Q1 2026 · Growth

Growth Startups Showing Engineering Acceleration

Growth-stage startups at Series C and beyond. Engineering signals at this scale indicate platform expansion, new product line development, or preparation for an IPO or major strategic milestone. Currently tracking 55 growth startups across 18 sectors. airbytehq leads with 559 commits over 14 days (+1647%).

Investor insight

At growth stage, engineering signals indicate strategic direction — a major deploy-frequency spike often maps to a product launch; an infrastructure buildout often signals a new business line. Useful for secondary investors, growth funds, and corporate development teams benchmarking targets.

Sector breakdown — Growth

Data Infrastructure

9 growth startups

Cybersecurity

8 growth startups

AI & Machine Learning

6 growth startups

Web3

4 growth startups

Enterprise SaaS

4 growth startups

Healthcare

3 growth startups

EdTech

3 growth startups

E-commerce Infrastructure

3 growth startups

Robotics

3 growth startups

Developer Tools

2 growth startups

HR Tech

2 growth startups

AgTech

2 growth startups

Climate Tech

1 growth startup

Legal Tech

1 growth startup

PropTech

1 growth startup

Gaming

1 growth startup

Space Tech

1 growth startup

Social & Community

1 growth startup

Ranked growth startups — Q1 2026

#	Company	Stage	Geo	Commits (14d)	Change	Contributors	Contrib. Growth	New Repos	Signal
1	airbytehq Simple & extensible open-source data integration View signal profile →	Growth	US	559	+1647%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
2	Infisical Infisical is the open-source secrets management platform: Sync secrets across your team/infrastructure, prevent secret l View signal profile →	Growth	US	399	+1496%	100	+40%	3	Infrastructure buildout
3	StanfordVL Research Codebase View signal profile →	Growth	US	12	+1100%	55	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
4	hpi-schul-cloud View signal profile →	Growth	EU	5	+999%	100	+0%	2	Deploy frequency spike
5	LiteFarmOrg View signal profile →	Growth	Canada	83	+999%	65	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
6	carbon-design-system An open-source design system built by IBM. View signal profile →	Growth	US	62	+933%	100	+0%	1	Deploy frequency spike
7	ihmcrobotics IHMC Robotics Lab on GitHub View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	45	+800%	79	+6%	0	Deploy frequency spike
8	dbt-labs dbt helps data teams work like software engineers—to ship trusted data, faster. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	481	+533%	100	+0%	2	Deploy frequency spike
9	polarsource Turn your software into a business View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	289	+456%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
10	nextcloud 📱☁️💻 A safe home for all your data – community-driven, free & open source 👏 View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	53	+430%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
11	debezium Distributed open source platform for change data capture View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	61	+408%	100	+35%	0	Deploy frequency spike
12	mlflow The open source AI engineering platform for agents, LLMs, and ML models. View signal profile →	Growth	US	456	+380%	100	+20%	0	Deploy frequency spike
13	IntersectMBO Intersect is a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem — putting the community at the center of Cardano’s de View signal profile →	Growth	US	119	+358%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
14	paperless-ngx View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	61	+336%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
15	solidusio Become the brand everyone talks about. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	17	+325%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
16	open-condo-software View signal profile →	Growth	LATAM	39	+290%	51	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
17	OpenAPITools A collection of tools for OpenAPI specifications. (NOTE: This organization is not affiliated with OpenAPI Initiative (OA View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	50	+285%	100	+5%	0	Deploy frequency spike
18	OpenCTI-Platform Open Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform View signal profile →	Growth	US	158	+285%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
19	PostHog The single platform to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features View signal profile →	Growth	US	224	+273%	100	+0%	3	Infrastructure buildout
20	cilium eBPF-based Networking, Security, and Observability View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	220	+224%	100	+0%	1	Deploy frequency spike
21	fleetdm Open device, endpoint, and vulnerability management for everything from macOS to Android. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	360	+221%	100	+0%	0	Deploy frequency spike
22	akto-api-security Instant API Security View signal profile →	Growth	US	311	+141%	53	+0%	1	Framework migration
23	langchain-ai View signal profile →	Growth	US	159	+137%	100	+20%	1	Framework migration
24	hapifhir This is the source home for the HAPI FHIR project. Note that we are in the progress of migrating our codebase from the m View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	31	+121%	91	+19%	0	Framework migration
25	ParabolInc Tools for building better teams View signal profile →	Growth	US	22	+120%	78	+0%	0	Framework migration
26	gravitational The easiest, most secure way to access all your infrastructure. View signal profile →	Growth	US	155	+118%	100	+8%	0	Framework migration
27	VictoriaMetrics Easy to use and fast monitoring solution View signal profile →	Growth	US	65	+117%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
28	betagouv Communauté des incubateurs de Services Publics Numériques View signal profile →	Growth	EU	12	+100%	100	+32%	1	Framework migration
29	ohcnetwork Opensource Public Utility \| Open Healthcare Network View signal profile →	Growth	APAC	129	+90%	100	+0%	8	Infrastructure buildout
30	ever-co The Everything Platform for Businesses™ View signal profile →	Growth	US	77	+88%	79	+0%	1	Framework migration
31	FlaxEngine A true game changer View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	75	+88%	89	+30%	0	Framework migration
32	ClickHouse View signal profile →	Growth	US	2,090	+82%	100	+0%	4	Infrastructure buildout
33	PostHog The single platform to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features View signal profile →	Growth	US	1,033	+66%	100	+0%	4	Infrastructure buildout
34	bagisto A Free and Opensource laravel eCommerce framework built for all to build and scale your business. View signal profile →	Growth	APAC	107	+65%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
35	wazuh The Open Source Security Platform. Unified XDR and SIEM protection for endpoints and cloud workloads. View signal profile →	Growth	US	260	+65%	100	+7%	1	Framework migration
36	harvard-edge View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	367	+63%	95	+32%	1	Framework migration
37	projectdiscovery Monitor your infrastructure. Real vulnerabilities. Zero noise. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	994	+52%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
38	nocobase View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	267	+37%	98	+0%	1	Framework migration
39	nautechsystems next-generation algorithmic trading technologies View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	161	+32%	100	+16%	1	Framework migration
40	saleor The commerce API that puts developers first. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	9	+29%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
41	dagster-io An orchestration platform for the development, production, and observation of data assets. View signal profile →	Growth	US	94	+16%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
42	argotorg Building the critical infrastructure for Ethereum applications. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	15	+15%	100	+0%	1	Framework migration
43	open-condo-software View signal profile →	Growth	LATAM	23	+15%	51	+0%	0	Framework migration
44	mdn Data and tools related to MDN Web Docs (formerly Mozilla Developer Network, formerly Mozilla Developer Center...) View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	492	+13%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
45	NethermindEth Ethereum and Starknet researchers and builders developing the Nethermind Ethereum client, Juno, Voyager, and Sedge. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	95	+12%	100	+0%	6	Infrastructure buildout
46	remix-project-org View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	91	+10%	100	+0%	1	Framework migration
47	photoprism AI-Powered Photos App for the Decentralized Web. We are on a mission to protect your freedom and privacy. View signal profile →	Growth	EU	15	+7%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
48	opensearch-project OpenSearch is a community-driven, Apache 2.0-licensed open source search and analytics suite that makes it easy to inges View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	32	-3%	100	+33%	0	Framework migration
49	KDE Official read-only mirror of the KDE project. Please don't send pull requests; to contribute code see https://community. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	56	-5%	59	+0%	0	Framework migration
50	ballerina-platform View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	112	-15%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
51	naev Migrated to https://codeberg.org/naev .Naev is a 2D space trading and combat game that combines elements from the action View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	185	-19%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
52	roboflow View signal profile →	Growth	US	127	-29%	90	+5%	2	Framework migration
53	borglab GTSAM is a library of C++ classes that implement smoothing and mapping (SAM) in robotics and vision, using factor graphs View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	83	-33%	100	+0%	0	Framework migration
54	JanssenProject Cloud Native Identity and Access Management Platform View signal profile →	Growth	US	51	-56%	100	+44%	0	Framework migration
55	odpi LF AI & Data is an umbrella foundation,artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and data. View signal profile →	Growth	Unknown	17	-60%	62	+0%	0	Framework migration

