AI unicorns: the companies behind the AI tools you use
Behind every AI tool is a company, and some of them have become worth hundreds of billions of dollars in just a few years. Here are the AI unicorns worth knowing: what they make, how they got there and their last reported value, from the US to France, China, Poland and Sweden. Filter by type to explore.
- Bought by another company
- No longer independent; the value shown is the purchase price or last valuation.
AI model makers
Bought by another companyFounded 2023
xAI (USA): Elon Musk's AI company, now part of SpaceX
What they make: The Grok chatbot and AI models, built into X (formerly Twitter).
The journey: Founded by Elon Musk in 2023 and merged with X in 2025. In February 2026 SpaceX bought it, and it has since been renamed.
Last reported value: Bought by SpaceX at a valuation of about $250 billion (February 2026).
Founded 2023
Mistral AI (France): Europe's leading AI model maker
What they make: Open-weight and commercial AI models, and the Le Chat assistant.
The journey: Founded in Paris in 2023 and valued at over €2 billion within a year. It is now the most valuable AI company in Europe.
Last reported value: About $24.7 billion (September 2026).
Learn more:Website
Founded 2023
Moonshot AI (China): the maker of Kimi
What they make: The Kimi chatbot and AI models, popular in China and with developers worldwide.
The journey: A Beijing start-up that has become one of China's most valuable AI companies, and is reported to be preparing for a stock market listing in Hong Kong.
Last reported value: About $35 billion after a funding round that beat its target (July 2026).
Keep in mind: Plans for a stock market listing are reported, not confirmed by the company.
Founded 2021
Anthropic (USA): the maker of Claude
What they make: The Claude AI assistant and models, and the coding agent Claude Code.
The journey: Founded by former OpenAI researchers with a focus on AI safety. In May 2026 it overtook OpenAI as the most valuable private AI company.
Last reported value: About $965 billion after a $65 billion round in May 2026.
Learn more:Website
Founded 2015
OpenAI (USA): the company behind ChatGPT
What they make: ChatGPT, the GPT models, image and video tools, and coding agents.
The journey: Started as a non-profit research lab in 2015. ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, became one of the fastest-growing apps ever.
Last reported value: About $852 billion after raising $122 billion in March 2026.
Learn more:Website
Tools you can use
Founded 2023
Lovable (Sweden): build an app by describing it
What they make: A vibe-coding tool that turns a plain-English description into a working website or app.
The journey: Reached $100 million in yearly revenue eight months after launch, which it called the fastest of any software company.
Last reported value: About $1.8 billion after its Series A in July 2025.
Keep in mind: Later funding rounds have been reported at higher values; the July 2025 figure is the latest we could confirm.
Learn more:Website
Bought by another companyFounded 2022
Cursor (USA): the AI code editor, now owned by SpaceX
What they make: Cursor, an AI-first code editor used by millions of developers.
The journey: Built by a small team that founded Anysphere in 2022. It was valued at $29.3 billion in November 2025; SpaceX then partnered with it in April 2026 and bought it by August.
Last reported value: $29.3 billion in its last funding round (November 2025), before the SpaceX deal.
Learn more:Website
Founded 2022
ElevenLabs (founded by two Polish engineers): realistic AI voices
What they make: AI voices for audiobooks, dubbing, games and customer service, in dozens of languages.
The journey: Started by two childhood friends from Poland. It raised money at $11 billion in February 2026 and doubled that by September.
Last reported value: About $22 billion, through a sale of employee shares (September 2026).
Learn more:Website
How we chose these companies
We picked AI companies whose products many people use or hear about, from several countries, and only included figures reported by reliable sources such as CNBC, TechCrunch, Bloomberg and Crunchbase. Valuations change often and are investors’ estimates, not revenue or profit. We list the last reported figure with its month, and recheck them every quarter. For the tools themselves, see AI tools by job; for start-ups built on these tools, see Built with AI.