Top 42 AI startups in Mountain View
May 18, 2026
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16
1
Funding: $594.9M
Kodiak Robotics is an autonomous vehicle company developing self-driving solutions for long-haul trucking to enhance safety and efficiency.
Kodiak Robotics is an autonomous vehicle company developing self-driving solutions for long-haul trucking to enhance safety and efficiency.
2
Funding: $85.5M
WitnessAI develops a security system that creates the confidence layer for enterprise AI. It enables to monitor all AI activities within organization, protect models and applications (using next-generation AI Firewall and content controls), detect shadow AI use, catalog entire AI inventory (applications, MCP servers, agents), visualize all conversations with AI chats, including prompts and responses, implement intelligent controls and advanced business rules that record AI interactions among employees and agents, adapt to different usage contexts and reduce the cost of AI compliance.
WitnessAI develops a security system that creates the confidence layer for enterprise AI. It enables to monitor all AI activities within organization, protect models and applications (using next-generation AI Firewall and content controls), detect shadow AI use, catalog entire AI inventory (applications, MCP servers, agents), visualize all conversations with AI chats, including prompts and responses, implement intelligent controls and advanced business rules that record AI interactions among employees and agents, adapt to different usage contexts and reduce the cost of AI compliance.
3
Funding: $200M
Sunday is a robotics startup that builds home robots that utilize AI to assist with household tasks.
Sunday is a robotics startup that builds home robots that utilize AI to assist with household tasks.
4
Funding: $16B
Waymo is Google's self-driving technology startup with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. Waymo's autopilot system takes data gathered from its highly-detailed maps, lidar, CV cameras and advanced suite of sensors and understands what's around it using AI - from pedestrians to cyclists, vehicles and more. It also responds to signs and signals, like traffic light colors and temporary stop signs. The onboard computer combines the latest server-grade CPUs and GPUs. Waymo operates commercial robotaxi services available to the public in several US cities and has announced future expansion into Japan and the United Kingdom. Waymo has partnerships with multiple vehicle manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Volvo.
Waymo is Google's self-driving technology startup with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to move around. Waymo's autopilot system takes data gathered from its highly-detailed maps, lidar, CV cameras and advanced suite of sensors and understands what's around it using AI - from pedestrians to cyclists, vehicles and more. It also responds to signs and signals, like traffic light colors and temporary stop signs. The onboard computer combines the latest server-grade CPUs and GPUs. Waymo operates commercial robotaxi services available to the public in several US cities and has announced future expansion into Japan and the United Kingdom. Waymo has partnerships with multiple vehicle manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Volvo.
5
Funding: $4.2B
Aurora is developing an AI-powered autopilot for autonomous trucks. The autopilot is based on the Verifiable AI approach: along with a specialized learning AI for driving it incorporates strict rules (invariants) that don't let it violate traffic regulations. The Aurora Driver system is a hardware and software package that can be installed on an existing truck. Its proprietary FirstLight lidar provides a range of over 450 meters and can detect and respond to pedestrians up to 11 seconds earlier than human drivers at highway speeds at night. Aurora is also developing a centralized fleet management system. Intelligent information shared by all trucks allows them to collectively and automatically better understand road conditions and traffic patterns, ensuring fuel efficiency. Trucks managed by Aurora are already hauling freight in Texas.
Aurora is developing an AI-powered autopilot for autonomous trucks. The autopilot is based on the Verifiable AI approach: along with a specialized learning AI for driving it incorporates strict rules (invariants) that don't let it violate traffic regulations. The Aurora Driver system is a hardware and software package that can be installed on an existing truck. Its proprietary FirstLight lidar provides a range of over 450 meters and can detect and respond to pedestrians up to 11 seconds earlier than human drivers at highway speeds at night. Aurora is also developing a centralized fleet management system. Intelligent information shared by all trucks allows them to collectively and automatically better understand road conditions and traffic patterns, ensuring fuel efficiency. Trucks managed by Aurora are already hauling freight in Texas.
6
Funding: $2.2B
NURO is developing Nuro Driver, one of the few self-driving (L4) autonomous technologies in the world already in use on roads. It has been successfully deployed in three US states since 2020 (in alliance with Uber and electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid). Nuro Driver includes on-board software and hardware. Nuro has developed a new AI-based mapping approach that combines real-time perception data with low-cost prior mapping data using a geospatial model. This innovation enables accurate global localization, online inference of map features and real-time sensor calibration. Nuro's vehicle control system is flexible enough to integrate various sensor sets (lidar, radar and cameras). It uses Nvidia Thor automotive SoCs to significantly improve energy efficiency. The company also provides a developer platform - Nuro AI Platform.
