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European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen proposes central arms reserve capitals could draw fromView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. This deal on the refurbished Apple Watch Ultra (GPS + Cellular) for $359.99 on Woot (for the next six days or until it sells out) is tempting—especially considering that it’s going for over $445 on Amazon. That’s a solid price cut, but the catch is, this is a refurbished unit. That means some level of wear and tear is expected, but it has been tested to be fully functional with at least 80% battery capacity, and Woot backs it with a two-year limited warranty. If you’re OK with a few cosmetic imperfections in exchange for savings, this might be worth grabbing—just note that it’s only available for shipping within the contiguous U.S. Prime members also get free shipping, while non-members will have to pay $6. Apple Watch Ultra (GPS + Cellular) $359.99 at Woot $445.00 Save $85.01 Get Deal Get Deal $359.99 at Woot $445.00 Save $85.01 As for the Apple Watch Ultra itself, this thing is built tough. Designed for extreme conditions, its MIL-STD 810H certification means it can handle freezing temps, high altitudes, sandstorms, and general rough treatment. Apple says it’ll keep working between -4 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is overkill for most people but great if you’re into extreme sports or outdoor adventures. The GPS + Cellular connectivity of this model is a big advantage, too, letting you take calls, stream music, or use maps even when you’re away from your phone—a huge plus for runners, hikers, and anyone who hates being tied to their iPhones. Also, its 1.9-inch OLED Retina screen is ridiculously bright at 2,000 nits, making it super easy to read in direct sunlight. The Apple Watch Ultra runs on watchOS 9, packing features like heart rate zone data, sleep stage tracking, advanced running metrics, and more. It also includes Apple’s safety and health tools like car crash detection and overnight body temperature tracking. Battery life holds up well, lasting 55 to 57 hours with normal use, even with the always-on display enabled, notes this PCMag review. If you want one of the most rugged Apple Watch ever made at a lower price (and don’t mind some cosmetic flaws), this Woot deal is worth considering before it sells out. But if you’d rather have a newer model without the Ultra’s bulk, the Series 10 ($359, down from $429) is the best iPhone-compatible smartwatch for most users, while the Watch SE ($249) is the best budget-friendly option, according to this PCMag "Best Smartwatches for 2025" roundup. View the full article

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte is the new chair for both and he has removed several members while adding a few new names at each. View the full article

Tesla sinks as investors shift away from riskier holdingsView the full article

Hulu's lineup of original content is lighter in April than in previous months but includes the sixth and final season of The Handmaid's Tale (April 8), the dystopian drama based originally on Margaret Atwood's novel but that has long since evolved into a world of its own. According to the Hulu synopsis, June (Elisabeth Moss), Luke, and Moira make up the resistance to bring down Gilead. A sequel series, The Testaments, also based on an Atwood novel of the same name, is in development for release after The Handmaid's Tale ends. Hulu has a new original reality competition show launching in April to take on Peacock's hit series The Traitors. On Got to Get Out (April 11), 20 contestants are racing against time to steal $1 million from each other and escape without getting caught. The show is hosted by Simi Liu and includes reality stars like Spencer Pratt, Cynthia Bailey, and Val Chmerkovskiy. April also brings season two of Hulu original series No Man's Land (April 16) about the Syrian war and a new standup special from Jessica Kirson (I'm the Man, April 25). Here’s everything else coming to (and leaving) Hulu in April. What’s coming to Hulu in April 2025Arriving April 1Arrival (2016) Arrival En Espanol (2016) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) Black Swan (2010) Boys on the Side (1995) Concussion (2015) Concussion En Espanol (2015) Copycat (1995) Enough Said (2013) The Equalizer (2014) The Equalizer En Espanol (2014) Gifted (2017) The Good Thief (2003) Gone Girl (2014) Gulliver's Travels (2010) The History of the World Part I (1981) I Heart Huckabees (2004) Interstellar (2014) Interstellar En Espanol (2014) Jumanji (1995) Jumanji En Espanol (1995) Jurassic Park (1993) Jurassic Park III (2001) The Karate Kid (1984) The Karate Kid En Espanol (1984) The Karate Kid Part II (1986) The Karate Kid: Part II En Espanol (1986) The Karate Kid Part III (1989) The Karate Kid Part III En Espanol (1989) Little Man (2006) Little Man En Espanol (2006) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Made in America (1993) Me, Myself and Irene (2000) Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) Oddity Red Sparrow (2018) The Revenant (2015) Runaway Jury (2003) Sexy Beast (2001) Shark Tale (2004) The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) Superbad (2007) Superbad En Espanol (2007) Tombstone (1993) True Story (2015) 21 Jump Street (2012) 22 Jump Street (2014) Wall Street (1987) Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) War of the Worlds (2005) Widows (2018) Wild (2014) The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) The Wolf Of Wall Street En Espanol (2013) Year One (2009) You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (2010) Arriving April 2Beyblade X: Complete Season 1B Arriving April 3Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America: Complete Limited Series Arriving April 4FX's Dying for Sex: Complete Limited Series Fire Force: Season 3 Premiere (Subbed) Classified (2024) The Darjeeling Limited (2007) Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004) The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Rushmore (1999) Arriving April 5American Monster: Complete Season 3 Bering Sea Gold: Complete Season 3 Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: Complete Seasons 1-2 I Love A Mama's Boy: Complete Season 2 The World According to Allee Willis (2024) Arriving April 6Witch Watch: Series Premiere (Subbed & Dubbed) Arriving April 8The Handmaid's Tale: Sixth & Final Season Premiere Small Things Like These (2024) Arriving April 9Angels & Demons (2009) The Da Vinci Code (2006) Arriving April 10Court Cam: Complete Season 7 Houses of Horror: Secrets of College Greek Life: Complete Season 1 Ca$h (2010) Hesher (2010) Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights (2024) Red Dog (2011) So Undercover (2012) Spun (2002) Arriving April 11Got to Get Out: Series Premiere Garfield (2004) Garfield: A Tail Of Two Kitties (2006) Magpie (2024) Arriving April 12Fixer Upper: Complete Season 5 MythBusters: Complete Season 5 The Family Chantel: Complete Season 4 Arriving April 15Lake George (2024) Arriving April 16No Man's Land: Complete Season 2 Synduality Noir: Complete Season 1 (Dubbed) The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Complete Season 3 Arriving April 17The Stolen Girl: Series Premiere Bible Secrets Revealed: Complete Season 1 Gangland Chronicles: Complete Season 1 Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath: Complete Seasons 1 and 2 Martin Short: Complete Season 1 The Girl Who Wasn't Dead (2024) Arriving April 18The Order (2024) Arriving April 19Breaking Amish: Complete Season 4 Disappeared: Complete Season 6 Gypsy Sisters: Complete Season 3 Moonshiners: Complete Season 13 Arriving April 21Secrets of the Penguins: Complete Limited Series No Hard Feelings (2023) No Hard Feelings En Espanol (2023) Arriving April 22In a Violent Nature (2024) Arriving April 24Airline Wars: Complete Season 1 Customer Wars: Complete Season 4 Tell Me How I Died: Complete Season 1 Tiny House World: Complete Season 1 Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story Arriving April 25Jessica Kirson: I'm the Man: Special Premiere Azrael (2024) Arriving April 26Chopped: Complete Season 60 Four Weddings: Complete Season 9 House Hunters Renovation: Complete Season 16 Jessica Chambers: An ID Murder Mystery: Complete Season 1 Arriving April 29Ernest Cole: Lost and Found (2024) What’s leaving Hulu in April 2025Leaving April 6Agnes (2021) Leaving April 13She Will (2021) Leaving April 16Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) Leaving April 20Totally Under Control (2020) Leaving April 24The Good Neighbor (2022) Leaving April 27Resurrection (2022) Leaving April 30After Everything (2018) Code Name Banshee (2022) Stars Fell Again (2023) View the full article

Arizona’s highest court has created a pair of AI-generated avatars to deliver news of every ruling issued by the justices, marking what is believed to be the first example in the U.S. of a state court system tapping artificial intelligence to build more humanlike characters to connect with the public. A court in Florida uses an animated chatbot to help visitors navigate its website, but the Arizona Supreme Court is charting new territory with the creation of Victoria and Daniel. Made of pixels, the two avatars have a different job in that they serve as the face of news coming from the court just as a spokesperson made of flesh and blood would do—but faster. The use of AI has touched nearly every profession and discipline, growing exponentially in recent years and showing infinite potential when it comes to things as simple as internet searches or as complex as brain surgery. For officials with the Arizona Supreme Court, their venture into AI is rooted in a desire to promote trust and confidence in the judicial system. What helped solidify the court’s need for more public outreach? There was a protest outside the state Capitol last April and calls for two justices to be booted after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a Civil War–era law that banned nearly all abortions, except when a woman’s life is in jeopardy, could be enforced. Emotions flared on both sides of the issue. When Chief Justice Ann Timmer took over the