03-03-2025
RealLIST Startups 2025: 16 early-stage Pittsburgh companies poised to make a difference
After months of outreach and careful consideration, our collection of this year's most promising Pittsburgh startups is here.
annual RealLIST Startups identifies the region's young companies on track to continue their upward trajectories. We rank these companies 1 through 10 based on our analysis of their recent accomplishments, and also include a list of runners up.
We've published this annual feature in various ecosystems stretching back nearly a decade, highlighting companies with impressive products, goals, founders and funders. 2025 marks the fourth year of our Pittsburgh roster; find the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions here.
compiled this year's list by reviewing our reporting and asking the public for nominations. The final group includes startups pushing to change the game in several industries, including medical devices, marketing, manufacturing, recycling, agriculture and health insurance.
To land on this list, the companies must be founded in 2022 or later, make most of their revenue from selling a product (no consultants) and not have undergone a significant exit, acquisition or IPO. The companies on this list have achieved significant milestones, including major fundraises, accelerator participation, notable investors and impactful missions.
Pittsburgh, here are your 2025 RealLIST Startup honorees.
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Methodology: To build RealLIST Startups, editorial team assesses factors including societal impact, founder experience, capital raised and community involvement. We ask each startup candidate to complete a survey to help us understand and verify these factors, and we only include companies that have responded. This year, despite a $300 million raise and unicorn status, did not respond to requests for comment and is not on the list.
