Top 40 AI companies in San Francisco
The 40 most prominent AI companies with a head office in San Francisco, ranked by team size, money raised and how many of their people we hold. Every head office is checked against two sources, Crunchbase and the company’s own LinkedIn page, and a company is left out when they disagree.
- Head office: San Francisco, CA
- Crunchbase category: Artificial Intelligence
- Verified AI companies
- 2,188
- People working there now
- 256,395
- Data read
At a glance
Salesforce, founded in 1999, is the oldest company in this top 40 and has the largest LinkedIn headcount at 70,612. OpenAI, Databricks, Anthropic and Scale AI follow near the top. The median founding year of the top 40 is 2015, and 10 of the top 40 were founded in the last 5 years, including Anthropic, Mercor, Harvey, Perplexity, Cursor and Sierra. Crescendo, founded in 2024, is the youngest. Series E is the most common last funding round, at 8 of the top 40.
The 40 most prominent
40 of 2,188 · ranked by team size, funding and reach| # | Company | Head office | Team size | Founded | Last round | Profiles we hold |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Salesforcesalesforce.com |
San Francisco, CA | 70,612 | 1999 | Public | 32,036 |
| 2 |  OpenAIopenai.com |
San Francisco, CA | 12,188 | 2015 | Venture round | 11,722 |
| 3 |  Databricksdatabricks.com |
San Francisco, CA | 17,111 | 2013 | Private equity | 10,115 |
| 4 |  Anthropicanthropic.com |
San Francisco, CA | 5,803 | 2021 | Series H | 6,130 |
| 5 |  Scale AIscale.com |
San Francisco, CA | 6,218 | 2016 | Corporate round | 6,474 |
| 6 |  Mercormercor.com |
San Francisco, CA | 11,117 | 2023 | Series C | 9,067 |
| 7 |  Motivegomotive.com |
San Francisco, CA | 6,413 | 2013 | Secondary sale | 4,959 |
| 8 |  Gonggong.io |
San Francisco, CA | 6,762 | 2015 | Secondary sale | 2,809 |
| 9 |  GitHubgithub.com |
San Francisco, CA | 6,118 | 2008 | Series B | 5,063 |
| 10 |  Miromiro.com |
San Francisco, CA | 3,302 | 2011 | Series C | 3,224 |
| 11 |  Harveyharvey.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 1,871 | 2022 | Private equity | 1,874 |
| 12 |  Perplexityperplexity.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 1,368 | 2022 | Venture round | 2,188 |
| 13 |  Meltwatermeltwater.com |
San Francisco, CA | 2,642 | 2001 | Private equity | 2,757 |
| 14 |  Samasama.com |
San Francisco, CA | 4,355 | 2008 | Series B | 3,252 |
| 15 |  Checkrcheckr.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,827 | 2014 | Undisclosed | 1,990 |
| 16 |  Harnessharness.io |
San Francisco, CA | 1,831 | 2017 | Series E | 1,772 |
| 17 |  Vantavanta.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,993 | 2018 | Series D | 2,291 |
| 18 |  Innovaccerinnovaccer.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,634 | 2014 | Series F | 2,015 |
| 19 |  6sense6sense.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,650 | 2013 | Debt | 1,972 |
| 20 |  Cursorcursor.com |
San Francisco, CA | 793 | 2022 | Series D | 1,300 |
| 21 |  Sigmasigmacomputing.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,436 | 2014 | Series E | 1,642 |
| 22 |  Sierrasierra.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 1,093 | 2023 | Series E | 1,142 |
| 23 |  Talkdesktalkdesk.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,404 | 2011 | Debt | 1,644 |
| 24 |  Zipzip.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,398 | 2020 | Series D | 1,306 |
| 25 |  Gupshupgupshup.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 942 | 2004 | Venture round | 1,257 |
| 26 |  Kongkonghq.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,066 | 2017 | Series E | 1,190 |
| 27 |  Cognitioncognition.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 614 | 2023 | Series D | 582 |
| 28 |  Anyscaleanyscale.com |
San Francisco, CA | 826 | 2019 | Series C | 1,606 |
| 29 |  Writerwriter.com |
San Francisco, CA | 683 | 2020 | Series C | 1,899 |
| 30 |  Demandbasedemandbase.com |
San Francisco, CA | 995 | 2005 | Debt | 1,135 |
| 31 |  Apollo.ioapollo.io |
San Francisco, CA | 922 | 2015 | Series D | 1,258 |
| 32 |  Benchlingbenchling.com |
San Francisco, CA | 812 | 2012 | Series F | 1,088 |
| 33 |  Iterableiterable.com |
San Francisco, CA | 879 | 2013 | Series E | 1,101 |
| 34 |  EvenUpevenuplaw.com |
San Francisco, CA | 859 | 2019 | Series E | 1,073 |
| 35 |  Ironcladironcladapp.com |