court last summer, she made public trust a key pillar of her platform. She had already been thinking about ways to reach out to the public using digital media for a few years, and the abortion ruling, among other rulings, helped her to solidify the idea that the court needs to be part of the narrative as people learn about opinions and what they mean. “We serve the public better by saying, OK, we’ve issued this decision,” she said. “Now, let us help you understand what it is.” Timmer told the Associated Press earlier this year that if the court had to do the abortion ruling over again, it would have approached the dissemination of information differently. In a Wednesday interview, she said that a news release and avatar video could have helped the public better understand the legal underpinnings of the lengthy decision—possibly including what it didn’t do, which she said some misunderstood. “We got a lot of backlash for it and probably deservedly so, in terms of how can we complain that people don’t understand what we did when we didn’t really do enough to give a simplified version,” she said in the January interview, explaining that people want to know the basis for the court’s decisions and what they can do, such as lobbying state lawmakers for whatever changes in law would support their positions. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a repeal of the ban last May, and in November, Arizona voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding abortion access up to the point of fetal viability. Who are Daniel and Victoria, and how do they work? Created with a program called Creatify, Daniel and Victoria in a way bring to life the court’s news releases. Videos featuring one or the other are being posted for every ruling by the high court, and may be used for Access to Justice projects, community programs and civics information in the future. The court has been sending out releases since October to summarize and explain rulings. After seeing success with the releases, it began exploring options to convey that information through video. The AI-generated avatars were the most efficient way to produce videos and get the information out, said court spokesperson Alberto Rodriguez. Producing a video usually can take hours, he said, but an AI-generated video is ready in about 30 minutes. The court might introduce more AI-generated reporters in the future, Rodriguez said in a news release. The justice who authors the legal opinion also drafts a news release, the wording of which must be approved by the entire bench. The justice then works with the court’s communications team to craft a script for the avatars—the avatars aren’t interpreting original court decisions or opinions, Rodriguez said. Daniel and Victoria’s names and physical appearances were designed to represent a wide cross-section of people, Rodriguez said. He said they aren’t meant to come off as real people and the court emphasizes their AI origins with disclaimers. The court is exploring different emotional deliveries, cadences, and pronunciations as well as Spanish translations for the avatars, Rodriguez said. Will the avatars resonate with their audience? Mason Kortz, a clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, described the court’s new cyber employees as “quite realistic.” While their voices might give them away, he said some people could be fooled into thinking that Daniel and Victoria are real reporters if viewers are only reading the subtitles and looking at the characters’ movements and facial expressions. Kortz also said it would be better for the language of the disclaimer that is in the videos’ text description to be featured more prominently. “You want to make it as hard as possible for someone to advertently or inadvertently remove the disclaimer,” he said. Asheley Landrum, associate professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, said the avatars feel robotic. She said a format that mimics real dialogue and storytelling might be more engaging than an AI reading of a news release. “Because it’s not just about using AI or even creating videos,” she said, “but about doing so in a way that really resonates with audiences.” Still, it’s fine line. She said engaging characteristics can help to build trust over time but the danger is that content could appear biased. —Sejal Govindarao, Associated Press View the full article