NURO is developing Nuro Driver, one of the few self-driving (L4) autonomous technologies in the world already in use on roads. It has been successfully deployed in three US states since 2020 (in alliance with Uber and electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid). Nuro Driver includes on-board software and hardware. Nuro has developed a new AI-based mapping approach that combines real-time perception data with low-cost prior mapping data using a geospatial model. This innovation enables accurate global localization, online inference of map features and real-time sensor calibration. Nuro's vehicle control system is flexible enough to integrate various sensor sets (lidar, radar and cameras). It uses Nvidia Thor automotive SoCs to significantly improve energy efficiency. The company also provides a developer platform - Nuro AI Platform.
7
Funding: $1.8B
Groq creates hardware AI accelerators for large language models that improve performance and reduce power consumption compared to classic GPU accelerators. It produces a Language Processing Unit (LPU) chip that uses exclusively on-chip SRAM memory (without external DRAM/HBM modules), which requires installing multiple chips for scalable payloads. Its architecture minimizes elements associated with unpredictable behavior (branch prediction, caches, etc.). Groq enables best performance for small and medium batch/task sizes, especially if the model fits into their configuration. The software-defined, single-core architecture removes traditional software complexity while continuous, token-based execution delivers consistent performance without tradeoffs. Groq licenses its technology to NVidia. The company also provides its cloud AI inference platform built for developers - available in public, private, or co-cloud instances.
Groq creates hardware AI accelerators for large language models that improve performance and reduce power consumption compared to classic GPU accelerators. It produces a Language Processing Unit (LPU) chip that uses exclusively on-chip SRAM memory (without external DRAM/HBM modules), which requires installing multiple chips for scalable payloads. Its architecture minimizes elements associated with unpredictable behavior (branch prediction, caches, etc.). Groq enables best performance for small and medium batch/task sizes, especially if the model fits into their configuration. The software-defined, single-core architecture removes traditional software complexity while continuous, token-based execution delivers consistent performance without tradeoffs. Groq licenses its technology to NVidia. The company also provides its cloud AI inference platform built for developers - available in public, private, or co-cloud instances.
8
Funding: $1.5B
Applied Intuition develops vehicle operating system, autonomous driving system and a suite of tools that help partners create safer and more advanced AI-powered vehicles. The company helps manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, Porsche, Komatsu, Isuzu and Volkswagen integrate autonomous driving features into their cars, trucks and construction equipment. Specifically, the platform enables the creation of software simulations that test vehicle perception and behavior systems, reducing the cost of real-world testing by millions of dollars. And the autonomous driving system provides a scalable, end-to-end ADAS stack, enabling manufacturers to quickly implement L3 and L4 autonomy features.
Applied Intuition develops vehicle operating system, autonomous driving system and a suite of tools that help partners create safer and more advanced AI-powered vehicles. The company helps manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, Porsche, Komatsu, Isuzu and Volkswagen integrate autonomous driving features into their cars, trucks and construction equipment. Specifically, the platform enables the creation of software simulations that test vehicle perception and behavior systems, reducing the cost of real-world testing by millions of dollars. And the autonomous driving system provides a scalable, end-to-end ADAS stack, enabling manufacturers to quickly implement L3 and L4 autonomy features.
9
Funding: $696.5M
SentinelOne delivers autonomous AI-based endpoint protection that successfully prevents, detects and responds to attacks across all major vectors.
SentinelOne delivers autonomous AI-based endpoint protection that successfully prevents, detects and responds to attacks across all major vectors.
10
Funding: $625M
MatX is an AI chip startup that designs chips that support large language models. The company’s goal is to make its processors 10 times better at training LLMs and delivering results than Nvidia’s GPUs.
MatX is an AI chip startup that designs chips that support large language models. The company’s goal is to make its processors 10 times better at training LLMs and delivering results than Nvidia’s GPUs.
11
Funding: $464.9M
We are developing autonomous technology for long-haul trucking and helps US Army automate future ground vehicles to conduct high-risk missions like reconnaissance and surveillance.
We are developing autonomous technology for long-haul trucking and helps US Army automate future ground vehicles to conduct high-risk missions like reconnaissance and surveillance.
12
Funding: $450M
Wisk is an urban air-mobility company on a mission to leave traffic on the ground and make sustainable flight a reality for everyday life.
Wisk is an urban air-mobility company on a mission to leave traffic on the ground and make sustainable flight a reality for everyday life.
13
Funding: $337M
BigPanda offers a platform that helps IT Ops, NOC, and DevOps teams detect, investigate, and resolve IT incidents faster and more easily.
BigPanda offers a platform that helps IT Ops, NOC, and DevOps teams detect, investigate, and resolve IT incidents faster and more easily.
