- Above-average growth rate: The top 100 AI start-ups achieve a median turnover of 1 million US dollars in less than twelve months
- Early internationalization as an acceleration factor: AI companies expand globally right from the start, generating high sales more quickly
Dublin/Berlin, 28 August 2025 – Artificial intelligence is not only revolutionizing technologies, but also the speed at which companies grow. This is shown by a new analysis by Stripe, which examined the growth of the 100 largest AI companies on the platform. The results document a fundamental shift in the start-up landscape.
Above-average growth rate
The AI companies surveyed achieved a median annual turnover of one million US dollars after 11.5 months, around four months faster than the most successful SaaS start-ups during the subscription boom in the 2010s. It is particularly noteworthy that younger AI companies (founded 2020-2023) reach key revenue milestones around three times faster than their pre-2020 counterparts.
Some AI start-ups demonstrate a particularly extraordinary rate of growth: ElevenLabs, a provider of AI software for speech synthesis, reached a valuation of three billion dollars within two and a half years. Cursor, an AI-supported code editor, generates annual sales of over 100 million dollars, even though the company has only been on the market for three years. Bolt, a platform for the development of web and mobile apps via Prompt, is also noteworthy, having generated projected annual sales of 20 million dollars within just two months of its launch.
Early internationalization as an acceleration factor
Another difference to traditional tech start-ups is that AI companies often expand internationally from the outset instead of gradually developing local markets. This enables immediate global scaling and contributes to accelerated revenue development. The geographical barriers that slowed down previous generations of start-ups are virtually non-existent for AI companies.
Stripe sees new monetization strategies as a decisive factor for accelerated growth. In contrast to traditional SaaS models, AI applications often enable immediate value creation without the need for lengthy implementation phases.
The dynamic development poses new challenges for the technology sector. On the one hand, accelerated monetization is opening up new opportunities, while on the other, the pressure on established companies to become faster is increasing. The AI revolution is not only changing products, but also fundamental business processes.
About the study
The “Indexing the AI Economy” analysis is based on anonymized payment data from 100 leading AI companies that use Stripe for their payment processing. Since 78 percent of the companies listed in the Forbes AI 50 use Stripe as an infrastructure partner, the analysis provides a well-founded insight into actual revenue trends in the industry. The full report is available for download here and provides detailed insights into monetization strategies and growth patterns.
About Stripe
Stripe is a financial service for businesses. From start-ups to the world’s largest corporations, millions of organizations use Stripe to accept payments, increase revenue and open up new business opportunities. Headquartered in San Francisco and Dublin, the technology company aims to increase the GDP of the internet.
PRESS CONTACT
PIABO Communications
Andreas Krönke
+49 30 2576205-21
stripe@piabo.net
