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2025 CNBC Disruptor 50: Here are the companies leading a new era of AI breakthroughs and riches

This year’s Disruptor 50 list, topped by Anduril in the No. 1 spot, and then OpenAI, showcases 50 companies that are challenging the status quo and using technology (most often, AI) to transform a range of industries.

What’s particularly notable about this year’s list is how the sectors represented illustrate key trends not just in technology and VC, but also in politics and society. This is the first time in the 13 years of the Disruptor 50 list that it’s been topped by a defense tech company. The defense tech sector isn’t just represented by Anduril, with Flock Safety, Saronic Technologies, and Shield AI also making the 2025 list.

Their scope and scale demonstrate a rising trend. The four companies have a combined value of more than $45 billion and have raised almost $10 billion from investors. They have geographic diversity – all are headquartered outside Silicon Valley. And their focuses are varied. Flock Safety (No. 7 on this year’s list) makes security hardware and software. Saronic (No. 19) builds unmanned maritime vessels. Shield AI (No. 38) is an autonomous drone company.

Beyond the companies focused on building physical methods of defense, there is also Abnormal AI (No. 25), a cybersecurity company playing a key role in protecting systems from attacks that prey on human behavioral weaknesses. Gecko Robotics (No. 30) deploys its robots to capture data about the integrity of critical assets, including aircraft carriers, naval ships, and missile silos. 

The sector’s growth is expected to accelerate thanks to a surge of funding. Last week, Anduril announced a new $2.5 billion round of funding at a valuation — $30.5 billion — that is double the valuation of its previous round of funding. Saronic and Shield AI have also closed major fundraising rounds in 2025, according to Pitchbook; $600 million in Saronic’s case.

Igor Gnedo, Antonina Lepore & Adrianne Paerels

AI infrastructure company Scale AI (No. 28) secured a landmark deal last August with the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to advance AI capabilities for the U.S. military. Scale AI also announced a new multi-million dollar deal with the DoD in March to help with “Thunderforge,” an initiative to develop AI agents for U.S. military planning and operations that also includes Anduril.

The surge in funding comes as President Trump has proposed an increase in defense spending, with a focus on modernizing military capabilities and opening opportunities beyond the legacy defense sector. There is also an increasing focus on dual-use technologies: Anduril took over Microsoft’s augmented reality headset program that was in the works with the military, and then at the end of May announced a deal with Meta to create VR and AR devices for use by the Army.

Along with the rise of military tech, the explosion in generative AI’s capabilities is driving the transformation of a range of sectors, from farming to law and robotics. Across the list, there are 17 enterprise tech companies, seven fintechs, four health-care companies, four in food/agriculture, and three each in transportation and biotech. 

More coverage of the 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50

AI-focused investments and higher valuations are on full display up and down this year’s Disruptor 50 list. The 13th annual Disruptor 50 class is valued at $798 billion, far more than last year’s $436 billion total, due in large part to OpenAI’s $300 billion valuation. The total amount the companies have raised increased to $127 billion, up from $70 billion last year.

It’s clear that the generative AI revolution has transformed the startup ecosystem as well as the list, with 20 newcomers this year. Only 11 companies on this year’s list were Disruptors before the launch of ChatGPT, and many in that group — including Anduril, Databricks, and Canva — have succeeded because of their embrace of gen AI.

More than two-thirds of companies on this year’s D50 list — 38 companies — said that AI is “critical to their business,” up from 34 last year. And 21 of this year’s companies say generative AI is their essential technology, up from 13 last year.

This reflects venture capital’s increasing focus on AI: about 58% of global VC dollars invested in the first quarter went into AI and machine learning startups, while in North America, 70% of deal value went into AI and machine learning startups. And the funding numbers continue to grow, with $73 billion raised in the first quarter, more than half of last year’s total, though that’s largely due to OpenAI’s $40 billion round, led by SoftBank.

AI is being used in a range of diverse use cases by Disruptors, including law (Harvey), fighting crime (Flock Safety), and in the doctor’s office (Abridge and Rad AI). But the sector with the most companies on this year’s Disruptor 50 list is enterprise AI, with 17 companies (up from 14 last year). These range from Databricks, which helps companies mine their data, to Glean, which enables its customers to build custom AI apps and custom search tools, to collaborative workspace and note-taking tool Notion.

Design platform Canva has increasingly invested in AI and made AI features the center of its toolkit. With partnerships with ChatGPT and Anthropic (No. 4 on this year’s list), and the acquisition of several AI-powered companies in the past year, CEO Melanie Perkins is expected to take her $32 billion company public in the next year. “We’ve continuously been investing in this space with magic recommendations, and so forth, over the years with generative AI,” said Perkins. “Being able to have that magic embedded as you’re writing your documents and your presentations, being able to have Canva AI … it’s really been an extension of that initial promise that we’ve had to customers, to empower the world, to design, to continue to put the latest to greatest technology in their hands.” 

