, bill and cross-border payments, and real-time expense software.

“This funding puts us in a uniquely strong position, as the only corporate payment solution in Latin America backed simultaneously by financial institutions of this stature.” Gerry Giacomán Colyer

Mexico · AI

PrimeroRising

Builds an AI layer, Primia, that connects big Latin American companies' internal systems and runs supervised agents to automate their processes.

“The world's most competitive companies can be built right here in Latin America.” José Murillo

Brazil · Software · 2023

SharpiRising

Turns B2B sales reps' WhatsApp chats into orders and quotes and pushes them into ERPs such as SAP and Totvs.

“A gente acredita em empoderar os vendedores.” Kim Rawicz

Colombia · AI · 2023

CelesRising

Uses AI agents and demand forecasting to automate inventory restocking and store-level distribution for retailers, plugging into ERPs like SAP and Oracle.

Argentina · Fintech · 2022

TakenosRising

Stablecoin-powered platform giving Latin American people and businesses dollar accounts, cards and APIs for cross-border payments, payroll and treasury.

“Latinoamérica no necesita otra app arriba de una infraestructura vieja: necesita infraestructura nueva.” Lucas Posada

Europe

United Kingdom · Fintech · 2015

Revolut

A global financial super-app offering accounts, cards, payments, investing and business banking through a single mobile app.

“This milestone reflects the remarkable progress we have made in the last twelve months towards our vision of building the first truly global bank” Nik Storonsky

France · AI · 2023

Mistral AI

Builds open-weight and commercial large language models plus enterprise AI products, pitched as a sovereign European alternative to US labs.

“We have the ambition to help ASML and its numerous partners solve current and future engineering challenges through AI” Arthur Mensch

Germany · Defense · 2021

Helsing

Develops AI software and autonomous systems for defence, including strike drones, underwater drones and an uncrewed combat aircraft.

“We’ve been seeing incursions of air territories over various countries, including Poland and Estonia” Torsten Reil

Sweden · AI · 2023

Lovable

An AI platform that turns plain-language prompts into working web apps, letting non-programmers build software.

“I [can] sit here now and say, ‘Look, guys, you can build a global AI company from this country.’” Anton Osika

United Kingdom · AI · 2022

ElevenLabs

Builds AI voice models for speech synthesis, dubbing and transcription, plus a platform for enterprise voice and chat agents.

“Yet we stay hungry, knowing how early this space still is, as we build toward IPO and beyond” Mati Staniszewski

Estonia · Mobility · 2013

Bolt

A mobility app for ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, scooter and e-bike rentals and car sharing across Europe and Africa.

“Over the past eight years we have developed products that offer better and more affordable alternatives for almost every purpose a private car serves” Markus Villig

Germany · Software · 2011

Celonis

Process-mining software that analyses data from companies' IT systems to find and fix inefficiencies in business operations.

“As companies grow, inefficiency creeps in and business execution becomes a struggle. Employees feel it, customers feel it, and it leads to significant financial losses and environmental impact” Alex Rinke

United Kingdom · Fintech · 2015

Monzo

A UK digital bank offering app-based current accounts, savings, loans and business banking, now expanding into the EU.

“We've delivered strong, profitable growth while investing in the foundations that will power our future.” Diana Layfield

France · Fintech · 2016

Qonto

An online business account for SMEs and freelancers, bundling payments, cards, invoicing, bookkeeping and short-term financing.

“Bonne Nouvelle è il luogo in cui costruiremo il prossimo capitolo della nostra storia” Alexandre Prot

Netherlands · Fintech · 2004

Mollie

A payments and financial-services provider that helps European businesses accept online payments, manage money and access financing.

“This is more than two companies coming together. It genuinely expands what our customers can do,” Koen Köppen

Spain · Software

Factorial

Software that runs HR, finance and IT tasks for small and mid-sized businesses, now rebuilt around AI agents.

“This round does not close a chapter. It opens the one that matters.” Jordi Romero

Spain · Software · 2015 · Public or filing

Perk (formerly TravelPerk)

Platform that lets companies book and control business travel and manage employee spending in one AI-driven product.

“Our focus has never been stronger as we expand across core markets, accelerate growth in the US, and now work to become the number one travel and expense management platform.” Avi Meir

Portugal · Health

Sword Health

AI-led digital care for physical pain, pelvic health and mental health, sold mainly to employers, health plans and governments.

“We've rebuilt care delivery from the ground up—replacing a century-old, labor-intensive model with AI that removes barriers to world-class care for everyone who needs it” Virgílio Bento

Portugal · Fintech

Feedzai

AI platform that helps banks and payment firms detect fraud, money laundering and other financial crime in real time.

“Fraud isn't just numbers on a balance sheet. It's families losing their life savings and businesses losing customers.” Nuno Sebastião

Spain · AI

THEKERRising

Builds AI-native, general-purpose industrial robots that adapt to changing factory, logistics and retail tasks without manual reprogramming.

“We built it to ship robots that work the day they arrive and continue improving every day after.” Carla Gómez Cano

Portugal · AI

Augusta LabsRising

Works alongside executives, mainly at private-equity portfolio companies, to redesign businesses as AI-native and build custom AI solutions.

“Encontrámos fortíssimo product-market fit do lado de private equity, para transformar empresas de portefólio.” Rodrigo Fernandes

United Kingdom · AI · 2024

ConductRising

AI platform that analyses code and configurations in sprawling ERP systems so companies can understand them, change them faster and migrate SAP.

“The same opacity that slows people down stops agents entirely, because an agent can only act on a system it understands.” Jan Philipp Haas

Lithuania · Health

BiomatterRising

Designs custom enzymes from scratch with computational models and lab testing for pharma, diagnostics, agriculture and industrial biotech.