Disney+ has sophomore seasons of two significant series coming in April. The second installment of Lucasfilm's Emmy-nominated thriller Andor—the prequel to Rogue One and set five years prior—tells the origin story of Rebel spy Cassian Andor and the formation of the Rebel Alliance. Diego Luna reprises his role from the film and the first season of the series. A three-episode premiere is set for 6 p.m. PT on April 22, with additional episodes dropping weekly on Tuesdays until mid-May. Also on the April schedule is season two of Doctor Who. Ncuti Gatwa stars as the Doctor, who is on a quest to get Belinda Chandra (played by Varadu Sethu) back to Earth. Millie Gibson stars as Ruby Sunday, with a guest appearance from Alan Cumming. After the premiere on Saturday, April 12, new episodes will be released weekly. Other content premiering in April includes season two of Light & Magic (April 18), a three-part docuseries about Lucasfilm's visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and Disney+ Original documentary film Pets (April 11) from director Bryce Dallas Howard. Disney+ will also be wrapping up weekly episodes of Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again (Tuesdays through April 15) and releasing the final two installments of the six-part NatGeo docuseries David Blaine Do Not Attempt (April 7), which premiered last month. Here's everything coming to Disney+ in April. Disney Plus series with new episodes weekly in April 2025Andor (Season 2)—Disney+ Original, new episodes on Tuesdays beginning April 22 Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again—new episodes on Tuesdays through April 15 Doctor Who (Season 2)—new episodes on Saturdays beginning April 12 Disney+ will also be streaming SC+, a SportsCenter show exclusive to the platform, every weekday at 6 a.m. PT and on weekend mornings. Each stream will be available for 24 hours. Movies and complete series/seasons coming to Disney Plus in April 2025Arriving April 1Lost Treasures of Rome (S2, 6 episodes) National Parks: USA (S1, 5 episodes) RoboGobo (S1, 24 episodes) Arriving April 3Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America (S1, 3 episodes) Arriving April 7David Blaine Do Not Attempt Not Just a Goof Arriving April 9Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends (S3, 4 episodes) Arriving April 11The Abyss 4K Pets Arriving April 12Titanic: The Digital Resurrection To Catch a Smuggler (S8, 8 episodes) Arriving April 16Big City Greens (S4, 7 episodes) SuperKitties (S2, 3 episodes) Arriving April 18Light & Magic (Season 2) Arriving April 21Secret of the Penguins (S1, 3 episodes) Arriving April 22ABC News Live Special: Last Lands (S1, 4 episodes) Sea Lions of the Galapagos Guardians of the Galapagos Arriving April 25Megastructures: Real Madrid Super Stadium Arriving April 30Chibi Tiny Tales: Shorts (S5, 7 episodes) Mickey Mouse Funhouse (S3, 5 episodes) Hulu + ESPN content coming to Disney+ in April 2025As in previous months, Disney+ subscribers will also have access to select content from Hulu and ESPN in March, including live streams of PGA Tour and NWSL events, the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, and select NHL games. Here are a few of the other titles coming to Disney+: Clipped Tell Me Lies Interior Chinatown It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia White Collar Reasonable Doubt Prey Crazy Hearts Say Anything The Night House College Gameday Pardon the Interruption The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny Vince's Places P.K.'s Places E60 Once Upon a Time in Anaheim No Easy Victories: The 1994 New York Rangers View the full article

China’s energy and auto giant BYD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps. BYD, China’s largest EV maker, said Monday that its flash-chargers can provide a full charge for its latest EVs within five to eight minutes, similar to the amount of time needed to fill a fuel tank. It plans to build more than 4,000 of the new charging stations across China. Charging times and limited ranges have been a major factor constraining the switch from gas and diesel vehicles to EVs, though Chinese drivers have embraced that change, with sales of battery powered and hybrid vehicles jumping 40% last year. BYD’s news appeared to give Tesla a jolt on Monday, as the U.S. EV maker’s share price sank 4.8%. BYD, which stands for build your dreams, began pre-sales of its Han L and Tang L models, which are upgraded versions of earlier models. The Chinese company started out making batteries and has been refining its battery and energy storage technology while building an auto empire that is expanding outside China. It says its 1 megawatt flash chargers can provide power for 400 kilometers (nearly 250 miles) in five minutes. Ultra-high voltage and a large current are required to maximize charging speeds, BYD’s founder Wang Chuanfu said in a statement. “To completely solve users’ anxiety over charging, our pursuit is to make the charging time for EVs as short as the refueling time for fuel vehicles,” Wang said. The company also said that its flash-charging system relies on silicon carbide power chips with voltage levels of up to 1,500V that it developed on its own. Its Blade lithium-ion phosphate battery is perhaps the world’s safest and most efficient EV battery, with Tesla opting to use it in some of its EVs, industry analyst Michael Dunne said in a recent report. BYD reported it made just over 4.3 million “new energy vehicles” last year, up 41% from a year earlier, including 1.8 million battery electric vehicles and 2.5 million plug in hybrids. The price of its shares traded on China’s smaller market in Shenzhen has surged nearly 50% in the past six months. While BYD’s fanciest, latest premium models are expected to sell for up to about $40,000, it also makes much less expensive EVs including the Seagull, which sells for around $12,000 in China. BYD barely nudged ahead of Tesla in production of battery-powered EVs in 2024, making 1,777,965 compared with Tesla’s 1,773,443. In early January, Tesla said its sales dropped in 2024, a first in more than a dozen years, as rivals such as BMW, Volkswagen and BYD gained market shares with competitive EVs. But BYD has weaknesses as well, Dunne said, noting that JD Power’s 2024 China New Energy Vehicle Initial Quality Study ranked the BYD Seal and BYD Song Plus battery electrics at the bottom of its rankings. —Elaine Kurtenbach, AP Business Writer View the full article

