30 In-Demand Mobile App Startups (2023)
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Countless mobile apps are used by millions of people each day.
In fact, according to Statista, 255B mobile apps were downloaded in 2022 on the App Store alone.
That’s an increase of 81.2% on 2016’s figures.
With that in mind, it’s no wonder we’re seeing a seemingly endless conveyor belt of startup app companies.
As such, we’ve picked out 30 of the most in-demand startups currently making waves in the mobile app space.
1. FairMoney
5-year search growth: 3233%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $54.4M (Series B)
What they do: FairMoney is an app-based Nigerian bank. The startup provides loans of up to ₦500,000 without paperwork. As of 2020, FairMoney had over 1.3M users making over 6.5M loan applications.
2. Cityflo
5-year search growth: 422%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: $8.5M (Series A)
What they do: Cityflo is an urban transportation app providing economical bus travel. The app provides booking, rescheduling, and live tracking features. According to Cityflo, 8,000 people have switched from car use to buses using their app.
3. Dukaan
5-year search growth: 1800%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: Bangalore, India
Funding: $17M (Series A)
What they do: Dukaan is an online store creation (and management) app. The platform offers customization options, custom domains, and additional plugins to specific to ecommerce brands. Dukaan currently covers over 200 different categories of business.
4. Amber Group
5-year search growth: -9%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2017
Location: Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Funding: 328M (Series B)
What they do: Amber Group is a cryptocurrency fintech startup that was recently valued at $1B. The startup launched its mobile app in Q3 2020 and has since amassed over 100,000 signups. The firm has accumulated upwards of 700 institutional customers, consisting mainly of hedge funds.
5. Swapi
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: London, United Kingdom
Funding: $1.8M (Pre-seed)
What they do: Swapi is a loyalty point-trading mobile trading platform. Users can trade accumulated rewards instantly with other users via the Swapi application. These trades can be cross-brands to allow users to maximize their loyalty points. Demos are currently available for request.
6. Givingli
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2019
Location: Los Angeles, California
Funding: $14M (Series A)
What they do: Givingli is a digital greetings card platform designed to facilitate “human connection”. Each greeting card is customizable and gifts can be attached. Over 5M people have used Givingli’s service since its launch in 2019.
7. MoneeMint
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2016
Location: London, United Kingdom
Funding: $845.4K (Pre-seed)
What they do: MoneeMint is a fintech app providing responsible banking options especially designed for smartphone use. The startup is still in its infancy and is yet to fully launch its services. In the meantime, prospective customers can join a waiting list for updates.
8. MFast
5-year search growth: 257%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2017
Location: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Funding: $4M (Series A)
What they do: MFast is a fintech app where users can earn direct and indirect commissions via their affiliate program. The app has over 20 financial products and utilities available to invest in and offers withdrawal in 15 minutes. According to MFast, the company has amassed over 600,000 users.
9. Bodyguard
5-year search growth: 90%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Nice, France
Funding: $9.6M (Series A)
What they do: Bodyguard is a “positive engagement” app designed to filter out “toxic” content on social media. The software uses AI to moderate in real-time and offers customization options for its users. Bodyguard is used by over 50,000 Europeans and has recently expanded to the US market.
10. Getir
5-year search growth: 255%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Funding: $1.8B (Series E)
What they do: Getir is a grocery delivery service offering a real-time inventory for shoppers. The company delivers over 1,500 products per day ordered through their app. Deliveries are made day or night and the service is currently available across Turkey, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Paris.
11. RevenueCat
5-year search growth: 4600%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: San Francisco, CA
Funding: $56.5M (Series B)
What they do: RevenueCat is a startup that provides a platform for managing in-app subscriptions for mobile apps. Their software development kit (SDK) integrates with app code, making it easy to implement and manage subscription-based business models. RevenueCat provides features such as analytics, reporting, and subscription management to help app developers increase their revenue and retain customers.
12. Powder
5-year search growth: 833%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2018
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $17.2M (Series A)
What they do: Powder is a video-sharing startup facilitating the recording and editing of video game footage. Users can record gameplay directly to the Powder app from their console, PC, or mobile. Editing is also possible in-app before distribution to various social media accounts. The startup has over 60,000 followers on Instagram.
13. Agora
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2019
Location: London, United Kingdom
Funding: $5.8M (Seed)
What they do: Agora is a video-based beauty marketplace app. Users can use the platform to sell beauty products via 15 to 180-second videos. The app uses hashtags to help categorize products. The startup currently has over 50,000 registered users.
14. BigBrain
5-year search growth: 266%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Funding: $4.5M (Seed)
What they do: BigBrain is a quiz app. Users compete live in quiz topics of their choice with leaderboards ranking their performance. There are over 2,000 topics to choose from and new contests start every 15 minutes. BigBrain has been funded by four investors as part of their seed funding round.
15. Relate
5-year search growth: 200%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2018
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Funding: $1.6M (Seed)
What they do: Relate is a relationship support platform providing its users with counseling services. Its app has a wealth of resources to help its users tackle relationship troubles and conflicts. Relate has partnered with a relationship communications app Paired.
