The Next List 2025: Emerging Private Companies

The private market continues to grow as new, innovative companies emerge that are transforming entire industries. While OpenAI, SpaceX and other household names may capture the lion share of headlines, keen investors have their eyes on the emerging private companies that have the potential to be the next big thing.  

As a leader in the pre-IPO market, that's why EquityZen is focused on what’s next. Here, we've compiled a list of promising private companies that we expect to dominate the private market, and eventually the public market, in the coming years.

We took a quantitative approach to crafting this list, based on the key criteria that we believe indicate a high potential for growth and future success. Specifically, our criteria filtered for private companies that:

• Raised funding in the last 12 months from an investor whose firm is on the Midas list. At EquityZen, we look to follow the lead of the best tech investors. The Midas list ranks institutional investors based on the exits and private valuations they've achieved over the past five years. Investors who qualified for the 2024 list backed industry-defining companies like OpenAI, Coinbase, Airbnb, ByteDance, and SpaceX. Companies that have raised funding from these top-tier investors may have a competitive advantage. 
• Raised $20 to $200M in funding in their latest funding round.¹ We aimed to focus on companies that have raised enough money to be considered early-mid stage, while not too large yet.
• Are valued between $500 million and $2 billion. As private company valuations continue to grow, especially for AI companies, we’ve upped our maximum valuation criteria from $1 billion to $2 billion. In doing so, we want to focus on the next big names, not the current ones. Meanwhile, we want to focus on companies that are large enough to potentially trade in the private secondary market.
• Are US-based. U.S. based companies tend to be the most active in the U.S. private secondary market where EquityZen operates.
• Achieved headcount growth of 200%+ in the last 12 to 24 months. In a highly competitive market, acquiring talent is crucial to scale. Companies that have significantly grown their teams may be positioned for continued growth. The companies on our list range from smaller teams with less than 30 employees to larger operations with over 400 employees. Seven companies on our list had over 100 candidates as of April 2025. 

This year’s list includes companies from a wide range of industries from enterprise software and design to health tech and cybersecurity. Unsurprisingly, almost all of these companies have an artificial intelligence component to their product. These companies have created products that aim to solve problems for a broad set of end users from physicians to recruiting teams.

Now, let's dive into the list. Meet this year's "Next List" in the private market.

Farcaster 

• What they do: Farcaster is a decentralized social network protocol that aims to provide users with more control over their social interactions and data via blockchain. The company’s core application is Warpcaster, which has been likened to a blockchain-enabled version of X. Farcaster was founded by two Coinbase alumni.  
• Industry: Blockchain, Social Platforms
• Founded in 2021 in Los Angeles, CA
• Latest Round: $150M Series A in May 2024 at a post money valuation of $1B from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. 
• Why it’s next: In April of 2025 the company launched its own blockchain called Snapchain “to handle decentralized social media activity across platforms built within the Farcaster ecosystem”. Crypto aficionados have flocked to the platform. Brian Quintenz, Head of Policy at a16z announced his nomination to lead the CFTC on the platform, bringing attention to Farcaster beyond the crypto world.

Fay 

• What they do: Fay connects individuals with dietitians and nutritionists who accept insurance, aiming to make professional dietary support more accessible. The company focuses on providing affordable nutritional services and sharing insights on lifestyle changes related to nutrition through their AI-powered platform.
• Industry: Health Tech, Consumer
• Founded in 2021 in Barrington, IL
• Latest Round: $50M Series B in February 2025 at a post money valuation of $500M from investors including Forerunner Ventures and General Catalyst.
• Why it’s next:: According to the company, Fay has become the largest and fastest-growing network of registered dietitians. The company reports that it has also launched partnerships with leading insurance providers like United Healthcare, Aetna CVS, Blue Cross, Anthem, Cigna, Optum, and Humana allowing over 200 million Americans to receive nutrition and lifestyle counseling with little to no out-of-pocket cost.  

Hebbia

• What they do: Hebbia is an AI-powered platform for enterprises, particularly in finance and legal sectors, that aims to enable knowledge workers to efficiently search, analyze, and automate complex tasks across vast amounts of unstructured data using AI agents.
• Industry: Enterprise software
• Founded in 2020 in New York, NY
• Latest Round: $130M Series B in July 2024 at a post valuation of $700M from investors including Abstract Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Floodgate, GV, Human Capital, Index Ventures, and Peter Thiel.
• Why it’s next: Hebbia emphasizes its ability to perform "deep research" by orchestrating multiple AI agents to tackle complex queries and automate up to 90% of finance and legal work. They report that their platform has been adopted by major players in asset management, investment banking, and law firms, including names like Centerview Partners, Charlesbank, and Fenwick. According to Hebbia, use cases include due diligence, contract analysis, precedent transactions, and regulatory reviews

