Mobile Startups to Watch in 2027: 7 Verified US Companies Building, Monetising and Running Apps
Mobile is no longer one industry: it is the layer most consumer businesses now run on, from the tools developers use to build apps to the phone plans inside them. The 2026 version of this article listed ten "best mobile startups in the United States", but most of them were not American, not mobile, acquired or impossible to verify. For this 2027 edition we started again and checked every company on its own website, terms, careers page or press release in October 2026: that it still operates, that it has a US base, what it does in mobile and what it publishes about its numbers. Funding rounds we found only in the press are named with the outlet. The old names and what happened to them are listed further down.
Quick answer: the US mobile startups to watch in 2027 are Expo (tools to build iOS and Android apps), RevenueCat (in-app purchases and subscriptions), Gigs (phone plans that any tech brand can sell), Speak (AI language tutor), Partiful (party invites, co-founded by two women), Bevel (AI health coach for wearables) and Ladder (strength training app). Photoroom, Airalo, Oura and Sana Labs from the old list are foreign, grown up or acquired, and the rest could not be verified.
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Why the Mobile Sector Still Matters for Founders in 2027
The old article opened with a claim that mobile startups took "over 40% of tech venture funding" and that mobile users "surpass 6.5 billion". Neither figure had a source, so we removed both. What we can show instead is where money and users actually went among the companies below: developer tools that now pitch themselves as infrastructure for AI coding agents (Expo), payment layers that sit inside more than 158,000 apps (RevenueCat), and consumer apps with millions of downloads or members (Speak, Bevel). The pattern is clear: founders build on mobile platforms they do not own, so the winners either sell picks and shovels to app makers or build one app that people open every day.
Looking at a specific city instead of a sector? Our guide to the best startup cities in North America compares the main hubs, and our lists of Chicago startups to watch, San Diego startups to watch and Baltimore startups to watch use the same checks as this one.
US Mobile Startups to Watch in 2027 Compared
Sources: each company's official website, terms, careers page or press release, checked 28 October 2026; other rounds as reported by the outlet or adviser named.
The US Mobile Startups to Watch in 2027
1. Expo: the platform for building mobile apps
Expo is an open-source platform for making native apps for Android, iOS and the web with JavaScript and React. Its homepage now calls it "agentic mobile infrastructure": a command-line tool and dev tools to build, simulators made for AI agents to test on, CI/CD to ship, and over-the-air updates. The homepage counts more than 3 million developers, and its about page says the company was founded in 2015 and has more than 100,000 weekly active developers. Its terms give 650 Industries, Inc. at 624 University Avenue, Palo Alto, California. On 16 April 2026 co-founder Charlie Cheever wrote on the Expo blog that the company had taken a $45 million Series B from Georgian and other partners.
Lesson for founders: open source can be a distribution engine. Expo gave the framework away, became a common way to build React Native apps, and sells the build and release services around it.
2. RevenueCat: in-app purchases and subscriptions
RevenueCat handles purchases, customer data and subscription revenue for apps on iOS, Android and the web, plus a builder for the paywalls that ask users to subscribe. Its homepage reports more than 158,000 apps supported, more than 6 billion API requests a day and more than $18 billion in revenue processed. Its terms describe RevenueCat, Inc. as a Delaware corporation with a place of business in Brandon, Florida. According to Bain Capital Ventures, which led the round, RevenueCat raised a $50 million Series C in May 2025 with Index Ventures, Y Combinator, Adjacent, Volo Ventures and SaaStr Fund. Its October 2026 blog posts cover EU payments outside Apple's in-app purchase system, a sign that app store rules are now part of the product.
Lesson for founders: pick the painful plumbing every app needs. Subscription billing across two app stores is boring, hard and essential, which is why so many app teams pay someone else to do it.