16. So Syncd
5-year search growth: 1800%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: London, United Kingdom
Funding: $1M (Pre-Seed)
What they do: So Syncd is a dating app that uses personality compatibility to match individuals. It was created by sisters, Jessica and Louella Alderson, who saw a gap in the market for a dating app that prioritizes personality over physical appearance. The app uses a compatibility test based on the Myers-Briggs personality test, and has a loyal following of users who appreciate its unique approach to online dating.
17. Jigsaw
5-year search growth: -31%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2016
Location: Manchester, United Kingdom
Funding: $5M (Seed)
What they do: Jigsaw is a personality-first dating app that partially hides profile pictures with jigsaw pieces. The app is intended to promote conversation which in turn slowly removes jigsaw pieces, revealing faces. Currently, Jigsaw has been downloaded by over 50,000 people on the Play Store.
18. TipTapp
5-year search growth: 47%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Funding: $7.5M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Tiptapp is a social app that allows users to connect with their neighbors and communities by requesting or offering help with small tasks and errands. Users can earn credits by helping others and use them to request assistance for their own needs. The app aims to foster a sense of community and promote sustainable living by encouraging users to share resources and reduce waste.
19. MobieTrain
5-year search growth: -100%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Genk, Belgium
Funding: $17M (Series B)
What they do: MobieTrain is a business-orientated “microlearning” app for employees. The mobile app offers short training content designed to be more engaging than traditional methods. Custom learning tracks can be created in-app. MobieTrain claims to have upwards of 80,000 users across 30 countries.
20. Blinkist
5-year search growth: 31%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2012
Location: Berlin, Germany
Funding: $34.8M (Series C)
What they do: Blinkist is a book summary app that aims to help busy individuals learn more in less time. The app offers condensed summaries of popular non-fiction books in various categories such as psychology, business, self-help, and more. With Blinkist, users can read or listen to key insights from books in just 15 minutes or less, making it a great option for those who want to learn on-the-go.
21. Buzzer
5-year search growth: 4%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $24M (Series A)
What they do: Buzzer is a customizable live sports notification app. The mobile application provides short-form sports content with real-time notifications to deliver news as it breaks. So far, Buzzer has been backed by nine investors, including former basketball player Michael Jordan.
22. Blox
5-year search growth: 4200%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2020
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: Undisclosed (Angel)
What they do: Blox is a real estate purchasing platform. The startup claims to offer users the ability to “buy a home in less than 10 clicks”. The house-buying app is backed by Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen.
23. Apna
5-year search growth: 550%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: $193.5M (Series C)
What they do: Apna is a professional networking and jobs platform based in India. Users can schedule phone interviews and call employers via the app. In its first year, Apna amassed over 1.2M users.
24. WISESIGHT
5-year search growth: 400%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Funding: $6.6M (Series A)
What they do: WiseSight is app-based parking management solution. The app provides real-time information, statistics, and analysis to assist parking management. The company’s services are targeted at smart cities and the private parking sector.
25. Tapcart
5-year search growth: 850%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2017
Location: Santa Monica, California
Funding: $65.1M (Series B)
What they do: Tapcart is designed to help eCommerce retailers launch and manage their brand’s mobile apps. A drag-and-drop app builder facilitates design without code. Described as “Shopify for mobile apps”, Tapcart has seen over $1.2B worth of merchant sales to date.
26. Teachmint
5-year search growth: 1200%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2020
Location: Bengaluru, India
Funding: $118M (Series B)
What they do: Teachmint is an online learning platform built to connect tutors and students. Teachers create a “classroom” and invite students to join remotely by sharing the classroom ID. The mobile app startup saw 1M downloads within eight months of launch.
27. Copper
5-year search growth: 168%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: Seattle, Washington
Funding: $42.3M (Series A)
What they do: Copper is app-based banking platform built for teenagers. The banking app has an accompanying debit card which can be bought online or in-store. Features such as automated allowance are designed especially for a younger demographic. According to Copper, over 300,000 members use the app.
28. Collegia
5-year search growth: 22%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Oxford, United Kingdom
Funding: $856.7K (Seed)
What they do: Collegia is an app-based auto-enrolment pension provider. The app can manage multiple pension schemes and provides a 25% government bonus on your investments. Collegia officially launched its mobile app in June 2021.
29. PupPod
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Hood River, Oregon
Funding: $2.5M (Series Unknown)
What they do: PupPod is an app-powered interactive dog game. The game enables users to engage with their pets remotely using their smartphones and a video feeder device. PupPod currently retails on Amazon for $199.00.
30. Elves
5-year search growth: 90%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Funding: $4M (Seed)
What they do: Elves is an app-based concierge service. Users can use the app’s chat features to help book flights, get recommendations, and reserve restaurants on their travels. As of November 2019, the app reportedly had over 650,000 users.
conclusion
That concludes our list of mobile app startups to monitor closely in 2023.
There may be a wide variety of niches covered, but all these apps are doing something a little bit different.
None of our inclusions try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, there is a focus on refining and improving. As part of this, AI features prominently in many of these startups. Which is likely to increase in prevalence over the next few years.