If the past decade was about proving that startups could disrupt incumbents, 2025 is proving they can also build the infrastructure industries rely on every day. New York Tech’s annual list of up-and-coming companies highlights 15 ventures that are chasing trends and executing them with measurable impact.
Reinventing the Enterprise Stack
Some of this year’s most notable startups are addressing pain points at the core of enterprise operations. PointFive is pioneering “Cloud Efficiency Posture Management,” giving companies the ability to rein in spiraling multicloud costs while maintaining resilience. Cohere, one of the most credible challengers to OpenAI, doubled recurring revenue and secured $500 million in new funding by focusing squarely on privacy-conscious enterprise AI deployments. Kore.ai is also rising quickly, helping businesses deploy conversational AI across support, HR, and IT.
Taken together, these companies reflect how enterprise buyers want AI and automation that deliver immediate, operational results rather than speculative promises.
AI Becomes Operational Infrastructure
Artificial intelligence is becoming embedded in the workflows of entire industries. Deepgram is at the forefront of voice AI, with award-winning speech-to-text and text-to-speech engines, plus a new operating system that makes natural conversation a true computing platform.
In healthcare, Tennr is attacking outdated referral systems by processing hundreds of millions of documents with its AI platform, while Commure is automating billing, scheduling, and other administrative burdens so clinicians can focus on patients. Overjet is also making specialized AI real in clinical practice with its FDA-cleared dental imaging platform already deployed in various practices.
AI is shifting from pilots and prototypes to the unseen backbone of essential operations.
Creative Industries at a Crossroads
Few sectors illustrate both the promise and complexity of AI like music and media. Suno is giving users the ability to create songs from prompts, recently acquiring browser-based workstation WavTool and enabling integration of user vocals. ElevenLabs has also expanded into full-song generation with licensing deals that set it apart from rivals, navigating copyright concerns.
Beyond music, platforms like Substack and WhatNot are rewriting the rules of creator-driven economies. The former continues to help independent writers and podcasters monetize audiences with flexible subscription models, while the latter has built livestream shopping into a multibillion-dollar marketplace connecting collectors, sellers, and creators in real time.
These startups reflect how both AI and creator tools are dismantling traditional distribution channels, giving individuals more direct paths to economic participation.
Building Physical and Digital Infrastructure
Disruption is not limited to software. Several startups are taking on infrastructure challenges critical to the next decade. AMPECO is powering the white-label EV charging economy, allowing operators to scale networks without proprietary hardware lock-in just as EV adoption enters a pivotal growth phase.
Nominal is transforming how aerospace, defense, and energy firms build hardware, applying software’s continuous integration principles to physical systems and helping engineers catch failures earlier. Torq is tackling cybersecurity with its AI-native HyperSOC-2o platform, which uses multiple AI agents to automate detection and response.
TravelPerk, meanwhile, is reshaping corporate mobility, blending flexible booking, expense management, and policy compliance into a single platform. Its recent $200 million raise and acquisition of spend-management firm Yokoy reflect the growing convergence of travel and fintech.
The Bigger Picture
What unites these 15 startups is not just a bold vision, but execution. Each has found a way to insert itself into high-friction environments and deliver solutions that scale. They aren’t just catching waves of hype; they’re building the markets others will eventually have to play in.
As 2025 unfolds, one thing is clear: the most exciting startups are no longer trying to disrupt from the edges. They’re embedding themselves at the center of industries, creating the backbone for the next decade of growth.