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3. Gigs: phone plans any tech brand can sell
Gigs calls itself the operating system for embedded mobile services: a tech company plugs in once and can sell phone plans to its own customers, while Gigs runs connectivity, checkout, billing, support and telecom compliance as carrier of record. Its homepage shows logos of Revolut, Klarna, Nubank, Starling, Motorola and Wealthsimple, offers Gigs for Work for employee phone plans, and lists hubs in San Francisco, New York, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and São Paulo. In a press release datelined San Francisco on 12 December 2024, Gigs announced a $73 million Series B led by Ribbit Capital, with Google's Gradient, Y Combinator and Speedinvest. The release says it was founded in 2020 and had more than 90 staff in the US and Europe.
Lesson for founders: turn a business that needed $100 million upfront into an API. Gigs sells a whole mobile carrier as a feature that a bank or fintech can switch on in weeks.
4. Speak: an AI tutor for speaking a language
Speak is an app that teaches you to speak a new language out loud, with an AI tutor that gives feedback on pronunciation and phrasing. English speakers can learn Spanish, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Mandarin, and others can learn English. The homepage reports more than 15 million downloads, iOS and Android apps, a 7-day free trial and backing from the OpenAI Startup Fund. Its careers page says Speak started in San Francisco and has about 130 people in San Francisco, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei and Ljubljana. According to TechCrunch, Speak raised $78 million at a $1 billion valuation in December 2024, led by Accel. We found no newer round.
Lesson for founders: start with one clear job. According to the same TechCrunch report, Speak focused on English learners first and used the new money to add target languages such as Spanish and French.
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5. Partiful: party invites sent by text
Partiful lets anyone create an event page, send the invite as a link and manage RSVPs, and now also shows events happening in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Its terms say Partiful is headquartered in the United States, with a New York address, and its careers page lists roles in New York, NY. According to TechCrunch, Google named Partiful its best app of 2024, the company was founded in 2020 by former Palantir employees Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy, and it raised a $20 million Series A1 in late 2022 led by Andreessen Horowitz. TechCrunch also reported that the app is built with React Native, the framework Expo serves.
Lesson for founders: let guests use the product without downloading it. Every invite link is free marketing, and only hosts need the app.
6. Bevel: an AI health coach for your wearable data
Bevel is an iPhone app that turns data from wearables such as Apple Watch, glucose monitors and bloodwork into insights on strain, recovery, sleep and nutrition. Its homepage invites you to "join over 2.5 million members" and start for free. In a press release datelined New York on 30 October 2025, Bevel announced a $10 million Series A led by General Catalyst. The release reported more than 100,000 daily active users, 8x growth in a year and retention above 80% after 90 days, and named co-founder and CEO Grey Nguyen with Ben Yang and Aditya Agarwal.
Lesson for founders: you do not have to build the hardware. Bevel sits on top of devices people already own and competes on the app experience.
7. Ladder: strength training plans in your pocket
Ladder gives members a weekly strength training plan from an expert coach, with teams for Pilates, HIIT, bodybuilding, kettlebell training and more. Its site gives Austin, Texas as its location, shows an "App Store App of the Year 2025 Finalist" badge, and offers a 7-day free trial without a credit card, then PRO Monthly at $29.99 a month or PRO Annual at $14.99 a month ($179.99 upfront). According to Orrick, the law firm that advised it, Ladder raised a $15 million Series B in November 2024, co-led by Point72 Ventures and ADvantage VC, plus a $90 million go-to-market investment from General Catalyst, partly to build an Android app.
Lesson for founders: a consumer subscription can raise growth capital tied to marketing results. Ladder's larger cheque was a go-to-market investment, not a classic equity round.
Mobile Startups From the Old List: Grown Up, Moved Out or Removed
The 2026 version of this article mixed US startups with foreign companies, a biotech and names we could not find. Here is what we found in October 2026:
- Photoroom: the AI photo editing app is real and growing, but it is French. Its company page says it was created in 2020, started at Station F in Paris, is profitable and is used by millions every month. It is a strong mobile company, just not a US startup.
- Airalo: the eSIM app for travellers was founded in Singapore. According to DealStreetAsia, it became a unicorn after a $220 million round led by CVC Capital Partners in July 2025. Not a US startup.