Perkins says Canva has a three-pronged approach to AI: integrating the best products that are available, deeply investing in the areas needed to bring the expertise to their customers, and having a platform where the newest AI products and other apps can come onto Canva and be accessed by the community.

She is optimistic about the potential for AI to be a democratizing force for Canva’s 220 million customers around the world. “I think it’s critically important that as the world of humanity, we use AI to truly lift up every single person who lives here, to help everyone have their basic human needs being met,” she said. “And I think there is a huge opportunity for us to be dreaming bigger about what we want with technology accelerating. I think there is a huge opportunity to rethink what we’re doing with it and ensuring that it’s serving our needs.”

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Winklevoss-founded Gemini reportedly prices IPO at $28 per share, valuing the crypto exchange at $3.3 billion

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Winklevoss-founded Gemini reportedly prices IPO at  per share, valuing the crypto exchange at .3 billion

Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss (L-R), creators of crypto exchange Gemini Trust Co., on stage at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention, a cryptocurrency conference held at the Mana Convention Center in Wynwood in Miami, Florida, on June 4, 2021.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Gemini Space Station, the crypto company founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, priced its initial public offering at $28 per share late Thursday, according to Bloomberg.

A person familiar with the offering told the news service that the company priced the offering above its expected range of $24 to $26, which would value the company at $3.3 billion.

Since Gemini capped the value of the offering at $425 million, 15.2 million shares were sold, according to the report. That was a measure of high demand for the crypto company, which had initially marketed 16.67 million shares. Earlier this week, it increased its proposed price range from between $17 and $19 apiece.

A Gemini spokesperson could not confirm the report.

The company and the selling stockholders granted its underwriters — led by and Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley — a 30-day option to sell an additional 452,807 and 380,526 shares, respectively, per the registration form. Gemini stock will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol “GEMI.”

Up to 30% of the shares offered will be reserved for retail investors through Robinhood, SoFi, Hong Kong-based Futu Securities, Singapore’s Moomoo Financial, Webull and other platforms.

Gemini, which primarily operates as a cryptocurrency exchange, was founded by the Winklevoss brothers in 2014 and holds more than $21 billion of assets on its platform as of the end of July.

Initial trading will give the market a sense of how long it can keep the crypto IPO party going. Circle Internet and Bullish had successful listings, but there has been a recent consolidation in the prices of blue chip cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether. Also, in contrast to those companies’ profitability, Gemini has reported widening losses, especially in 2025. Per its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gemini posted a net loss of $159 million in 2024, and in the first half of this year, it lost $283 million.

This week, however, Gemini received a big vote of institutional confidence when Nasdaq said it’s making a strategic investment of $50 million in the crypto company. Nasdaq is seeking to offer its clients access to Gemini’s custodial services, and gain a distribution partner for its trade management system known as Calypso.

Gemini also offers a crypto-backed credit card, and last month, launched another card in partnership with Ripple. The latter garnered more than 30,000 credit card sign-ups in August, a new monthly high that was more than twice the number of credit card sign-ups in the prior month, according to the S-1 filing.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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OpenAI says nonprofit parent will own equity stake in company of over $100 billion

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OpenAI says nonprofit parent will own equity stake in company of over 0 billion

Microsoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella (L), speaks with OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, who joined by video during the Microsoft Build 2025, conference in Seattle, Washington on May 19, 2025.

Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

OpenAI on Thursday said its nonprofit parent will continue to have oversight over the company and will own an equity stake of more than $100 billion.

The artificial intelligence startup, recently valued at $500 billion, said this structure will make the nonprofit “one of the most well-resourced philanthropic organizations in the world,” and will allow the company to continue to raise capital.

OpenAI also announced it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Microsoft, which outlines the next phase of their partnership. Microsoft has invested over $13 billion in OpenAI, backing the company as early as 2019, three years before the launch of of the chatbot ChatGPT.

“We are actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement,” OpenAI said in a joint statement with Microsoft, which is also the company’s key cloud partner. “Together, we remain focused on delivering the best AI tools for everyone, grounded in our shared commitment to safety.”

In May, OpenAI bowed to pressure from civic leaders and ex-employees, announcing that its nonprofit would retain control even as the company was restructuring into a public benefit corporation. OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit research lab in 2015, but has in recent years become one of the fastest-growing commercial entities on the planet.

