Explore 10 startups leading efforts in decentralized technology across finance, storage, social platforms, and governance. These startups are creating secure, transparent, and user-focused solutions to transform digital interactions.
This article examines technologies like DeFi ecosystems, non-custodial Web3 wallets, and decentralized exchanges. It also covers how startups are improving decentralized storage, computing, rollup platforms, DAO management, and blockchain-powered auditing to improve security, scalability, and autonomy in the decentralized web.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 10 Decentralized Technology Startups to Watch
Through the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering over 5M+ startups, 20K+ technology trends plus 150M+ patents, news articles & market reports, we identified 9500+ decentralized technology startups.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the 10 decentralized technology startups you should watch in 2025 as well as the geo-distribution of 9500+ startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research.
According to our data, we observe high startup activity in Western Europe and the United States, followed by South East Asia. The top 5 Startup Hubs for decentralized technology are Singapore, London, Dubai, San Francisco, and New York City.
Discover Emerging Decentralized Technology Startups to Watch in 2025
We hand-picked startups to showcase in this report by filtering for their technology, founding year, location, funding, and other metrics. These decentralized technology companies work on solutions ranging from non-custodial web3 wallet and data mesh to DeFi ecosystem and decentralized auditing.
- THEOS – DeFi Ecosystem
- PayAccept – Non-Custodial Web3 Wallet
- ExtractoDAO – Decentralized Exchange
- Nextdata – Data Mesh Platform
- Astria – Decentralized Rollup Platform
- Tildamail – Decentralized Email
- Stratos Network – Decentralized Storage and Computing
- Friend3 – Decentralized Social App
- DAOstruct – DAO Management
- Fossity – Decentralized Auditing
1. THEOS
- Founding Year: 2021
- Location: Switzerland
- Solution: DeFi Ecosystem
THEOS offers a decentralized hybrid NFT marketplace that provides smart contract infrastructure to create mechanisms for instant NFT liquidity. The platform enables users to tokenize various digital assets, including images, videos, and audio files, through a simple drag-and-drop minting tool.
It features ODYSSEY pools that allow users to deposit NFTs and receive immediate liquidity in the form of ODYSSEY tokens. This facilitates efficient price discovery and transferability of typically illiquid assets.
2. PayAccept
- Founding Year: 2020
- Location: Netherlands
- Solution: Non-Custodial Web3 Wallet
PayAccept provides a non-custodial Web3 wallet that securely manages and trades digital assets across multiple blockchain networks. The wallet integrates DeFi services, such as lending and borrowing, alongside traditional payment functionalities like card issuance and fiat transactions, all while giving users control of their private keys.
It supports instant transactions, multi-chain asset management, and integration with payment solutions using technologies like NFC and QR codes. PayAccept bridges traditional finance and blockchain technology, and allows individuals to access digital financial tools while eliminating intermediaries.
3. ExtractoDAO
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: UK
- Solution: Decentralized Exchange
ExtractoDAO introduces a decentralized exchange (DEX) that facilitates the trading of smart contracts representing physical products. It enables entrepreneurs and producers to list their businesses and assets as smart contracts on the blockchain ensuring transparent and immutable agreements between parties.
Its features include the ability to manage structured smart contract operations, hedge against cryptocurrency market volatility, and trade contracts without the need for token collateral. In addition, the platform supports the listing of timeshare properties to allow owners to trade usage rights through smart contracts.
4. Nextdata
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: USA
- Solution: Data Mesh Platform
Nextdata builds Nextdata OS, a data mesh platform to simplify the creation, sharing, and governance of decentralized data products across enterprise systems. It employs containerization to encapsulate data products, which makes them easy to discover, connect, and manage while embedding data governance policies directly within the product lifecycle.
The startup’s approach eliminates the need for centralized data integration and promotes a data mesh architecture. Nextdata OS allows organizations to use their existing technology stacks and enables rapid deployment of data-driven solutions at scale.
5. Astria
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: USA
- Solution: Decentralized Rollup Platform
Astria develops a decentralized shared sequencer network that enhances the deployment and operation of rollups with improved performance and security. Its network sequences arbitrary data for multiple rollups, makes this data available to rollup nodes and allows these nodes to easily fetch and verify the sequenced data.
Astria’s approach of decoupling execution from consensus provides flexibility for rollup developers and improves overall efficiency in the multi-rollup ecosystem. The startup streamlines the rollup development process that enables developers to create blockchains without compromising on decentralization.
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6. Tildamail
- Founding Year: 2021
- Location: USA
- Solution: Decentralized Email
Tildamail offers a decentralized email platform that ensures privacy and secure communication through end-to-end encryption. It uses a decentralized public key infrastructure to provide self-sovereign data management, which allows users to control where their data is stored, such as on personal devices or decentralized storage solutions.
Tildamail integrates with traditional simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) emails through gateway servers that enable communication between the decentralized web and conventional email systems. This supports both anonymous digital identities and real-world identities. It benefits developers and privacy-focused users by enabling secure, censorship-resistant communication in a decentralized manner, and eliminating reliance on central servers.
7. Stratos Network
- Founding Year: 2019
- Location: Singapore
- Solution: Decentralized Storage and Computing
Stratos Network delivers decentralized storage to support the deployment, storage, and execution of data for decentralized applications (dApps). The platform integrates a decentralized data mesh architecture, which allows developers to use its infrastructure for hosting data, processing tasks, and smart contract execution.
It also utilizes the decentralized ecosystem that connects infrastructure providers, middleware, and dApp developers to ensure reliable and secure service delivery. Stratos Network’ distributed network infrastructure promotes cost-effective and sustainable solutions for blockchain applications.
8. Friend3
- Founding Year: 2023
- Location: UAE
- Solution: Decentralized Social App
Friend3 develops a decentralized social application that combines social networking with financial rewards for Web3 participants. It allows users to create or join pay-per-group communities by purchasing membership tickets, with customizable pricing set by group owners. This decentralized approach enables users to earn passive income through revenue-sharing from group transactions, donations, and referrals.
The startup prioritizes user autonomy and security by utilizing open-source smart contracts and decentralized data storage. It also features a community-driven governance model where token holders influence platform development. Friend3 democratizes social monetization to promote inclusive financial opportunities and social engagement across the Web3 ecosystem.
9. DAOstruct
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: India
- Solution: DAO Management
DAOstruct offers a platform that enables users to discover, invest in, and participate in the governance of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). It aggregates a vast directory of DAOs across various sectors to provide detailed information on their use cases, roadmaps, financials, and governance structures.
The platform features an intuitive interface that simplifies the process of exploring DAOs and investing through ERC20 or ERC721 tokens. It also engages in governance activities such as proposal submissions and voting. DAOstruct simplifies access to comprehensive DAO data and facilitates active participation that lets individuals engage with decentralized organizations.
10. Fossity
- Founding Year: 2022
- Location: Spain
- Solution: Decentralized Auditing
Fossity makes a decentralized auditing platform for software development and mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It leverages patented technology that anonymizes code by generating unique fingerprints, which allows audits to be performed without revealing the original code or the organization involved.
This approach ensures confidentiality while facilitating a thorough assessment. The platform addresses the challenges of open-source software use in M&A by securing sensitive information and providing efficient, transparent auditing.
Discover All Emerging Decentralized Technology Startups
This overview highlights just a few decentralized technology solutions from 9500+ new companies currently covered by the Discovery Platform. To explore them all, book a personalized demo or download one of our free Industry Innovation Reports for a quick overview.
