Next billion-dollar startups 2026
Artificial intelligence once again dominates Forbes list of venture-backed startups we think are likely to become unicorns.
Richard Nieva, Forbes Staff
Fortunes of Anthropic’s seven cofounders more than double to $16.6 billion each
After a massive fundraise that values the AI company at nearly a trillion dollars, Dario and Daniela Amodei, along with their five cofounders, have seen their net worths soar.
Inside Scale AI’s business after Meta’s bombshell $14 billion deal
How Scale AI Is Adapting Post Meta Deal And Founder’s Departure
Meet the $9 billion AI company reimagining vibe coding
Amjad Masad’s Replit allows users to work together like they’re doodling on a white board. It also made him a billionaire along the way.
The Anthropic cofounders standing up to Trump
Many billionaires have kowtowed to the President lately. That’s what makes Dario Amodei’s refusal to cave so stunning — and may be behind Claude’s surge at the App Store.
Google’s data centre buildout could top US$1 trillion
In an exclusive interview, Google’s new AI infrastructure chief says the tech giant has a “significant investment” planned. At current levels, Forbes projects it could be a very big number indeed.
Sam Altman on Elon Musk, Donald Trump, robotics, fatherhood and more
Across two wide-ranging interviews with Forbes, Altman covered more ground than could fit in our profile. Here are his remarks on everything from vaccine research to critics who argue he backs companies to solve problems he helped create.
Sam Altman reveals why OpenAI is poised to make the biggest business bets ever
Sam Altman founded his first tech company as a teenager and was running Y combinator, the world’s leading startup accelerator, by 28. As CEO of OpenAI, the 40-year-old billionaire unleashed ChatGPT, creating a $500 billion behemoth. As a new father, he’s building the future his kids will have to live in. Oh yeah, and the rest of us, too.
ChatGPT users say swapping out models is like ‘replacing a service animal’
OpenAI wanted GPT-5 to be less warm and agreeable than its predecessor. Some neurodivergent people struggled with the change, showing the tricky balance AI companies must strike when releasing new models.
The world’s youngest self-made billionaires are a trio of 22-year-old AI founders
With a new $10 billion valuation for their AI recruiting startup Mercor, the founders are the youngest tech billionaires ever.