23 innovative developer tools startups you should know (2025)

What are developer tools startups?

Developer tools startups aim to make software engineers’ lives easier by providing innovative products and services. These startups build tools and platforms that improve developer workflows, enhance collaboration, boost productivity, and streamline processes.

Raycast

Founded in 2020, Raycast is a software company that makes an application launcher and productivity tool for Mac computers. Their app gives Mac users an easier way to open programs, search files, access info online, and automate common tasks.

The Raycast app replaces the standard Spotlight Search on Mac with more advanced features. Users can launch apps just by typing, with intelligent suggestions surfacing your most used programs. Raycast indexes local documents so you can instantly open project files no matter where they are saved. Custom commands set up shortcuts to specific folders, websites, and actions.

Silexica

Silexica provides programming tools enabling engineers to develop and optimize intelligent systems software powering innovations from self-driving vehicles to industrial automation. Prevalent systems like autonomous cars require complex high-performance code coordinating inputs across sensors, artificial intelligence, communications and controls. Silexica offers an integrated compiler and analyzer suite that helps developers write, debug, profile and accelerate software orchestrating diverse hardware and algorithms efficiently.

By optimizing system architecture early in design process, engineers can maximize throughput and utilization in powered by everything from embedded devices to the cloud. With robust tools tackling the multidimensional challenges of smart system programming head-on, Silexica helps promising concepts like autonomous robots swiftly become commercial reality.

Athenian

Founded in 2019, Athenian offers real-time data and feedback loops for engineering executives. The system tracks metrics like velocity, quality, and collaboration to inform decisions. Features help surface blockers, guide goal-setting, and measure progress toward targets.

By centralizing engineering intelligence, Athenian provides key visibility allowing tech leaders to guide strategic priorities. The platform analyzes behavioral trends across siloed systems onto a single pane of glass. This empowers management to spot patterns and nurture cultures of excellence at speed and scale.

OutSystems

Founded in 2001, OutSystems offers a visual development environment and modular architecture that speeds delivery while integrating with existing systems. Apps can be compiled to native code for high performance and security. These tools aim to close the software delivery gap.

By empowering developers and business users alike to create apps fast, OutSystems helps organizations adapt at the pace of innovation today. Their platform maximizes productivity for both professional and citizen developers.

Postman

Initially launched in 2014 through a Chrome app for API exploration, Postman’s collaboration and productivity focus fueled explosive B2B SaaS growth as APIs became central to software. Their platform made API development easier and more seamless.

Now supporting over 500,000 businesses, Postman is established as the standard API development environment used by engineering teams globally. As software consumes the world, Postman consumes API complexity.

BrowserStack

Founded in 2011 as an early cloud testing pioneer, BrowserStack enables development teams to deliver higher quality apps by testing them effortlessly across the fragmented landscape of user environments. Their platform simplifies essential testing.

Tens of thousands of customers from Microsoft to Twitter now rely on BrowserStack for fast, reliable testing during CI/CD. As app complexity increases, BrowserStack provides the cloud scale and speed to test confidently.

Sentry

Initially launched as an open source error tracker in 2012, Sentry’s capabilities expanded into a full monitoring platform tailored for development workflows. Their technology revolutionized logging usability for engineers.

Thousands of software teams at companies like eBay, Peloton and Cloudflare now rely on Sentry for mission-critical visibility into app health and user experiences. As complexity rises, Sentry provides the intelligence to build fearlessly.

Contentful

Founded in 2012, Contentful pioneered headless architecture empowering seamless content integration with any frontend without vendor lock-in. Their innovation accelerated the transition from traditional monolithic CMSs to agile models.

Global brands like Spotify, Urban Outfitters and British Telecom now rely on Contentful to scale content velocity across digital experiences. As customer touchpoints multiply, Contentful provides the content backbone.

Sourcegraph

Initially created in 2013 as a universal code search engine for open source code, Sourcegraph eventually focused on transforming code search and navigation inside organizations as codebases grew exponentially. Their platform solved a universal coding pain point.

Global tech leaders from Uber to Intel now rely on Sourcegraph for code insight across massive internal repositories and dependencies. As software grows infinitely complex, Sourcegraph provides understanding.

ThatGameCompany

Founded in 2006, ThatGameCompany designs cinematic games exploring themes like connection, awe, growth, and loss through metaphorical gameplay and imagery. Titles include Journey, Sky, and Flower.

By honing the craft of experience-driven games spanning casual and hardcore play, they demonstrate gaming’s full potential as an impactful art form touching people’s lives. Thoughtful design and execution elevate interactive mediums.

Copado

Founded in 2013, Copado offers release management, testing, compliance, and analytics tools optimized for Salesforce development workflows. Their solutions aim to streamline software delivery and governance processes on the cloud platform.

By tailoring DevOps capabilities to the nuances of the Salesforce environment, Copado enables teams to improve agility, productivity, and innovation on the CRM cloud leader. This promises faster and more robust digital transformations.