New residential construction increased 11.2% to an annualized rate of 1.5 million in February, according to government data released Tuesday. View the full article

It's no surprise that companies continue to experiment with new AI features. Artificial intelligence has been the center of emerging tech for nearly three years now, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. But whether you love generative AI or you find it useless, I think we can all agree that using AI to write Instagram comments is pretty stupid. And yet, Meta appears to be testing exactly that. As reported by SocialMediaToday, some Instagram accounts are now seeing a new icon to the left of the text field after choosing to leave a comment on a post. When you tap this icon (a pencil with a star), you pull up a new Meta AI menu, which presents a series of comment choices, presumably based on whatever content you happen to be looking at. In one example, the bot offers three choices: "Cute living room setup," "Love the cozy atmosphere," or "Great photo shoot location." Could there be anything lazier than this? I'll admit: This news took me a bit off guard. I know Meta is comfortable shoving its AI experiments down our throats—often with no way to turn them off. But even as it becomes more difficult to avoid AI-generated content on Meta's platforms, I didn't think the company would offload the "effort" of having to write comments to the bots. I can't imagine many (or perhaps any) Instagram users are so busy or exhausted that they'd rather scroll through an AI's idea of what to say rather than say something themselves. The human-generated comments on Instagram pages are already low-effort as it is; not to mention, there are too many comments from bots on social media platforms. Do we really want more bots in the comments, only this time sent to us by real people? We need to stop letting AI make the decisionsThis is just an experiment, and likely a limited one at that. For what it's worth, I do not have the option on my Instagram account, so I guess I'm forced to think up my own comments for now. (Or at least open another app to ask a different AI to generate a comment for me.) But this experiment speaks to the current state of AI in tech: offering solutions to problems that don't exist. Writing comments isn't hard, and yet, someone at Meta thought there was a usefulness—a market—for AI-generated comments. They probably want more training data for their AI machine, which tracks, considering companies are running out of internet for models to learn from. But that doesn't mean we should be okay with outsourcing all human tasks to AI. That's what bugs me most: ceding so many of our cognitive tasks and decisions to the machines. If you're on Instagram, you're already letting the algorithm choose the content you see. Please don't hand over even more decisions to the machines, as low-effort as those decisions may be. If you do see the experiment on your end, I encourage you not to use it; both for your own sake, as well as depriving Meta of any more training data generated by its user base for free. View the full article

Greenpeace used malicious and deceptive tactics to disrupt the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline and keep it from going forward, an attorney for the company behind the project said Monday. But attorneys for the environmental advocacy group said during their closing arguments that Greenpeace had little involvement with the 2016-17 protests that are central to the case. A North Dakota jury began deliberating Monday after a weekslong trial over Dallas-based Energy Transfer’s argument that Greenpeace defamed the company and disrupted the project. What is the case about? The energy company and its subsidiary Dakota Access accused Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, civil conspiracy, trespass, nuisance and other acts, and is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. Nine jurors and two alternates heard the case after it went to trial in late February. Their verdict will include what damages, if any, to award. Trey Cox, an attorney for the pipeline company, highlighted damages per claim totaling nearly $350 million. The lawsuit is linked to the protests against the oil pipeline and its controversial Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline as a risk to its water supply. The pipeline has been transporting oil since mid-2017. What did the company say? Cox said Greenpeace exploited a