14
Funding: $315M
Moveworks is a company that uses AI to help resolve help desk tickets through automation.
Moveworks is a company that uses AI to help resolve help desk tickets through automation.
15
Funding: $301M
Quora is a question-and-answer platform that allows users to ask and answer questions on a wide range of topics and develops AI chat bot platform Poe that aggregates a wide range of LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama and others. Quora also provides creator monetization program for Poe, which allows people who create bots or prompts on Poe to generate revenue. Even developers who integrate bots with the Poe AI are eligible to earn money.
Quora is a question-and-answer platform that allows users to ask and answer questions on a wide range of topics and develops AI chat bot platform Poe that aggregates a wide range of LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Llama and others. Quora also provides creator monetization program for Poe, which allows people who create bots or prompts on Poe to generate revenue. Even developers who integrate bots with the Poe AI are eligible to earn money.
16
Funding: $251.1M
H2O.ai is an open source machine learning platform that makes it easy to build smart applications.
H2O.ai is an open source machine learning platform that makes it easy to build smart applications.
17
Funding: $243M
Codeium is making AI-powered programming platform that maximizes developer productivity. The creators say that, unlike competing AI coding systems that provide generic code snippets and require significant effort to integrate and secure into existing codebases, Codeium's model makes recommendations within the context of an application's entire codebase and can be installed on company's own server. It supports approximately 70 programming languages and integrates with a number of popular development environments, including Microsoft Visual Studio and JetBrains. Codeium also offers a generous free plan and this strategy works fine: the startup has over 1000 enterprise clients, including Anduril, Zillow and Dell. Codeium's model is trained on publicly available code samples, so the company takes steps to remove "unauthorized" licensed code (such as copyrighted code) from the datasets used to train its AI models.
Codeium is making AI-powered programming platform that maximizes developer productivity. The creators say that, unlike competing AI coding systems that provide generic code snippets and require significant effort to integrate and secure into existing codebases, Codeium's model makes recommendations within the context of an application's entire codebase and can be installed on company's own server. It supports approximately 70 programming languages and integrates with a number of popular development environments, including Microsoft Visual Studio and JetBrains. Codeium also offers a generous free plan and this strategy works fine: the startup has over 1000 enterprise clients, including Anduril, Zillow and Dell. Codeium's model is trained on publicly available code samples, so the company takes steps to remove "unauthorized" licensed code (such as copyrighted code) from the datasets used to train its AI models.
19
Funding: $203M
Qventus is an AI-based software platform that solves operational challenges across the hospital including emergency departments, perioperative areas, and patient safety.
Qventus is an AI-based software platform that solves operational challenges across the hospital including emergency departments, perioperative areas, and patient safety.
20
Funding: $152.9M
Gatik AI is the autonomous vehicle startup that’s aiming for the sweet middle spot in the world of logistics
Gatik AI is the autonomous vehicle startup that’s aiming for the sweet middle spot in the world of logistics
21
Funding: $133.5M
Reliable Robotics provides advanced automation systems for aircraft.
Reliable Robotics provides advanced automation systems for aircraft.
22
Funding: $125.7M
Inworld AI is a creative platform for AI-driven virtual characters, immersive realities, and metaverse spaces.
Inworld AI is a creative platform for AI-driven virtual characters, immersive realities, and metaverse spaces.
23
Funding: $124M
Esperanto Technologies is a company develops high-performance, energy-efficient computing solutions encouraging your innovation in artificial intelligence via flexible RISC-V open instruction set architecture (ISA) designs.
Esperanto Technologies is a company develops high-performance, energy-efficient computing solutions encouraging your innovation in artificial intelligence via flexible RISC-V open instruction set architecture (ISA) designs.
24
Funding: $117.7M
Sanas is a software development company that assists multilingual speakers to deliver clear communication through accent correction.
Sanas is a software development company that assists multilingual speakers to deliver clear communication through accent correction.
25
Funding: $115M
Luminous develops supercomputer for AI on a single chip that will replace 3000 TPU boards.
Luminous develops supercomputer for AI on a single chip that will replace 3000 TPU boards.
26
Funding: $107.3M
EdCast is an AI-powered knowledge cloud for unified discovery, knowledge management, and personalized learning.
EdCast is an AI-powered knowledge cloud for unified discovery, knowledge management, and personalized learning.
27
Funding: $75M
Cape Analytics leverages machine learning and geospatial imagery to identify property attributes at scale allowing insurance companies to provide more accurate quotes.
Cape Analytics leverages machine learning and geospatial imagery to identify property attributes at scale allowing insurance companies to provide more accurate quotes.
28
Funding: $74.4M
Level AI is a platform for businesses to automate tedious workflows and transform customer experience.
