StartupBlink

Top Unicorn Startups in Palo Alto for 2026

In Palo Alto, we rank 25 unicorn startups based on an algorithm that considers factors such as total investment, quarterly employee count, and website traffic. Unicorns in Palo Alto are falling behind the performance of their global counterparts.

Powered by

Category

Startups

Unicorns

Exits

Coworking Spaces

Accelerators

Top Unicorn Startups in Palo Alto for 2026

1st
xAI logo
xAISB Score: 880

xAI develops artificial intelligence systems and tools centered on large language models and AI-powered applications that support reasoning, real-time data integration, and natural language interaction. The company offers products such as the Grok chatbot and associated APIs for embedding conversational AI into third-party applications, and it builds infrastructure to support model training and deployment at scale. Its technology is designed to leverage extensive data sources and computational resources to provide contextual insights, information retrieval, and automated responses for diverse use cases. xAI also works on complementary AI platforms and knowledge services that extend AI utility beyond simple chatbots, while continuously iterating on its models and deployment frameworks.

View Full Page
Website
x.ai
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$37.7B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
2nd
Houzz logo
HouzzSB Score: 699

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Bangalore, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

View Full Page
Website
www.houzz.com
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$613.6M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
3rd
Gong logo
GongSB Score: 678

Gong is a technology company that offers a Revenue Intelligence Platform using AI to analyze customer interactions, helping businesses improve decision-making and accelerate revenue growth. Their platform captures and integrates customer data, supporting go-to-market strategies for thousands of companies worldwide.

View Full Page
Website
www.gong.io
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$583M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)

Total amount:25

Most Valuable Unicorns in Palo Alto for 2026

The top three most valuable unicorns in Palo Alto have raised total funding of more than USD 14.3B. Among the top three funded unicorns, the most popular industry, based on total funding, is Software & Data.
1st
xAI logo
xAISB Score: 880

xAI develops artificial intelligence systems and tools centered on large language models and AI-powered applications that support reasoning, real-time data integration, and natural language interaction. The company offers products such as the Grok chatbot and associated APIs for embedding conversational AI into third-party applications, and it builds infrastructure to support model training and deployment at scale. Its technology is designed to leverage extensive data sources and computational resources to provide contextual insights, information retrieval, and automated responses for diverse use cases. xAI also works on complementary AI platforms and knowledge services that extend AI utility beyond simple chatbots, while continuously iterating on its models and deployment frameworks.

View Full Page
Website
x.ai
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$37.7B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
2nd
TripActions logo
TripActionsSB Score: 542

TripActions is a travel management app for businesses, streamlining the booking process for corporate travel. With a user-friendly interface and comprehensive features, TripActions makes it easy for companies to efficiently plan and manage their travel arrangements, ensuring smooth and hassle-free trips for employees.

View Full Page
Website
tripactions.com
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$1.1B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
3rd
Gong logo
GongSB Score: 678

Gong is a technology company that offers a Revenue Intelligence Platform using AI to analyze customer interactions, helping businesses improve decision-making and accelerate revenue growth. Their platform captures and integrates customer data, supporting go-to-market strategies for thousands of companies worldwide.

View Full Page
Website
www.gong.io
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$583M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
4th
SambaNova Systems logo
SambaNova SystemsSB Score: 563

Customers turn to SambaNova to quickly deploy state-of-the-art AI capabilities to meet the demands of the AI-enabled world. Their purpose-built enterprise-scale AI platform is the technology backbone for the next generation of AI computing. They enable customers to unlock the valuable business insights trapped in their data. Their flagship offering, Dataflow-as-a-ServiceTM, overcomes the limitations of legacy technology to power the large complex foundation models that enable customers to discover new services and revenue streams and boost operational efficiency. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, SambaNova Systems was founded in 2017 by industry luminaries and hardware and software design experts from Sun/Oracle and Stanford University. Investors include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Intel Capital, GV, Walden International, Temasek, GIC, Redline Capital, Atlantic Bridge Ventures, Celesta, and several others. Visit us at sambanova.ai or contact us at info@sambanova.ai. Follow SambaNova Systems on LinkedIn.

View Full Page
Website
sambanova.ai
Employee range
251 – 500
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$1.5B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
5th
Glean logo
GleanSB Score: 580

Glean develops an AI-based search engine software that connects enterprise data and generates answers through a tool in any company. It provides an AI assistant and enterprise search platform called Workplace Search that connects to internal data sources to help employees find information and answer questions. The platform uses advanced search, retrieval augmented generation, and large language models to generate personalized answers grounded.