small, disorganized, local issue to promote its agenda, calling Greenpeace “master manipulators” and “deceptive to the core.” Greenpeace paid professional protesters, organized or led protester trainings, shared intelligence of the pipeline route with protesters and sent lockboxes for demonstrators to attach themselves to equipment, Cox said. Among a number of alleged defamatory statements were that the company deliberately desecrated burial grounds during construction, which Cox said was done to harm Energy Transfer’s reputation in the international investment community. The company made 140 slight adjustments to its route to avoid disturbing sacred or cultural sites, he said. Greenpeace’s “lies impacted lenders,” Cox said. Energy Transfer suffered $96 million in lost financing and $7 million in public relations costs, he said. The pipeline was delayed by five months, and the company lost $80 million because it couldn’t turn on the spigot on Jan. 1, 2017, when oil was to start flowing, Cox said. He asked the jury to find the Greenpeace entities liable. “It needs to be done for Morton County. It needs to be done for Morton County’s law enforcement and the next community where Greenpeace exploits an opportunity to push its agenda at any cost,” Cox told the jury, referring to the county where the protests were centered. How did Greenpeace respond? Attorneys for Greenpeace said Energy Transfer didn’t prove its case or meet its legal burden for defamation or damages, that Greenpeace employees had little or no presence or involvement in the protests, and that Greenpeace had nothing to do with the company’s delays in construction or refinancing. A letter signed by leaders of Greenpeace International and Greenpeace USA and sent to banks involved in the project’s construction loan contained the alleged defamatory statement about desecrating burial grounds, which Cox equated to digging up dead bodies. Greenpeace International attorney Courtney DeThomas said the other side hasn’t shown how the one act of signing a letter with 500 other organizations damaged them, and that the letter would have been sent to the banks with or without Greenpeace’s name on it. Thousands of protesters were already at Standing Rock by the time the letter was signed, she said. Greenpeace USA attorney Everett Jack Jr. disputed the company’s claims as including costs from months before and years after the protests, with no witnesses to say that the Greenpeace entities were the cause. Jack also said no law enforcement officers or any of Energy Transfer’s security personnel testified that Greenpeace was the cause of any violence or property destruction, or was a leader, organizer or instigator in the protests. He said law enforcement “did a phenomenal job of watching the protests.” Greenpeace representatives have criticized the lawsuit as an example of corporations abusing the legal system to go after critics and called it a critical test of free speech and protest rights. An Energy Transfer spokesperson said the case is about Greenpeace not following the law, not free speech. —Jack Dura, Associated Press View the full article

In the past week, law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have issued a warning about the ongoing threat of Medusa ransomware. Here’s what you need to know about the threat and how you can protect yourself. What is Medusa ransomware? Ransomware is a type of software that is designed to compromise your information, allowing hackers to steal it. Once these bad actors have your data, they then contact you (or the software contacts you on their behalf), and they inform you that unless you pay a ransom, your data will either be deleted, sold to the highest bidder, or released publicly for all to see. Medusa ransomware is a specific type of ransomware that is currently making the rounds. According to a cybersecurity advisory published by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Medusa ransomware “is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS)” that has been going around since at least June 2021. The advisory states that Medusa relies on “a double extortion model”—that encrypts the data on a victim’s hard drive so they can’t access it, as well as threatens to decrypt the data and sell it to third parties or release it publicly. Users must pay a ransom in order to gain access to their encrypted files again and/or in order to ensure that the files are not disseminated to additional parties. Ransom payments can range anywhere between $100 to $1 million. The CISA says that as of February 2025, Medusa has impacted “over 300 victims from a variety of critical infrastructure sectors,” which include medical, education, legal, insurance, technology, and manufacturing. How can I protect myself and my company from Medusa? The advisory posted on the CISA’s website states that Medusa is primarily spread through phishing campaigns to steal victims’ credentials. The ransomware can also infiltrate a system through unpatched software vulnerabilities. With that in mind, the notice states that there are several steps an individual and organization can take