This blog will explain the Apex 50, its significance, how we selected these companies, and why it’s worth your attention. I’ll also spotlight five Apex ventures that reflect the diversity and ambition of this year’s cohort.

What Is the 2025 AV Apex 50?

The AV Apex 50 is a handpicked selection of ventures representing the cutting edge of our portfolio as we head into 2025. These companies span industries like AI, quantum computing, biotech, blockchain, and energy. The common thread? Each demonstrates exceptional potential for innovation, market leadership, and long-term growth.

Our selection criteria emphasized a mix of ambition, performance, and upside. We evaluated companies’ ability to disrupt existing markets, tackle global challenges, and scale effectively. Whether Oura finds its way onto the fingers of tens of millions or BlueSky reimagines a social media tech stack, these ventures are already making an impact.

We also acknowledge the inherent risks of venture investing and putting forth such a list. Not all these companies will achieve their ambitious goals (some may even fail), but their inclusion reflects our belief in their potential to lead and redefine their respective fields. We also know that some of AV’s greatest success stories will come from companies outside this list — perhaps not yet launched. That’s the unpredictable and thrilling nature of our work.

Why the Apex 50 Matters

For Investors

The Apex 50 is a peek into the future. These companies represent some of the most compelling startups today, tackling everything from energy transitions to revolutionary medical technologies. Also noteworthy are the co-investors backing these startups, which included Tiger Global, Accel, Insight Partners, and BlackRock — as well as others from the list below, who feature among our frequent co-investors.

For the Startup Ecosystem

These companies exemplify what’s possible when creativity, capital, and collaboration intersect. The Apex 50 ventures are innovators creating jobs, driving technology adoption, and fostering growth in underserved markets.

For example, Kapital delivers fintech to Latin America. Yassir and Rwazi both serve emerging markets. Yassir addresses Africa’s transportation and financial needs, creating direct and indirect jobs. Rwazi gathers valuable market data and leverages a huge force of 500,000 data contributors across 60+ countries. By spotlighting these companies, we aim to inspire the broader entrepreneurial community and attract attention to the cutting-edge work of startups solving problems.

For Society at Large

Many of these companies tackle global challenges head-on. Groq is working on AI inference, a critical area as we move forward. HawkEye 360 provides security satellite constellations that can reveal hidden and previously uncharted activities across land, sea, and air. SHINE is producing medical isotopes for cancer treatment and medical imaging using innovative fusion technology. Investing in these ventures supports solutions to society’s most pressing problems, from clean energy to equitable access to health information.

How the Apex 50 Were Selected

The Apex 50 is the product of a rigorous selection process. Each of our 10 investing teams submitted their nominees. Candidates were evaluated using a combination of data-driven performance metrics and expert insights from our investment teams.

Key considerations included market potential, leadership quality, competitive positioning, supporter network and partnerships, and alignment with emerging trends. Additional factors centered on the ability to disrupt existing markets, tackle global challenges, scale effectively, and demonstrate exceptional potential for innovation, market leadership, and sustained long-term growth.

Teams were deliberately limited to submitting a maximum of 10 nominations, forcing them to submit their best. Our Chief Investment Officer, Mark Edwards, and I made the final decisions

Apex Spotlight: 5 Diverse Companies

Join Us on This Journey

We hope this list of diverse, compelling, and fast-moving companies demonstrates why venture investing is exciting. Celebrating these 50 companies, I invite you to dive deeper into technology, entrepreneurship, and venture investing. Learn more, subscribe for updates, listen to podcasts, or inquire about investment opportunities.

At Alumni Ventures, we’re proud to vote with our time and dollars on the future. Join us in making a lasting impact.

This communication is from Alumni Ventures, a for-profit venture capital company that is not affiliated with or endorsed by any school. It is not personalized advice, and AV only provides advice to its client funds. This communication is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any security. Such offers are made only pursuant to the formal offering documents for the fund(s) concerned, and describe significant risks and other material information that should be carefully considered before investing. For additional information, please see here. Example portfolio companies are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not necessarily indicative of any AV fund or the outcomes experienced by any investor. Example portfolio companies shown are not available to future investors, except potentially in the case of follow-on investments. Venture capital investing involves substantial risk, including risk of loss of all capital invested. This communication includes forward-looking statements, generally consisting of any statement pertaining to any issue other than historical fact, including without limitation predictions, financial projections, the anticipated results of the execution of any plan or strategy, the expectation or belief of the speaker, or other events or circumstances to exist in the future. Forward-looking statements are not representations of actual fact, depend on certain assumptions that may not be realized, and are not guaranteed to occur. Any forward-looking statements included in this communication speak only as of the date of the communication. AV and its affiliates disclaim any obligation to update, amend, or alter such forward-looking statements, whether due to subsequent events, new information, or otherwise.