“Our goal is to make a custom enzyme as easy to order as a catalog product, including for reactions that don’t have one today” Laurynas Karpus

Africa

Nigeria · Fintech · 2015

Moniepoint

Nigerian digital bank and payments network serving small businesses and individuals through apps, cards and a large agent network.

“The proceeds from our landmark Series C will be deployed judiciously to generate even more momentum as we enter the next chapter of Moniepoint's story” Tosin Eniolorunda

Senegal · Fintech · 2018

Wave

Mobile money app in West Africa offering free deposits and withdrawals and a flat 1% fee on transfers.

“This funding means we can help even more people by delivering the best possible product at the lowest possible price” Drew Durbin

Kenya · Fintech · 2011

M-KOPA

Finances smartphones, solar kits and e-motorbikes for informal workers in Africa, who repay in small daily installments.

“Informal has never meant unviable. 10 million customers on, that's no longer a belief. It's proven” Jesse Moore

Egypt · Fintech · 2015

Paymob

Egyptian payments company that lets merchants accept online and in-store payments through gateways, terminals and payment links.

“Paymob morphed into a regional platform over the past 18 months, propelled by the exponential growth of our GCC business.” Islam Shawky

Nigeria · Fintech · 2016

Flutterwave

Payments infrastructure that lets businesses collect and send money across African markets and dozens of currencies worldwide.

“A decade ago, we started with a simple belief: better infrastructure changes everything.” Olugbenga Agboola

South Africa · Fintech

Tyme (GoTyme Bank)

Digital banking group that runs low-cost, app-based banks for mass-market customers in South Africa and the Philippines.

“It is a unique vote of confidence in our business by the world leaders in our industry, essentially.” Coenraad Jonker

Kenya · Energy · 2007

Sun King

Sells off-grid solar home systems and appliances to households, letting customers pay over time through pay-as-you-go financing.

“Lightrock brings a deep understanding of our customers' needs and a clear commitment to expanding access to energy” T. Patrick Walsh

Morocco · Software · 2022 · Public or filing

JournifyRising

Advertising data infrastructure that feeds online and offline purchase signals back to ad platforms so campaigns optimize on real outcomes.

“AI is transforming advertising, but the intelligence behind it is only as good as the signals it receives” Taoufik El Jamali

Nigeria · Technology · 2024

Terra IndustriesRising

Defense-tech manufacturer building autonomous drones, sentry towers and ground vehicles to protect critical infrastructure across Africa.

Egypt · Energy · 2021

NoorNationRising

Builds self-contained solar units that supply power and clean water for irrigation and off-grid farms and communities.

Middle East & Israel

Saudi Arabia · Fintech · 2019

Tabby

Buy-now-pay-later and consumer finance app in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, expanding into cards, wallets and money management.

“Everything since, every product and every licence, has come back to the same idea: people deserve more from their money.” Hosam Arab

Saudi Arabia · Commerce · 2022

Ninja

Saudi quick-commerce app that delivers groceries, medicines and everyday essentials in minutes across several Gulf countries.

Israel · Security · 2021

Cyera

Israeli-founded cybersecurity company that finds and protects sensitive company data and controls what AI agents can access.

“Global 2000 enterprises are telling us the same thing: they need to trust what AI agents can see and do before they can scale them” Yotam Segev

Saudi Arabia · Fintech · 2020

Tamara

Buy-now-pay-later and consumer credit app letting Gulf shoppers split purchases into installments, increasingly via Islamic financing.

“Saudi Arabia deserves its place on the world stage for financial technology.” Abdulmajeed Alsukhan

Saudi Arabia · Fintech · 2019

Lean Technologies

Open-banking platform giving businesses in the Middle East APIs for bank data access and account-to-account payments.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment not only for Lean but for the entire fintech landscape in the Middle East.” Hisham Al-Falih

Israel · Security

Cato Networks

Cloud platform that merges corporate networking and security (SASE) into one service, including tools to secure enterprise AI use.

“Cato's mission is to fundamentally simplify and modernize enterprise networking and security, and our growth is a direct reflection of that vision” Shlomo Kramer

Israel · Commerce · 2025

ZyGRising

AI-agent operating system that helps product makers and direct-to-consumer brands validate, launch, market and finance e-commerce growth.

“ZyG OS flips that model with an end-to-end solution that solves the entire problem, not pieces of it.” Omer Kaplan

India

India · Commerce · 2020

Zepto

Quick-commerce app delivering groceries and household essentials in minutes from a network of dark stores across Indian cities.

“The true differentiator in this market is execution.” Aadit Palicha

India · Fintech · 2014

Razorpay

Provides online payment processing, business banking and payroll software for Indian businesses, from small startups to large enterprises.

“If you are creating more value for yourself than for your customers, you are living on borrowed valuation.” Harshil Mathur

India · Fintech · 2018

CRED

Members-only app that rewards creditworthy Indians for paying credit card bills, and offers lending, payments, insurance and wealth products.

“I started CRED in 2018 with a belief that creditworthiness deserves to be rewarded.” Kunal Shah

India · AI

Krutrim

Ola group's AI company, now focused on renting AI cloud computing and enterprise tools after scaling back its own models and chips.

“By open sourcing our models, we hope the entire Indian AI community collaborates to create a world-class Indian AI ecosystem.” Bhavish Aggarwal

India · AI · 2022

SimplismartRising

Software layer between AI models and GPUs that tunes how models are deployed so companies hit their speed and cost targets.

“Nobody actually needs the fastest or the cheapest inference,” Amritanshu Jain

India · Health

CentRising

Preventive health clinics combining full-body MRI, low-dose CT and other scans with AI to screen symptom-free people for 300+ conditions.