to mitigate threats from Medusa. These include: Using long passwords on accounts. Implementing multifactor authentication (also known as MFA or 2FA) on accounts. Keeping software and operating systems on all devices up to date. Use VPNs to protect your traffic. Have multiple copies of sensitive data backed up on more than just one device. Finally, it’s always a good idea to practice common sense measures that help reduce your vulnerability to phishing attempts. This includes never clicking on a link that is emailed or texted to you if you don’t recognize the sender. Likewise, never open attachments you receive from an unknown sender. And even when a sender appears legitimate, it is always best to contact them via another channel to ensure that they, indeed, were the one who sent you a link or attachment. A common phishing tactic bad actors use is to send emails to victims that appear to be from valid or known email addresses—but when you look closely at them, you’ll see that a character or two might have been changed. For example, an “I” in an email address might have been changed to a “1”). At first glance, the email looks legitimate, but the change is a giveaway that someone is trying to misrepresent who they actually are. The CISA maintains a webpage with myriad tips detailing how to further protect yourself from ransomware. View the full article

Move risks stoking biggest backbench rebellion of Sir Keir Starmer’s premiershipView the full article

Kim Atchison was hunkered down in her grandmother’s storm shelter with her 5-year-old grandson Saturday night in their tiny Alabama hometown of Plantersville when her husband and son raced in. “Get down; get all the way down to the bottom of the cellar,” they told her, saying they could see a twister coming. Atchison said she remembers first the “dead silence” and then hearing the wind that felt like a funnel and things outside hitting against each other. “All was quiet after that because it was that fast,” she said. “Like a snap of a finger and it was gone.” Atchison and her family were among the fortunate ones to avoid being killed in the three-day outbreak of severe weather across eight states that kicked up a devastating combination of wildfires, dust storms, and tornadoes—claiming at least 42 lives since Friday. Two people were killed by a twister in Plantersville. One of the lives lost was that of 82-year-old Annie Free, who “just looked out for everyone,” Atchison’s husband said. The tornado struck Free’s home, leaving only the front patio behind. Darren Atchison spent Monday delivering granola bars and sports drinks to the pummeled neighborhood, driving his all-terrain vehicle around downed trees. More than a half-dozen houses were destroyed while others were left in rough shape, some with walls peeled clean off. The tornado flipped a trailer onto its roof and toppled trees in every direction. When Heidi Howland emerged from her home after hiding in her bedroom underneath a mattress with her husband, kids and grandkids as the twister approached, she found fallen trees and broken car windows. Many of her neighbors whose houses were damaged came to her front porch to take refuge from the rain after the storm passed Saturday night. One was Free’s daughter, who Howland said cried late into the night because the first responders couldn’t find her mother. Free’s body wasn’t found until the morning. Also killed was Dunk Pickering, a fixture in the community who often hosted live music events and helped neighbors during tough times. Neighbor John Green found Pickering’s body in the wreckage of a building just across the street from Green’s home. “Whether he knew you or not, he would help anyone,” Green said. “I’ve known him for 20 years. He’s been like that ever since the day I first met him.” Green and other neighbors spent at least five hours Saturday night pulling people from the rubble and carrying them to paramedics who were unable to reach the area because roads were blocked by debris. Wildfires in Oklahoma Wind-driven wildfires across the state destroyed more than 400 homes over the weekend and will continue to be a threat in the coming days because of high winds. Dozens of fires were still burning across the state on Monday, said Keith Merckx at Oklahoma Forestry Services, and much of the state including the Oklahoma City area remained under fire warnings. While conditions over the weekend allowed crews to get a handle on most wildfires across Texas and Oklahoma, forecasters at the National Weather Service said extremely critical fire weather conditions were expected Tuesday over an area spanning from southeastern New Mexico through the Texas Panhandle and into western Oklahoma. “These fires, once they get started, become really hard to stop. They move more quickly than our resources can keep up with,” Merckx said. Four deaths so far were blamed on the fires or high winds, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. More than 70 homes were destroyed by wildfire outbreaks Friday in and around Stillwater, home to Oklahoma State University. Tornadoes and high winds across the South In