35 fastest growing startups by follower velocity, september 2026

tl;dr: these are the 35 startups that gained the most attention in the past 90 days, ranked by follower velocity: how many new tracked investor and operator accounts on frontrun started following each one on X between june 25 and september 23 2026. TypeSafe AI (89) and Discovery Loop (88) lead by a wide margin, then Hone (42), Superlogical (31) and Watney (30). robotics and physical AI is the biggest group, with 11 of the 35. crypto projects are left out.

this is a fork of Ben Lang's list of the fastest growing startups by hiring velocity. hiring shows who is scaling. attention usually shows up first: the investors and operators who follow a company on X tend to get there weeks or months before the headcount does, and often before the round is announced. we posted the list on X here.

the 35 fastest growing startups by follower velocity

ranked by new tracked accounts following in the past 90 days. the number after each company is that count.

1. TypeSafe AI (@typesafeai) · AI models you can embed in traditional software. 89 new tracked accounts
2. Discovery Loop (@discoloopai) · automating discovery for science and engineering (Palo Alto). 88 new tracked accounts
3. Hone (@hone) · AI that owns outcomes, not tasks (San Francisco). 42 new tracked accounts
4. Superlogical (@superlogical) · a multiplexer for all work. 31 new tracked accounts
5. Watney (@watneyrobotics) · robotics for the physical world (San Francisco). 30 new tracked accounts
6. TerraFirma (@terrafirma_inc) · giant robots that build (Austin). 29 new tracked accounts
7. Generalist (@generalistai) · general intelligence for robots. 29 new tracked accounts
8. Reward AI (@rewardai_) · frontier intelligence for any robot (Bay Area). 28 new tracked accounts
9. Wafer (@wafer_ai) · AI inference that keeps getting better (San Francisco). 28 new tracked accounts
10. Kepler Computing (@keplercompute) · AI memory and logic, made in America (US). 25 new tracked accounts
11. Enigma (@enigma_ai) · robots that feel right (San Francisco). 23 new tracked accounts
12. Atlas (@atlasmotion) · instruments of motion (Los Angeles). 22 new tracked accounts
13. Silicon Data (@silicon_data) · data and financial products for compute markets (New York). 21 new tracked accounts
14. Oak Lab (@oaklab_ai) · learning algorithms for agents in big worlds (Toronto). 20 new tracked accounts
15. Town (@townai) · the unusually helpful AI assistant (San Francisco). 19 new tracked accounts
16. Matic Robots (@maticrobots) · home robots that clean (California). 19 new tracked accounts
17. Prime Intellect (@primeintellect) · open superintelligence stack. 19 new tracked accounts
18. Actinide (@actinideinc) · nuclear energy (Dallas). 18 new tracked accounts
19. Sail Research (@sailresearchco) · infra for long-horizon agents (San Francisco). 18 new tracked accounts
20. Recast Systems (@recast) · precise weather modification. 17 new tracked accounts
21. Dyna Robotics (@dynarobotics) · general-purpose robots for the physical economy. 17 new tracked accounts
22. Attention Inc. (@attentioninc) · learning through human intelligence (Palo Alto). 16 new tracked accounts
23. Skild AI (@skildai) · general-purpose robot intelligence (US). 16 new tracked accounts
24. Tachyon (@tachyon______) · ex Los Alamos and SpaceX physicists (Redwood City). 15 new tracked accounts
25. Singularity Defense (@singularitydefc) · engineering to defeat threats (Gardena, CA). 15 new tracked accounts
26. Chip (@drivewithchip) · a $15k life utility vehicle. 15 new tracked accounts
27. Fluidstack (@fluidstack) · infrastructure for AI compute (New York). 15 new tracked accounts
28. Vals AI (@valsai) · public LLM evaluation (San Francisco). 15 new tracked accounts
29. Omanta Health (@omantahealth) · a personalized research lab for each patient. 14 new tracked accounts
30. Intelligence (@intelligence_ai) · makers of Design Arena and Prediction Bench. 14 new tracked accounts
31. Dimensional (@dimensionalos) · open-source framework for agentic robotics. 14 new tracked accounts
32. River AI (@river_ai_inc) · personal AI owned by each individual. 14 new tracked accounts
33. Sable (@withsableai) · an AI employee with computer use, vision and voice (San Francisco). 13 new tracked accounts
34. Indent (@indent) · an AI coworker for your whole team. 13 new tracked accounts
35. Pantograph (@pantographpbc) · scalable robotics, with lots of robots (San Francisco). 13 new tracked accounts

what the list says

• robotics and physical AI is where the attention is. 11 of the 35 build robots or robot intelligence: Watney, TerraFirma, Generalist, Reward AI, Enigma, Atlas, Matic Robots, Dyna Robotics, Skild AI, Dimensional and Pantograph.
• the top two are in a league of their own. TypeSafe AI and Discovery Loop each picked up close to 90 new tracked accounts in 90 days, more than double anyone else on the list. TypeSafe had 39 followers on X on july 19. it has about 149,000 today.
• small accounts can rank. Tachyon had under 100 followers on X and still landed at #24. follower velocity measures who is paying attention, not how big the audience is.
• infrastructure for AI keeps pulling investors in. Wafer, Kepler Computing, Silicon Data, Sail Research and Fluidstack all sit in the top 30.

how follower velocity is measured

frontrun tracks the X follow graphs of more than 2,000 investors, operators and firms. every company here is ranked by the number of those accounts that started following it in the 90 days to september 23 2026. accounts that were already following before the window do not count. crypto projects, accelerators, investment firms and individual people are left out, so the list is venture-backed startups only.

faq

What are the fastest growing startups by follower velocity in September 2026?

The top 10 by follower velocity over the 90 days to September 23 2026 were TypeSafe AI, Discovery Loop, Hone, Superlogical, Watney, TerraFirma, Generalist, Reward AI, Wafer and Kepler Computing. TypeSafe AI and Discovery Loop were far ahead of the field, each picking up close to 90 new tracked accounts.

How is follower velocity measured?

Each company is ranked by how many new tracked accounts on frontrun started following it on X in the past 90 days. frontrun tracks more than 2,000 investor and operator accounts. Crypto projects, accelerators, investment firms and individual people are left out, so the list is venture-backed startups only.

Why does follower velocity matter for investors?

Hiring velocity shows who is scaling. Attention usually arrives before the headcount and before the round is announced: investors and operators start following a company on X weeks or months ahead of a raise. A company that many of them follow in a short window is one the market is looking at right now.

Which sectors dominate the list?

Robotics and physical AI lead with 11 of the 35 (Watney, TerraFirma, Generalist, Reward AI, Enigma, Atlas, Matic Robots, Dyna Robotics, Skild AI, Dimensional, Pantograph), followed by AI agents and applied AI, AI infrastructure and compute, and a small group of energy and defense companies.

Is this list inspired by the hiring velocity list?

Yes. It forks Ben Lang's list of the fastest growing startups by hiring velocity over the past 90 days, and ranks by attention instead of headcount.

see who investors are following before the round: frontrun.vc. follow from the front.