OpenAI said Thursday it is working closely with the California and Delaware Attorneys General to establish its structure.

“OpenAI started as a nonprofit, remains one today, and will continue to be one – with the nonprofit holding the authority that guides our future,” the company’s Chairman Bret Taylor said in a statement Thursday.

The startup has been engulfed in a heated legal battle with Elon Musk, one of its co-founders. Musk has been trying to keep OpenAI from converting into a for-profit company as he competes in the generative AI market with his own startup, xAI.

OpenAI said its nonprofit is also opening applications for the first phase of a $50 million grant initiative that is aimed to support other nonprofit and community organizations across AI literacy, economic opportunity and community innovation.

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‘We will do better.’ Microsoft CEO Nadella admits company has to rebuild trust with employees

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'We will do better.' Microsoft CEO Nadella admits company has to rebuild trust with employees

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella departs following a meeting of the White House Task Force on AI Education in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Sept. 4, 2025.

Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in a meeting on Thursday that the company has work to do to smooth relations with employees after announcing several rounds of layoffs and a mandated partial return to in-person work.

In the meeting that was held online, an employee asked executives to speak about a perceived lack of empathy in the company’s culture as of late and steps Microsoft is taking to rebuild trust with its workforce.

“I deeply appreciate that, the question and the sentiment behind it,” Nadella said, in audio that was obtained by CNBC. “I take it as feedback for me and everyone in the leadership team, because at the end of the day, I think we can do better, and we will do better.”

Nadella’s comments come after Microsoft slashed 9,000 jobs in July, following smaller reductions in the months prior. On Tuesday, Microsoft said workers living near its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, must come into the office three days a week, starting in February, with a broader rollout to follow.

Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s human resources chief, said at Thursday’s meeting that reception to the return-to-office announcement has been mixed, with some workers feeling like they’re losing autonomy. But she said that employees in and around Seattle already come in, on average, 2.4 times each week.

Like most of the tech industry, Microsoft went fully remote during the pandemic, and made particular use of its internal Teams video and chat offerings, which gained rapid adoption during that period. Microsoft has been slower than many of its peers to put a mandate in place for coming back to the office. Amazon, one of Microsoft’s top rivals, called employees back to offices five days a week in January.

While Nadella and the executive team are taking criticism from some staffers, Wall Street is applauding the company’s growth and execution. The stock is up almost 20% this year, outperforming the broader market, pushing Microsoft’s market cap to $3.7 trillion, which trails only Nvidia among the world’s most-valuable companies.

In July, Microsoft reported a 24% increase in net income to $27 billion. The company’s gross margin was under 69%, compared with 71% in late 2023. It’s rapidly building and renting data center infrastructure to meet artificial intelligence demand.

AI infrastructure build-up is a long-term story as adoption is only consumer based now

Nadella said at the meeting that with remote work, new employees and those who are early in their careers don’t always feel a sense of apprenticeship or mentorship.

“Management is just mostly all remote, but the interns are all, you know, in one location,” he said. “And so those are things that just will break a social contract.”

Microsoft didn’t immediately provide a comment.

Even with Microsoft’s rapid expansion, Nadella said the company is feeling the pressure. It’s a common theme in the software industry, as concerns proliferate about the impact of AI and its potential to automate work.

“We have some very, very hard work ahead of us, and that hard process of renewal is essentially what we have to do,” Nadella said. “You have to be hardcore in terms of an intellectual honesty about what really needs to happen.”

Microsoft’s Azure cloud business grew 39% in the latest quarter, but revenue in the Windows and devices business increased by just 2.5%.

“Some of the biggest businesses we built may not be as relevant going forward,” Nadella said. “Some of the margin that we love today may not be there tomorrow, and that means you have to be way ahead of all of those going away, right?”

Microsoft, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in April, will retain its core values as it confronts market realities, Nadella said.

“Capital markets have one simple truth,” he said. “There is no permission for any company to exist forever.”

That wasn’t the only contentious topic at the meeting.

Employees are awaiting details from a third-party investigation after The Guardian said in August that Israel’s military used Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure to store Palestinians’ phone calls as part of Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Microsoft has fired five employees following protests at its headquarters in Redmond, according to a statement from the group No Azure for Apartheid.

Microsoft President Brad Smith, whose office the protesters entered, addressed the issue on Thursday. He said that he and Coleman met with Jewish Microsoft employees, who have been harassed and threatened and have seen their public information shared online.

“We don’t get to control what happens outside Microsoft, but we need to be clear about one thing,” Smith said. “There is no room for antisemitism at Microsoft, and as a company and as a community, we will protect this group and defend them from that.”

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