- Oura: the smart ring maker is Finnish and no longer a young startup. According to Fierce Healthcare, it raised a $900 million Series E in October 2025 at about an $11 billion valuation.
- Sana Labs: the Swedish AI learning company is now part of Workday, as its homepage says. Acquired, so removed.
- Mirador Therapeutics: a San Diego biotech developing therapies for immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, according to its website. It is not a mobile company, so it left this list.
- Jolt: its website returned a connection error when we checked, so we could not confirm it still operates.
- Bit Adventure, Winged IT and Convoboss AI: we found no official website that confirms what they do or where they are based. The old article cited a third-party blog list, so we removed them.
- Fe/male Switch: we publish this article, so we moved our own tools to the section for founders below instead of ranking ourselves.
We also removed the old article's unsourced figures, including "over 40% of tech venture funding", "6.5 billion" mobile users, Photoroom's "30 million active users" and Airalo's "10 million" customers, and its links to third-party startup lists.
Which Mobile Startup Should You Learn From?
- You build developer tools: study Expo, which turned an open-source framework into paid build, test and release services.
- You build B2B infrastructure for apps: study RevenueCat and Gigs, which each take one hard problem (billing, phone service) off app makers' hands.
- You build a consumer subscription app: study Speak, Bevel and Ladder, and how each shows a free trial or free start before asking for money.
- You build a social or viral app: study Partiful, where every invite brings in new users without an ad budget.
- You are a woman founder in consumer tech: study Partiful's founders, Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy, who built a Google best app of the year.
- You build hardware: study Oura from the old list, and why Bevel chose not to build a device at all.
How Founders Use the Mobile Startup Scene
Most of these companies raised from US venture funds early, so build your investor list before you need it. Start with our directories of angel investors in North America, early-stage VC firms and VCs for AI startups; if your mobile product includes hardware, sensors or new networks, add the deep tech VCs in North America. Test your pitch at one of the startup competitions in North America, and women founders can add non-dilutive money from our lists of grants for female entrepreneurs and female founder grants.
Before you copy any of these business models, validate your startup idea with real customers: an app store listing is not demand. When you are ready to be found, publish your startup press release and write about your product with the F/MS AI SEO Tool or the AI SEO Blog, so customers and AI assistants can find you, not only app store search. For a European comparison, see our Berlin startups to watch.
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FAQ About Mobile Startups to Watch in 2027
Which mobile startups should I watch in 2027?
Our verified US list: Expo, RevenueCat, Gigs, Speak, Partiful, Bevel and Ladder. Each still operates and shows a US base on its official site or in its own press release, checked in October 2026.
What counts as a mobile startup?
A young company whose product lives on phones or makes phone apps possible: consumer apps, tools to build and ship apps, in-app payments, and mobile connectivity such as phone plans and eSIMs.
Which mobile startups raised money recently?
Expo announced a $45 million Series B in April 2026, Bevel a $10 million Series A in October 2025, and RevenueCat a $50 million Series C in May 2025, according to its lead investor Bain Capital Ventures.
Which startups help developers build mobile apps?
Expo provides an open-source platform plus build, test and update services for React Native apps on iOS, Android and the web, and RevenueCat handles in-app purchases and subscriptions inside those apps.
Is Photoroom a US startup?
No. Photoroom was created in 2020 and started at Station F in Paris. It is a successful mobile photo editing company, but it is French, so we moved it out of this US list.
Is Airalo an American company?
Airalo, the eSIM app for travellers, was founded in Singapore. According to DealStreetAsia it became a unicorn after a $220 million round in July 2025.
Are there mobile startups founded by women?
Yes. Partiful, the party invite app that Google named its best app of 2024, was founded in 2020 by Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy, according to TechCrunch.
What can founders learn from mobile startups?
Let people try the product before they pay or even download it, solve one hard problem that every app has, and build on devices people already own instead of making your own hardware.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