San Francisco, CA | 871 | 2014 | Series E | 1,092 |
| 36 |  Gainsightgainsight.com |
San Francisco, CA | 1,151 | 2009 | Series E | 1,339 |
| 37 |  Basetenbaseten.co |
San Francisco, CA | 453 | 2019 | Series F | 492 |
| 38 |  Omniomni.co |
San Francisco, CA | 948 | 2022 | Series C | 907 |
| 39 |  Crescendocrescendo.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 1,420 | 2024 | Series C | 1,448 |
| 40 |  Armadaarmada.ai |
San Francisco, CA | 678 | 2022 | Series B | 744 |
Together AI
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How this list is built
Two sources must agree
Crunchbase files 5,453 AI companies under a San Francisco head office. We match each one to its LinkedIn page by domain and keep it only if LinkedIn does not contradict the city or the country: 243 were left out because LinkedIn puts the head office in another city, 91 because it names another country, 31 because the names do not match.
Ranked by substance
The order combines team size on LinkedIn, money raised and how many of the company’s people we hold. It is not a popularity score, and nobody pays to be listed. 1,231 companies with fewer than five people were left out, and so were 3 that now belong to an acquirer, so one employer is not counted twice.
Every number has a date
Each company’s LinkedIn page was read within the last 180 days; 192 with an older read were left out rather than shown with stale numbers. This page was built from data read on .
Questions about AI companies in San Francisco
What are the largest AI companies in San Francisco?
Of the companies on this list, the largest by team size on LinkedIn are Salesforce (70,612), Databricks (17,111), OpenAI (12,188), Mercor (11,117) and Gong (6,762). Among those founded in the last ten years, the largest are Mercor, Scale AI, Anthropic, Vanta and Harvey.
What are the top AI startups in San Francisco?
Among companies on this list founded in 2020 or later, the largest by team size on LinkedIn are Mercor (11,117), Anthropic (5,803), Harvey (1,871), Crescendo (1,420), Zip (1,398) and Perplexity (1,368).
Which AI companies are headquartered in San Francisco?
The most prominent are Salesforce, OpenAI, Databricks, Anthropic, Scale AI, Mercor, Motive, Gong, GitHub and Miro. This page lists the top 40; Crunchbase files 5,453 AI companies with a San Francisco head office, and 2,188 of them pass our checks.
How many AI companies are there in San Francisco?
Crunchbase files 5,453 companies with a San Francisco head office under its Artificial Intelligence category. 2,188 of them pass our checks: a LinkedIn page that agrees on the city and the country, at least five people, and a company profile read in the last 180 days.
Which San Francisco AI companies in this list are the newest?
By founding year: Crescendo (2024), Mercor (2023), Sierra (2023), Cognition (2023), Harvey (2022) and Perplexity (2022).
How is this list ranked?
By a combined score of team size on LinkedIn, total money raised and how many of the company's people we hold. Every list in the directory uses this order. It is not a popularity vote and nobody pays to be on it.
How do I find contacts at these companies?
Generect holds 256,395 people working at these 2,188 companies now. Open the list in Generect to filter them by role, seniority and location and to get verified work emails. This page publishes company data only, no personal contact details.
When was this list last updated?
It was built from data read on 29 Sep 2026. The date at the top of the page changes every time the list is rebuilt.
What funding stage are the top AI companies in San Francisco at?
Most of the top 40 are late-stage private companies. By last funding round, 8 are at Series E, 6 at Series C, 5 at Series D, 3 each at Series B and Series F, and 1 at Series H (Anthropic). Another 3 last raised private equity and 3 raised debt financing. 1 company, Salesforce, is listed as public.
Which San Francisco AI companies build tools for software developers?
Cursor (Anysphere) and Cognition build AI systems for coding and software engineering, and GitHub hosts code for developers. For AI infrastructure, Anyscale runs a distributed computing platform, Baseten provides tools for running AI in production, and Together AI (on the full list) offers a cloud for training and deploying generative AI models. Harness and Kong build software delivery and API connectivity platforms.