Weights & Biases

Founded in 2019, Weights & Biases provides tools for experiment tracking, model visualization, dataset versioning, and model deployment designed around common workflows in ML. Their platform aims to streamline development and collaboration.

By optimizing the MLOps experience around developers first, Weights & Biases helps teams build, understand, and productionize models faster. This promises more agile and impactful AI innovation cycles.

Contrast

Founded in 2014, Contrast embeds sensors in applications to detect vulnerabilities and block attacks in production in real-time. Their tools work within existing workflows to increase security without friction.

By integrating security seamlessly into the development pipeline, Contrast aims to help organizations build, deliver and run apps more securely. This DevSecOps approach promises enhanced protection and agility.

Sendinblue

Founded in 2012, Sendinblue combines capabilities like email and SMS marketing, automation, CRM, and more in one integrated solution. This aims to simplify digital marketing execution for businesses.

By centralizing fragmented tools, Sendinblue empowers businesses to deliver coordinated messaging that nurtures customer relationships and loyalty. Data insights optimize interactions.

commercetools

Founded in 2006, commercetools provides an API-first, headless, microservices-based architecture offering enterprise-grade durability, scalability, and flexibility. Their composable commerce components aim to future-proof investment.

By decoupling the front-end UI from backend services, commercetools empowers composing personalized experiences optimized for any device or interface now or in the future. Their cloud platform drives innovation and scale.

Railsbank

Founded in 2016, Railsbank offers modular financial services like account issuing, payment processing, compliance capabilities, card creation, underwriting, and KYC checks that developers can mix-and-match to build tailored financial products and workflows.

By providing pre-built regulated fintech building blocks, Railsbank powers the next generation of enterprises embedding finance into their platforms and ecosystems. Their B2B finance-as-a-service model drives embedded finance innovation.

Hadean

Founded in 2015, Hadean offers a platform combining a distributed operating system with a highly parallelized compute engine optimized for geospatial processing across interconnected nodes and users. This enables next-gen experiences.

By pioneering new computing primitives vital for the metaverse, Hadean aims to remove technical constraints holding back immersive interactive worlds interconnecting millions of users and locations in real-time. Their technology powers the next computing revolution.

Moralis

Founded in 2020, Moralis offers easy-to-integrate APIs, SDKs, and other tools to simplify blockchain development with boilerplate code, auth, storage, queries, chains integration, and automated cross-chain features. This aims to accelerate web3 building.

By handling blockchain complexity behind an intuitive developer interface, Moralis helps developers focus on their innovative ideas instead of low-level blockchain plumbing. Their platform powers thousands of web3 projects.

42Crunch

Founded in 2018 by veterans of web security and the OpenAPI Initiative, 42Crunch delivers proactive API protection by codifying security standards into pragmatic developer tooling. Their technology embeds security within API creation.

Global engineering teams at organizations like Orange and Swiss Re now rely on 42Crunch to release robust, compliant APIs faster. As business interconnectivity expands, 42Crunch secures the foundation.

AND Digital

Founded in 2015, AND Digital understood large organizations’ needs for technical expertise marrying strategic perspective and hands-on execution. Their teams integrate into clients’ cultures to make transformation frictionless.

With practices across North America and Europe, AND Digital serves over 100 global enterprise clients including Bosch, Honda, and Pfizer. As legacy businesses digitize, AND Digital closes experience and operations gaps.

Conjura

Founded in 2015, Conjura guides firms through data-driven transformations with pragmatic strategy steeped in hands-on implementation experience. Their emphasis is using technology thoughtfully to amplify human expertise versus replace it.

Innovators across data-rich industries like ABN AMRO and the Port of Rotterdam partner with Conjura for strategic direction to execution support on optimizing data advantage. As information multiplies, Conjura connects dots.

EVRYTHNG

Founded in 2012, EVRYTHNG anticipated the IoT data management gap holding brands back from digitally-driven business models and customer experiences. Their platform transforms fragmented product data into unified insights.

Global CPG brands from Nestle to Unilever now rely on EVRYTHNG to complete product journeys digitally and unlock web-powered applications at scale. As smart packaging expands, EVRYTHNG fulfills its potential.

Tyk

Founded in 2015, Tyk recognized microservices’ proliferation increased API sprawl and management complexity while hindering adoption. Their open source platform enabled robust API lifecycle orchestration accessible to all organizations.

Tyk now powers API infrastructure for major firms ranging from NASA to the UN while remaining open source. As APIs and services interconnect, Tyk provides the tools to develop, connect and monitor reliably at any scale.

Conclusion

With developers being a key factor in modern tech and the economy, these developer tools startups that solve their problems have opportunities to gain traction. By innovating in the developer tools space, these startups can make significant impacts on software engineering efficiency and effectiveness, which in turn helps business to achieve their goals faster and more successfully.