Sorted by commit velocity change (14-day window). Stage from contributor count + enrichment data. Last updated Q1 2026.

See the full ranked list of 60+ startups across all sectors

Get the free weekly engineering acceleration rankings, or unlock the full Dashboard for real-time tracking, sector filters, and founder contact data. Beta pricing: EUR 9.97 per month.

Get the Report Unlock the Dashboard

Want the signal while you browse Crunchbase? Install the free Chrome extension →

Frequently Asked Questions

Which growth startups are showing the strongest engineering signals in Q1 2026?

In Q1 2026, airbytehq (Data Infrastructure) leads growth startups with 559 commits over a rolling 14-day window (+1647% change) and 100 active contributors. Across all 55 tracked growth startups, the average 14-day commit velocity is 210 commits. The dominant engineering signal pattern is "Framework migration".

What should investors look for in growth engineering signals?

Which sectors have the most growth activity?

In Q1 2026, the top sectors by growth startup count are Data Infrastructure (9), Cybersecurity (8), AI & Machine Learning (6), Web3 (4), Enterprise SaaS (4). Each sector page has its own ranked list and sector-specific context.

How is stage determined in these rankings?

Stage is derived from contributor count, team-size enrichment data, and funding history where publicly available. Stage classifications use broad buckets (Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A/B, Growth) to provide meaningful sample sizes. These are estimates — always verify independently before any investment action.

Related views

Growth × Sector

Growth × Signal

Historical snapshots

Other stages

Pre Seed Seed Series A B