Level AI is a platform for businesses to automate tedious workflows and transform customer experience.
29
Funding: $73M
Otter.ai is an AI assistant for video meeting transcription, note-taking, searching and sharing recordings of meetings, lectures, and live streams. You can add Otter directly to a video conference or grant it access to recordings, and it will transcribe the entire conversation, capture highlights, and automate follow-up actions. Otter's AI-powered chat combines meetings and connected apps, instantly answering questions and helping you create follow-up actions, reports and content using LLM models like ChatGPT, Claude, and others via the MCP server. The assistant supports numerous integrations with tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, Salesforce, Google Drive, and many others.
Otter.ai is an AI assistant for video meeting transcription, note-taking, searching and sharing recordings of meetings, lectures, and live streams. You can add Otter directly to a video conference or grant it access to recordings, and it will transcribe the entire conversation, capture highlights, and automate follow-up actions. Otter's AI-powered chat combines meetings and connected apps, instantly answering questions and helping you create follow-up actions, reports and content using LLM models like ChatGPT, Claude, and others via the MCP server. The assistant supports numerous integrations with tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Meet, Salesforce, Google Drive, and many others.
30
Funding: $71.9M
Lily AI is the leader in predictive psychographics for retail ecommerce. Consumer spending online for apparel now accounts for over 27% of all clothing sales. Retailers need to understand each consumer’s emotional context while they are actively shopping.
Lily AI is the leader in predictive psychographics for retail ecommerce. Consumer spending online for apparel now accounts for over 27% of all clothing sales. Retailers need to understand each consumer’s emotional context while they are actively shopping.
31
Funding: $68.7M
Dusty Robotics develops robot-powered tools for the modern construction workforce.
Dusty Robotics develops robot-powered tools for the modern construction workforce.
32
Funding: $62M
Relyance AI platform enables entire organization to manage privacy and data protection with a one-stop solution. Mapping to legal and technical sources of truth, Relyance AI embeds within existing business processes so engineers can speak contract and lawyers can speak code.
Relyance AI platform enables entire organization to manage privacy and data protection with a one-stop solution. Mapping to legal and technical sources of truth, Relyance AI embeds within existing business processes so engineers can speak contract and lawyers can speak code.
33
Funding: $61M
Ema develops AI technology to empower enterprise employees by delegating repetitive tasks.
Ema develops AI technology to empower enterprise employees by delegating repetitive tasks.
34
Funding: $56M
Inception is building diffusion generative models for code and text. Diffusion models are mostly used to power image-based AI systems like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, but Inception says that diffusion-based LLMs can be also much faster and efficient than auto-regression (GPT) models. Where auto-regression models have to execute operations one after another, diffusion models can process many operations simultaneously. Unlike GPT that work sequentially and predict word by word based on the context, diffusion models modify the overall structure of a response incrementally until it matches the desired result. They also have more flexibility in how they utilize hardware. Inception's Mercury model, designed for software development is already integrated into a number of development tools.
Inception is building diffusion generative models for code and text. Diffusion models are mostly used to power image-based AI systems like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, but Inception says that diffusion-based LLMs can be also much faster and efficient than auto-regression (GPT) models. Where auto-regression models have to execute operations one after another, diffusion models can process many operations simultaneously. Unlike GPT that work sequentially and predict word by word based on the context, diffusion models modify the overall structure of a response incrementally until it matches the desired result. They also have more flexibility in how they utilize hardware. Inception's Mercury model, designed for software development is already integrated into a number of development tools.
35
Funding: $34.9M
Orby AI is an AI platform designed to bring the auto-complete experience to everyday business users and automate all mundane tasks.
Orby AI is an AI platform designed to bring the auto-complete experience to everyday business users and automate all mundane tasks.
36
Funding: $30.7M
Kea drives the world’s commerce by empowering restaurants to operate more intelligently and own their relationship with customers.
Kea drives the world’s commerce by empowering restaurants to operate more intelligently and own their relationship with customers.
37
Funding: $14.6M
Sybill analyzes verbal and non-verbal cues to generate meeting summaries, crafting deal notes and CRM updates using AI models.
Sybill analyzes verbal and non-verbal cues to generate meeting summaries, crafting deal notes and CRM updates using AI models.
40
Funding: $125K
Hypotenuse AI is using computer vision and machine learning to automate product descriptions for ecommerce.
Hypotenuse AI is using computer vision and machine learning to automate product descriptions for ecommerce.
41
Improve Salesforce engagement and keep focus on what drives the pipeline while an AI based Virtual Assistant takes care of everything.
42
Poe offers a unified interface to access and compare multiple AI chatbots from various providers in one place.
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