HeyGen

• What they do: HeyGen is an AI video generation platform that allows users to create videos from text using AI avatars and voices, aiming to simplify video production and make it accessible without traditional filming equipment. 
• Industry: Enterprise software
• Founded in 2020 in Los Angeles, CA
• Latest Round: $60M Series A in June 2024 at a post money valuation of $500M from investors including Baidu Ventures, Benchmark Capital Holdings, Bond Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital.
• Why it’s next: The company reports that it has over 40,000 paying customers who use the platform for over 100 use cases and was named on “The Next Big Things in Tech” list by Fast Company. In April, HeyGen announced a partnership with martech leader HubSpot, enabling marketers and sales teams to generate personalized videos within HubSpot.

Hippocratic AI

• What they do: Hippocratic AI builds generative AI technology specifically for healthcare, aiming to enhance patient care and operational efficiency by creating helpful and safe AI assistants for various healthcare tasks.
• Industry: Enterprise Software, Health Tech 
• Founded in 2023 in Palo Alto, CA
• Latest Round: $141M Series B in January 2025 at a post money valuation of $1.6B from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, General Catalyst, Greycroft, HonorHealth, Kleiner Perkins, Nvidia, Universal Health Services, and WellSpan Health.
• Why it’s next: As of December 2024, the company reported that it had 23 healthy system, payor, and pharma partners. In January 2025 the company launched the first healthcare AI agent app store.

Krea 

• What they do: ​Krea offers a browser-based platform that integrates various generative AI models, which they claim facilitates the creation, editing, and customization of images and videos. The platform provides tools such as real-time image generation, video restyling, and 3D object creation, enabling users to produce and refine visual content.
• Industry: Multimedia & Design
• Founded in 2022 in San Francisco, CA
• Latest Round: $83M Series B in April 2025 at a post money valuation of $500M from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, and Gradient Ventures.
• Why it’s next: The company, which aggregates multiple creative AI models in one place, reports over 20 million users including creators at Perplexity AI, Loop Earplugs, Pixar, LEGO, and Samsung.

Mercor 

• What they do: Mercor leverages artificial intelligence to match job seekers with potential employers by analyzing skills and experiences, with the goal of reducing the time spent job searching. 
• Industry: Enterprise software
• Founded in 2022 in San Francisco, CA
• Latest Round: $437M Series B in January 2025 at a post money valuation of $2B including investors like Anthropic, Benchmark Capital Holdings, Bill Gurley, DST Global, Felicis, General Catalyst, Jack Dorsey,Menlo Ventures, New Era Ventures, Peter Thiel, and Sequoia Capital.
• Why it’s next: Mercor aims to revolutionize the hiring process. Since its launch, the company claims to have  processed 300,000 candidates and conducted more than 100,000 interviews. The company reports that it works with leading AI companies like OpenAI and has achieved over $75M in annual recurring revenue. 

Nexthop.ai   

• What they do: NextHop AI offers an AI-driven platform that aims to provide intelligent automation and actionable insights for cloud infrastructure. The company looks to help businesses significantly optimize their cloud spending and improve the performance and reliability of their cloud environments.
• Industry: Hardware, Information Technology
• Founded in 2024 in Santa Clara, CA
• Latest Round: $110M Series A in March 2025 at a post money valuation of $580M from investors including Battery Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
• Why it’s next: Nexthop utilizes a Joint Development Manufacturer (JDM) model to provide customized hardware and software solutions for hyperscalers. The customization aims to enable hyperscaler deployments to be much more efficient. 

Upwind

• What they do: Upwind is a next-generation cloud security platform that aims to provide a comprehensive view of cloud risks by integrating build-time and runtime context.
• Industry: Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software
• Founded in 2022 in San Francisco, CA
• Latest Round: $100M Series A in December 2024 at a post money valuation of $870M from investors including Alta Park Capital, Artisanal Ventures, Cerca Partners, Craft Ventures, Greylock, and TCV.
• Why it’s next: In April 2025 the company announced its new real-time advanced threat detection API. By integrating with Upwind’s unified CADR framework, Upwind claims that it is able to deliver a comprehensive, unified approach to cloud security for enterprises.

Interested in learning more about the innovative companies active in the private secondary market? Visit our Explore page to see what’s trending now.

Not all pre-IPO companies will go public or be acquired, and not all IPOs or acquisitions are or will become successful investments. There are inherent risks in pre-IPO investments, including the risk of loss of the entire investment, illiquidity, and fluctuations in value and returns. Investors must be able to afford the loss of their entire investment.  The information provided is intended for reference only and does not constitute a recommendation or personal financial advice.

Footnotes

1. All funding round data was sourced by Pitchbook as of April 2025.