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Startup Trends: Q3 companies now part of the “unicorn” club 

By Chris Cannon
Emerging Trends

The pace of new unicorns in the private markets showed no signs of slowing last quarter. Despite persistent economic headwinds that might have tempered valuations, a steady stream of companies still crossed the coveted $1 billion mark. In this roundup, we’re spotlighting five firms from Q3 that officially joined the “unicorn” club — spanning sectors from AI and infrastructure to creator-focused tools. Their rapid growth and rising valuations make them companies investors may want to watch in the quarters ahead.

Substack, a creator platform

San Francisco-based Substack is a platform that enables writers, podcasters and newsletter creators to broadcast and monetize directly via paid subscriptions. The platform provides creators with tools for editing content, posting media and analytics monitoring.

Founded in 2017, Substack’s unicorn moment came in July when it announced a $100 million Series C round that pushed its valuation past $1.1 billion.1 It marked one of the highest-profile unicorns in the creator space so far this year.

The private company’s latest price per share is $34.19 as of this latest funding round. Substack’s notable investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Fifty Years, Y Combinator and BOND.

Anaconda, a developer platform

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Anaconda is a project that provides open-source and commercial distribution of Python for data science, machine learning and analytics teams. The firm provides management services in a package, dubbed “Conda,” for tooling, enterprise services, and other business-related ecosystems that use data Python stacks.2

Founded in 2012, Anaconda reached the coveted unicorn threshold in August after a $150 million series C funding round placed its post-money valuation at $1.5 billion.3 The fundraise follows news of a go-to-market partnership with data heavyweight Databricks, announced in June.4

Anaconda’s price per share is $26.19 as of this latest funding round. The private company’s investors include Insight Partners, Mubadala Capital, Snowflake Ventures and Blackrock.

You.com, an AI-enabled search engine

Founded in 2020, You.com is a search engine that provides summarized web content while protecting users’ privacy. Its AI-enabled platform helps users find the most relevant results from the web and apps that they can sort and prioritize for an optimum search experience.

The Palo Alto-based company reached its $1B+ valuation mark after a Series C fundraise secured $100 million for the firm in September. According to the company, the funds will be used to advance infrastructure for the Agentic Era, a time when AI agents will be searching the web more than humans.5

You.com’s price per share as of this funding round is $9.99, which places its post-money valuation at $1.5 billion. Its investors include Northwest Venture Partners, Salesforce, Cox Enterprises and Radical Ventures.

Baseten, a machine learning platform

San Francisco-based Baseten is a platform that offers machine learning tools to developers and enterprises. The private company’s tools help its users to deploy, scale, monitor and optimize their models in production.

Baseten’s recent $150 million Series D fundraise in September cemented its unicorn status with a $2.15 billion post-money valuation.6 According to the company announcement, the capital will provide resources to help power the next wave of AI-enabled systems.

Founded in 2019, Baseten’s price per share is $63.71 as of this latest funding round. The firm’s investors include Greylock, Spark Capital, IVP and AI Fund.

Modular, an AI software provider

Palo Alto-based Modular is an AI software development company designed to improve enterprise productivity and decrease costs through rewriting the engineering stack. The private company’s approach is to make AI infrastructure tooling as portable as mobile applications.

Founded in 2022, Modular made unicorn status in September when it raised $250 million in a Series C funding round, putting its post-money valuation at $1.6 billion, and nearly tripling its valuation from its 2023 fundraise. According to the company, the fresh capital will be used to aggressively scale the Modular platform and power the most advanced AI-enabled workloads and efficiencies.7

Modular’s price per share is $74.68 as of this latest funding round. Notable investors of the firm include General Catalyst, Greylock Ventures, FactoryHQ and Sherpalo Ventures.

1 Substack, 07/17/2025

2 Anaconda, 10/08/2025

3 Silicon Valley Investclub, 08/01/2025

4 CRN Magazine, 07/31/2025

5 You.com, 09/03/2025

6 Baseten, 09/05/2025

7 Modular, 09/24/2025

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Substack
LFR Post-Money Valuation
$1.1B
Modular
LFR Post-Money Valuation
$1.6B
Anaconda
LFR Post-Money Valuation
$1.5B
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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