17 creator-economy startups to watch in 2026, according to VCs

Tech Insider : Business, Economy, Style
Tiffany Lopinsky of ShopMy, Misbah Uraizee of Nectar Social, and Suno cofounder Mikey Shulman.
Creator economy startup founders Tiffany Lopinsky (ShopMy), Misbah Uraizee (Nectar Social), and Mikey Shulman (Suno).

Courtesy of ShopMy; Courtesy of Nectar Social; Jimmy Fontaine.

In the AI boom, startups are speedrunning unicorn status

Tech Insider : Business, Sports
Unicorns are supposed to be rare, but there are now 1,694 of them, according to Crunchbase data.
Unicorns are supposed to be rare, but there are now 1,694 of them, according to Crunchbase data.

VCG/VCG via Getty Images

An ex-Googler just raised $38 million to catch 'silent' security failures. Read his startup's pitch deck.

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Roy Haimof, Gal Shafir, and Nir Loya Dahan sitting on wooden chairs in front of a black table.
Fig Security CTO Roy Haimof, CEO Gal Shafir, and CPO Nir Loya Dahan.

Netanel Tobias

The billionaire founder of Palo Alto Networks started a new cybersecurity company. Here's why many people are calling it 'crazy.'

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
The cofounders of Cylake, from left to right: Ehud (Udi) Shamir Nir Zuk, and Wilson Xu.
The cofounders of Cylake, from left to right: Ehud (Udi) Shamir Nir Zuk, and Wilson Xu.

Cylake

Why a former Khosla partner who was one of the first investors in Groq is striking out on her own

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Sandhya Venkatachalam is the managing partner of Axiom Partners.
Sandhya Venkatachalam is the managing partner of Axiom Partners.

Axiom Partners

The 30 early-stage startups in 2026 most likely to become tech's next unicorns

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
The cofounders of Created by Humans, left to right: Jen Singerman, Trip Adler and Edward Igushev
The cofounders of Created by Humans, left to right: Jen Singerman, Trip Adler and Edward Igushev

Created by Humans

The AI boom is minting startup multimillionaires at an unprecedented speed

Tech Insider : Business
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaks during an event
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly emphasized his company's commitment to safety.

Bhawika Chhabra/Reuters

Stripe CEO's AI-era software pitch: Start serving it like pizza

Tech Insider : Business, Technology
Stripe Co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison delivers his keynote conference during day three of the Mobile World Congress at the Fira Gran Via complex in Barcelona, Spain on February 24, 2016.

Pittsburgh's new mayor has cold-called dozens of tech CEOs to get them to relocate their startups to his city

Tech Insider : Business, Politics
Corey O'Connor is the mayor of Pittsburgh.
Corey O'Connor became mayor of Pittsburgh.

Mayor of Pittsburgh

These eye-popping charts put OpenAI's record funding round in perspective

Tech Insider : Business
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during an interaction session at IIT, in New Delhi
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during an interaction session at IIT, in New Delhi

Reuters/ANI

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