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Insights / Blog

Startup Trends: New entrants to the $1B+ valuation club

By Chris Cannon
Unicorns & Startup News

The first quarter of 2025 delivered a wave of fresh unicorns in the private market. From generative AI to robotics and enterprise infrastructure, these five startups secured $1 billion-plus valuations, reflecting investors' continued appetite for transformative technology. Below are the standout unicorns from Q1 2025, also listed on Forge Global.

Abridge, a medical conversation documentation

Abridge, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a generative AI company specializing in medical conversation documentation. In February, the private company announced a $250 million Series D round, co-led by Elad Gil and IVP with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, California Health Care Foundation, CapitalG and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others.1

Founded in 2018, the firm recently announced a partnership with Sharp HealthCare, the largest integrated health system in San Diego, California.2 This follows on the heels of its announced partnership with Inova Health.3

This latest funding round puts the company at a post-money valuation of $2.75 billion, a price-per-share value of $90.01 and makes it a newly minted unicorn company.

Hightouch, an enterprise data platform

San Francisco-based Hightouch is a developer of a data platform that assists businesses in syncing data warehouses, marketing, CRM, and other support applications. The company announced its latest $80 million fundraise as part of a Series C extension in February.4 The round was led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from NVC, Bain Capital Ventures and ICONIQ, among others.

Founded in 2018, the company most recently announced its AI-enabled customer relationship management decisioning software.5

Hightouch’s post-money valuation landed at $1.20 billion after the funding haul, giving the private company a price-per-share at $20.88 and its unicorn status in the first quarter.

Apptronik, a robotics company

Austin, Texas-based Apptronik, a humanoid robotics company, reached a $1.78 billion valuation following a $350 million Series A funding round co-led by B Capital and Capital Factory, with participation from Google.6

Founded in 2016, the private company’s general-purpose robots help industries such as logistics, manufacturing, and retail achieve more efficiency. Their flagship robot, Apollo, is designed to perform tasks like case picking, palletization, and machine tending according to its website.7

This latest funding haul places Apptronik’s price-per-share at $2.38. The company reportedly was in a pilot testing phase in 2024 and in talks with 60 potential customers at the time. It’s expected to move into real-world use this year.8

Mercor, a human resources platform

San Francisco-based Mercor is a privately owned human resources technology company that aims to offer an AI-powered hiring platform for employers looking to fill roles at AI-focused companies.

Founded in 2022, it was reported that the firm achieved a $100 million Series B funding haul, which placed it in unicorn status at a $2 billion post-money valuation in February.9 This valuation was eight times its previous valuation.10

According to Mercor’s website, the company specializes in matching candidates from various fields, including law, medicine, and technology, with contract roles related to developing generative AI models. 11

This latest funding round places the company at a price-per-share of $156.41. Its investors include Benchmark, General Catalyst, Link Ventures and Soma Capital.

Netradyne, a fleet solutions company

Netradyne is a San Diego-based company specializing in fleet safety and AI-driven driver monitoring. Founded in 2015, the privately owned company’s safety solutions aim to improve driver behavior and commercial fleet performance by setting vehicle driver standards.

In January, the firm announced its $90 million Series D funding haul led by Point72 Private Investments. Participating investors included Qualcomm Ventures and Pavilion Capital. According to the company, Netradyne is used by over 3,000 enterprise customers across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and India. It has expansion plans to continue into Europe and Japan.12

The January funding round gives the company a price-per-share of $5.94 with a post-money valuation of $1.06 billion, making it a unicorn company.

1 Abridge, 2/17/25

2 Businesswire, 4/10/25

3 MobiHealthNews, 2/26/25

4 Hightouch, 2/18/25

5 PR Newswire, 8/27/24

6 Apptronik, 2/13/25

7 Apptronik, 4/17/25

8 Forbes, 8/9/24

9 TechCrunch, 2/20/25

10 The Wall Street Journal, 1/27/25

11 Mercor, 4/22/25

12 Netradyne, 1/16/25

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Apptronik
LFR Post-Money Valuation
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LFR Post-Money Valuation
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LFR Post-Money Valuation
$2B
About the Author

Chris Cannon develops lifecycle programs that engage Forge’s existing client base. Prior to joining Forge, he led audience engagement programs and newsletter operations at Investopedia, the global financial and investing media company. Chris received his MBA from East Carolina University and a BA in History from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Read more from Chris.

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