View Full Page
Website
www.glean.com
Employee range
101 – 250
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$85.1M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
6th
Next Insurance logo
Next InsuranceSB Score: 88

Next Insurance provides tailored insurance products for small businesses through a digital platform, streamlining the process of obtaining coverage. Their industry-specific approach simplifies insurance for entrepreneurs, offering a seamless and efficient experience.

View Full Page
Website
www.next-insurance.com
Employee range
1 – 10
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
7th
Houzz logo
HouzzSB Score: 699

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Bangalore, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

View Full Page
Website
www.houzz.com
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$613.6M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
8th
PsiQuantum logo
PsiQuantumSB Score: 550

PsiQuantum is developing a cutting-edge silicon photonic quantum computer with over 1 million physical qubits, enabling unprecedented computational power and groundbreaking advancements in quantum computing technology.

View Full Page
Website
www.psiquantum.com
Employee range
501 – 1,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$2.3B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
9th
Plume Design logo
Plume DesignSB Score: 590

Plume is a software-as-a-service platform for communications service providers (CSPs) that enables the delivery of services for connected homes. Its platform serves connected homes, delivering features like optimum Wi-Fi, parental controls, and motion sensing to smart home residents while giving communication service providers back-end applications to provide support. Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

View Full Page
Website
www.plume.com
Employee range
501 – 1,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$697.4M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
10th
Groq logo
GroqSB Score: 660

Groq develops AI inference technology for cloud and on-prem solutions at scale. Groq's technology is designed to handle complex computations required for machine learning models, particularly in deep learning and neural networks. Groq focuses on delivering high performance with lower power consumption, making its processors suitable for large-scale AI deployments. The company emphasizes deterministic performance, ensuring predictable outcomes in AI computations.

View Full Page
Website
groq.com
Employee range
251 – 500
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$1.8B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)

Total amount:25

Top Hiring Unicorns in Palo Alto by Employee Number

The top three hiring unicorns in Palo Alto have an average employee size that is larger than to the global average. Among these, the Software & Data industry features the unicorn with the largest workforce.
1st
xAI logo
xAISB Score: 880

xAI develops artificial intelligence systems and tools centered on large language models and AI-powered applications that support reasoning, real-time data integration, and natural language interaction. The company offers products such as the Grok chatbot and associated APIs for embedding conversational AI into third-party applications, and it builds infrastructure to support model training and deployment at scale. Its technology is designed to leverage extensive data sources and computational resources to provide contextual insights, information retrieval, and automated responses for diverse use cases. xAI also works on complementary AI platforms and knowledge services that extend AI utility beyond simple chatbots, while continuously iterating on its models and deployment frameworks.

View Full Page
Website
x.ai
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$37.7B
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
2nd
Houzz logo
HouzzSB Score: 699

Houzz is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Bangalore, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

View Full Page
Website
www.houzz.com
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$613.6M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
3rd
Gong logo
GongSB Score: 678

Gong is a technology company that offers a Revenue Intelligence Platform using AI to analyze customer interactions, helping businesses improve decision-making and accelerate revenue growth. Their platform captures and integrates customer data, supporting go-to-market strategies for thousands of companies worldwide.

View Full Page
Website
www.gong.io
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$583M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)
4th
Turing logo
TuringSB Score: 657

Turing is a cutting-edge platform powered by data science that effortlessly helps companies build their engineering teams in the cloud with a simple click.

View Full Page
Website
www.turing.com
Employee range
1,001 – 5,000
Web Traffic (Monthly)
Funding amount
$270.2M
National Rank(United States)
Regional Rank(North America)
Global Rank(Worldwide)

Total amount:25

Explore More Top Startups

Explore the Startup Ecosystem of Palo Alto

National Rank

(United States)

new

Regional Rank

(North America)

1st

0

Global Rank

(WorldWide)

1st

0

Visit

Top Cities for Startups in United States - Ranked by StartupBlink

StartupBlink ranks the startup ecosystems of more than 100 countries and 1,000 cities. Download our latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report.
2026 National Rank CityGlobal RankTotal Score & National ShareAnnual Growth

Access subscores for 1000 cities and 100 countries

Quantity Score
Quality ScoreBusiness Score
1st
0
1st
0
935.32535.2%
0.0%
00.00
00.00
00.00
2nd
0
2nd
0
352.15913.3%
0.0%
00.00
00.00
00.00
3rd
0
4th
0
152.3715.7%
0.0%
00.00
00.00
00.00
4th
0
5th
+
1
127.1194.8%
0.0%
00.00
00.00
00.00
Microsoft Excel icon
Download CSV file