Pushing The Innovation Envelope: Stellar Startups You Need To Know In 2025
In our annual Stellar Startups special report, spotlights some of the most exciting channel-focused startup companies with leading-edge technologies that are creating new opportunities for solution providers.
Startup companies have long been a critical source of innovation and technology breakthroughs for the IT industry. And that remains the case in 2025 as the latest generation of IT startups pushes the innovation boundary across all industry segments with technology advances that span the data center, networking, security, cloud and big data. among others
Not surprisingly, a great deal of the most recent startup activity is focused on artificial intelligence with emerging vendors developing a wave of new AI software and tools. In the first half of 2025 more than half of global venture capital deal value, and 30 percent of completed deals, have gone to AI startups, according to PitchBook.
Beyond that, many startups in other technology sectors such as big data and networking are developing new products that incorporate AI capabilities. This has been especially true in the cybersecurity space with startups developing tools that either protect AI systems or incorporate AI tech to improve their effectiveness.
[Related: Stellar Startups You Need To Know In 2025: The Complete List]
Here we present the CRN 2025 Stellar Startups list. This year’s roundup includes 95 startups founded in 2019 or later with annual revenue of $1 billion or less and are working with channel partners in North America.
While the companies on this year’s Stellar Startups list are hardly household names, many are making waves in the IT world despite their young age. Examples include Orca Security and Sentra in the cyber security realm, AI Squared and Hatz AI in the artificial intelligence space, DataPelago and Onehouse in big data, and Kloudfuse in cloud systems management.
Rewst, for example, has been shaking up the managed service provider automation arena with its AI-powered automation platform that the Tampa-based company says helps MSPs provide tailored automation-as-a-service for their clients.
“When partners first come to Rewst, they typically start with the low-hanging fruit,” Cameron Stone, Rewst sales director, told CRN last month. “User onboarding, offboarding, password resets, billing reconciliation…those are the kinds of easy wins we expect them to tackle right away. And they do.
“But the story doesn’t stop there. They start to realize, ‘Hey, we’ve saved time, we’ve freed up internal resources. Now what else can we do? What are we not doing for our clients today that we finally have bandwidth to explore?’ And what we’re seeing, and getting really excited about, is they’re starting to build for their customers.”
Startup Celona is getting attention in the wireless communications space with its private 5G technology. “We really believe that this is the architecture that is required to start taking private 5G beyond large campuses, which is where it’s been deployed so far, and to start taking it into smaller branches, remote and distributed use cases, and hence, really start to increase the reach of private 5G within enterprises,” Puneet Shetty, Celona vice president of product and field engineering, told CRN.
Celona recently expanded its channel program as it recruits MSPs to help them build sustainable, repeatable private 5G practices.
One year ago Diliko, founded in 2022, launched its Diliko DataPro Console data management and optimization platform to help businesses and organizations identify, collect, manage, prepare, secure and govern data for analytical and AI applications.
“It’s a very complicated and arduous process for data management, to acquire the data and then extract the data from varied sources: cloud-based, applications, files, databases,” Ken Ammon, Diliko chief strategy officer, told CRN earlier this year. “There are all these different places data lives in that you have to get your hands on. And when you get your hands on the data, there’s a lot of things you have to do to the data, to structure it, to be in a form that you can manage it within a data warehouse.”
In June Diliko launched its inaugural partner program to recruit data management service providers and consultants to work with its platform.
One sure sign of the value of IT startups is how frequently they are acquired by larger, established IT companies. Cloud security startup Wiz, which was on the 2024 edition of CRN Stellar Startups, is in the process of being acquired by Google for an eye-popping #32 billion. That deal was announced after Wiz struck a deal to buy cloud remediation technology startup Dazz, also a 2024 Stellar Startup, for a reported $450 million.
In August data and AI platform giant Databricks acquired Tecton, a startup developer of machine learning and real-time feature store technology, in a move to boost Databricks’ the capabilities of AI agents running on the Databricks platform. And in December 2024 integration and automation provider Boomi bought data integration tech developer Rivery, also in the Stellar Startups class of 2024.
Throughout this week CRN is running slide shows with the Stellar Startups in key technology categories including:
AI remains the hottest segment of the IT industry right now with artificial intelligence driving many—if not most—of the innovations being developed by both established IT vendors and emerging companies. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here’s a look at 15 AI technology startups solution providers should be aware of.
Businesses and organizations today are demanding more sophisticated application development and DevOps capabilities given the need for faster software delivery and the need to automate complex business processes. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are two application development technology startups solution providers should know.
The IT industry may be obsessed with AI right now, but without good data, all these AI applications and agents now being developed and deployed are, well, not all that intelligent. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are five big data technology startups that solution providers should be aware of.
Operational applications are how businesses and organizations generate value from IT. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are three business application startups that solution providers should get to know.
Managing and securing today’s complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments can be a major IT challenge. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are six cloud technology startups that the channel should know.
*Data Center
Despite the rapid growth of distributed systems and cloud computing, the data center remains the heart of the IT operations of many businesses and organizations. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are two data center technology startups that solution providers should be aware of.
*Internet of Things
IT networks continue to expand outward from the data center to branch offices, shop floors and other more remote locations. IOT and edge computing devices play an increasingly important role in distributed data collection and processing. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are four IoT technology startups that the channel should be aware of.
*Networking/Unified Communications
The proliferation of hybrid/multi-cloud IT environments, coupled with the shift to remote work, is driving demand for more robust corporate networks and expanded unified communications capabilities. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are seven startups developing next-generation networking and UC technology that solution providers should know.
Cyberattacks are unrelenting and rapidly evolving—the bad guys always seem to be one step ahead—and businesses are demanding the latest defensive weapons to fight back. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are 45 security startups developing leading-edge cybersecurity technology.
*Storage
Data volumes are exploding even as data assets become more valuable. Businesses and organizations are increasingly challenged to manage and safeguard all that valuable data. As part of CRN’s Stellar Startups for 2025, here are six startups in data storage technology (including data backup and resiliency) that solution providers should be aware of.
CJ Fairfield and Gina Narcisi contributed to this article.