LinkedIn Top Startups 2024: The 10 companies on the rise in Washington, D.C.
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Today, we’re introducing the inaugural list of Top Startups in Washington, D.C., a look at the 10 emerging companies that you should be paying attention to in the D.C.-Baltimore area.
These companies aren’t just growing fast locally and garnering attention from investors and jobseekers —?they’re also building innovative solutions that are shaping the future of their industries. Given that D.C. is home to thousands of government buildings and elected officials, it’s no surprise that startups serving government and defense sectors are popping, with AI-powered military technology firm Anduril Industries taking the top spot. That’s followed by Shift5 , a defense tech startup for vehicle fleets, and BlueVoyant , a security operations platform.
The list is built on exclusive LinkedIn data across four key pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; member engagement within the company and its employees; and how well these startups have pulled talent from LinkedIn Top Companies . While these are the same pillars used for our U.S. Top Startups list , the methodology slightly differs, reflecting activity at the local city level vs. the country (you can read more at the bottom of this article). To be eligible, companies must be headquartered in the U.S., fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees in the city and be 7 years old or younger.?
Here are this year’s 10 Top Startups in Washington, D.C. — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups .
All headcounts are provided by the companies, unless marked with an asterisk. Those headcounts are from LinkedIn data. All are rounded to the nearest five.
1. Anduril Industries
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 370 | Headquarters: Costa Mesa, Calif. | Year founded: 2017 | Founders: Palmer Luckey , Brian Schimpf , Matt Grimm , Trae Stephens , Joe Chen | Most common skills: National Security, MATLAB, Operational Planning | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Program Manager, Information Technology Project Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Information Technology, Program and Project Management??
2. Wiz
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 30+ | Headquarters: New York City | Year founded: 2020 | Founders: Assaf Rappaport , Ami Luttwak , Yinon Costica , Roy Reznik | Most common skills: Network Security, Strategic Partnerships, Software as a Service (SaaS) | Most common job titles: Account Executive, Customer Experience Manager, Partnerships Manager | Largest job functions: Sales, Customer Success and Support, Information Technology??
3. TRM Labs
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 30 | Headquarters: San Francisco | Year founded: 2018 | Founders: Esteban Castano , Rahul Raina | Most common skills: Intelligence Analysis, Python, Project Management | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Account Director, Intelligence Analyst | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Legal?
4. Last Energy
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 50 | Headquarters: Washington, D.C. | Year founded: 2019 | Founder: Bret Kugelmass | Most common skills: Sustainability, Data Analysis, Project Management | Most common job titles: Staff Engineer, Design Engineer, Business Development Associate | Largest job functions: Media and Communication, Operations, Engineering?
5. Strider Technologies
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 45* | Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah | Year founded: 2019 | Founders: Greg Levesque , Eric Levesque , Mike Brown | Most common skills: International Relations, Project Management, Strategic Planning | Most common job titles: Intelligence Analyst, Software Engineer, Customer Success Manager | Largest job functions: Military and Protective Services, Engineering, Business Development??
6. Shift5
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Full-time headcount in D.C.: 40 | Headquarters: Rosslyn, Va. | Year founded: 2019 | Founders: Josh Lospinoso , James Correnti , Michael Weigand | Most common skills: MATLAB, Network Security, Python | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Data Analyst, Program Manager | Largest job functions: Engineering, Business Development, Information Technology?
7. BlueVoyant
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 75 | Headquarters: New York City | Year founded: 2017 | Founders: James Rosenthal , Tom Glocer | Most common skills: Intelligence Analysis, Network Security, Security Operations | Most common job titles: Cybersecurity Analyst, Software Engineer, Security Operations Center Analyst | Largest job functions: Information Technology, Engineering, Sales??
8. Evenly
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 55 | Headquarters: Washington, D.C. | Year founded: 2019 | Founder: Barry Beck | Most common skills: Dental Software, Treatment Planning, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) | Most common job titles: Treatment Coordinator, Account Manager, Operations Associate | Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Business Development, Sales?
9. Raft
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 50 | Headquarters: McLean, Va. | Year founded: 2018 | Founder: Shubhi Mishra | Most common skills: IT Integration, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Kubernetes | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, User Experience Researcher, Technical Recruiter | Largest job functions: Engineering, Information Technology, Operations?
10. BuildWithin
Full-time headcount in D.C.: 30+ | Headquarters: Washington, D.C. | Year founded: 2022 | Founder: Ximena Hartsock | Most common skills: JavaScript, Python, Program Development | Most common job titles: Information Technology Specialist, Software Engineer | Largest job functions: Information Technology, Engineering, Business Development??
You can check out the Top Startups in the U.S. here , as well as the Top Startups in Austin , Boston , Chicago , Dallas , Denver , Los Angeles , New York City , Seattle and San Francisco .
Methodology
LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase in the city over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 5%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page among members in the city, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts the rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company in the city, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees in the city the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024.
To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees in the city, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 10% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2023 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.
About company insights
*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights . Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant metropolitan area and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2024. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company.
Methodology and insights by: LinkedIn's Economic Graph team
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3 周Exciting to see emerging companies making waves in the D.C. area. Innovation and talent are key to driving growth and shaping industry trends.
Co-Founder of Social Driver, Chairman of National Digital Roundtable, Host of Chief Influencer Podcast
1 个月We were surprised to find what a vibrant startup scene DC had when we moved here back in 2009. After winning the The George Washington University GW Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship New Venture Competition, we were catapulted into an amazing community. I love seeing that Dr. Ximena Gates Hartsock is recognized for her company BuildWithin, because she is a startup founder who launched one incredible company, and now is doing the same once again.
Technologist, Entrepreneur, Investor, Innovation Enthusiast
1 个月Congratulations to the team at Strider Technologies! Founded and Incubated in the DC area... Expanded to Salt Lake City.
Venture capital assumes a large number of failures in an attempt at an early capture of an eventual winner. While this has the potential for a high return it also distorts competition and leads to employee churn and other problems. The Startup criteria do not include sales, revenue, earnings, etc. or any other measure of growth outside of employment and interest. For the past 20 years we've based success on the number of clicks and conversions and artificially amplified value by promoting those who are able to increase their popularity by any means -- many times by encouraging controversial viewpoints, false information (lies), or using bots and automation. LinkedIn collects huge amounts of data and can do a lot of good. However, the results can be too easily gamed. Making the anonymized data available for research by third parties is one way to improve the integrity.
Innovative Wireless & IoT Solutions
1 个月This is an interesting map up to Q2 2024. Washington DC is on the radar!