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topstartups.io is a directory of venture-funded startups, a job board and a weekly newsletter, run as a one-person project according to its newsletter's About page. Its homepage line is track new startups funded by top investors, and top has a precise meaning here: the investor filter lists exactly nine firms, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark, Bessemer, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia and Y Combinator. In September 2026 it listed 1,257 startups and 18,117 jobs, and the newsletter reported over 8,000 subscribers.
Everything is free and nothing is behind a login. The startups page filters by headquarters, industry, size, founding year, stage from pre-seed to Series I, and investor; each card shows the round, the investors, the headquarters and the founding year. The jobs page filters by role, location, years of experience, industry, size and startup, though not by stage or investor. There is also an open salary and equity database with 2,486 submissions, showing equity as a percentage and a dollar value. Startups and jobs are added through a public form; the site does not describe a review step.
It is American in centre of gravity. The footer's hiring-in list runs New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, then India, London and Canada. European pages exist and are small: 43 London startups, 13 in Berlin, 14 in Paris in September 2026, and setting the headquarters filter to Europe returned no results. Data updates daily and the newsletter goes out on Wednesdays.
The honest difference is what funded means. topstartups.io defines a top startup by who wrote the cheque, nine US funds, which makes it sharp on Silicon Valley signal and thin on Europe, where the cheque more often comes from a European or a national fund. StartupMap defines it by the fact of the round or the accelerator, from any investor, and by a person having checked. Its 4,569 startups are all European, across 55 cities, with 16,229 live roles read from the startups' own careers sites and the investors shown on each profile.
Last reviewed: September 2026
| Compare | StartupMap | topstartups.io |
|---|---|---|
| Selection rule | Funded or accelerator-backed, any investor, hand-reviewed | Backed by one of nine named funds |
| Startups and jobs | 4,569 startups, 16,229 live roles | 1,257 startups, 18,117 jobs (Sept 2026) |
| European presence | 55 European cities; every startup is European | London 43, Berlin 13, Paris 14; a Europe headquarters filter returned none (Sept 2026) |
| Investor filter | Investors listed on each startup; filter by accelerator | Nine funds |
| Stage filter | Pre-seed to Series D, on startups and jobs | Pre-seed to Series I on startups; none on jobs |
| Salary and equity data | None | Open database, 2,486 submissions, equity shown as a percentage |
| How a startup gets added | Reviewed by a person before it appears | Public form; no review step described |
| Update cadence | Nightly re-sync from each startup's careers site; weekly newsletter | Daily updates; Wednesday newsletter |
Nine, by name. The investor filter offers Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark, Bessemer, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia and Y Combinator, and the newsletter describes the list as backed by tier-one investors. That is a defensible definition of top, and for a candidate who wants the Sand Hill Road signal it is exactly the filter to have. It is also a US definition. A European startup with a Series B from Index, Balderton, Northzone or Atomico does not qualify unless one of the nine is also on the round, which is why the European pages are short. StartupMap does not rank investors: a startup qualifies by having raised a round or come through an accelerator, and the investors are listed on its profile for you to judge.
Bottom line: topstartups.io defines top by nine US funds; StartupMap lists the investors and lets you decide.
Barely, and by consequence rather than neglect. The site's own European pages listed 43 London startups, 13 in Berlin and 14 in Paris in September 2026; setting the headquarters filter to Europe returned no startups at all, because the filter works on cities. The footer's hiring-in list is six US metros, then India, London and Canada. None of that is a failure of the product; a list defined by nine American funds will be American, with a London outpost. For a candidate in Amsterdam, Stockholm, Lisbon or Munich it simply is not the right tool. StartupMap's 4,569 startups are all European by definition, spread across 55 cities, and the map is organised around exactly that question.
Bottom line: topstartups.io had 70 startups across its three European city pages in September 2026; StartupMap has 4,569, all European.
The list has a rule, and the rule is the curation. A startup belongs because one of nine named funds backed it, which is a filter that can be checked, not a judgement. New startups and jobs arrive through a public form, and the site does not describe anyone reviewing a submission before it appears. That is not a criticism of a one-person project keeping 1,257 startups and 18,117 jobs current; it is a description of the mechanism, and the mechanism is a list of investors. StartupMap's mechanism is a person: each startup is checked before it appears, the bar being a funding round or an accelerator, and the profile records stage, investors and accelerator so you can filter on all three.
Bottom line: topstartups.io curates by an investor list; StartupMap curates by a person checking each startup.
Not on the jobs page. The startups page has a stage filter that runs from pre-seed through Series I, plus investor and headquarters, and each startup card shows the round. The jobs page filters by role, location, years of experience, industry, company size and startup name, and stage is not among them; the round appears on each job card, so you can read it, but you cannot narrow by it. For a candidate who wants only seed-stage roles or only late-stage ones, that means filtering startups first and clicking through. On StartupMap stage is a filter on both startups and jobs, from pre-seed to Series D, alongside accelerator and workplace type.
Bottom line: topstartups.io shows the round on every job but filters stage only on startups; StartupMap filters stage on jobs too.
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