Mississippi, six people died and more than 200 were displaced by a string of tornadoes across three counties, the governor said. Within about an hour of each other on Saturday, two big tornadoes tore through Walthall County, Mississippi, according to the National Weather Service. The strongest one packed winds of 170 mph (274 kph) when it swept a well-built home from its foundation, leaving a pile of debris behind, the agency said in an updated report late Monday. Three people died in the county, including 7-year-old Carter Young, who was in a mobile home, Walthall County Coroner Chris Blackwell said. The other two people killed—Gabrielle Pierre, 34, and Jeffery Irvin, 42—were in a mobile home next door to the one where Young was found, Blackwell said. Scattered twisters and storm damage led to the deaths of at least 13 people in Missouri, including a 30-year-old man who along with his dog was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after he was using a generator indoors during the storm, authorities said. In Arkansas, officials confirmed three deaths. As the storm headed east, two boys ages 11 and 13 were killed when a tree fell on their home in western North Carolina early Sunday, firefighters in Transylvania County said. Firefighters found them amid the uprooted three-foot-wide tree after relatives said they had been trapped in their bedroom, officials said. A tornado touched down at about 3 a.m. Monday in a neighborhood in Perquimans County, North Carolina, destroying three mobile homes and damaging several others, according to the National Weather Service. Eight people were injured in the community, with no reported deaths, the weather service said. The community is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Norfolk, Virginia. Dust storms in Kansas and Texas High winds spurred dust storms that led to almost a dozen deaths in car crashes Friday. Eight people died in a Kansas highway pileup involving at least 50 vehicles, according to the state highway patrol. Authorities said three people also were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Sara Cline in Tylertown, Mississippi, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas; Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeff Roberson in Wayne County, Missouri, contributed. —Safiyah Riddle and John Seewer, Associated Press View the full article

Social media apps aren't exactly known for their privacy and security features, but TikTok users are getting a little bit of help with a built-in tool to monitor their account security and keep their information safe. The new Security Checkup dashboard shows you where your TikTok security is lacking with step-by-step guidance to update your settings. How to use TikTok's Security CheckupTo get to your security dashboard on TikTok, go to your profile and tap Settings and privacy > Security and permissions. Security Checkup will show you which settings have been completed and which need attention, with guidance on how to update each: Adding an email and/or phone number for account recovery Enabling two-step verification Creating a passkey with device-based authentication like Face ID or Touch Unlock Checking which devices are logged into your account (and removing any that are unauthorized or aren't in use) TikTok will also flag "unusual account behavior" and log it in your Security Checkup for you to review. TikTok isn't the only social media platform with this kind of security feature. Meta, for example, has a Security Checkup on Instagram that guides users through improving their password strength, enabling two-factor authentication, and adding account recovery information. You can find this in your profile settings (tap the three vertical lines) and go to Accounts Center > Password and Security > Security Checkup to select the account you want to evaluate. Google has a similar dashboard that shows you where you are signed in with your Google account, apps and services you've connected, recent security activity, sign-in and recovery settings, and recommendations for improving your account security. View the full article

Now that the last pint of green beer has been poured, it’s time to move on to the next reason to celebrate March: college basketball. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) annual single-elimination tournament, more commonly known as March Madness, kicked things off over the weekend with Selection Sunday. Here’s what you need to know heading into the First Four games and how to tune in. A very brief history of March Madness On the men’s side, the tournament dates back to 1939. Eight teams competed for the Division 1 Championship title, with Oregon taking home the inaugural trophy. The women got in on the action in 1982. Since then, the Tennessee Lady Volunteers have competed in every edition of the tournament. What happened during Selection Sunday? These days, the playing field has expanded to 68 teams on both sides of the tournament. Thirty-one of the teams are picked because they automatically qualify after winning their own Division 1 conference. The other 37 are picked by the NCAA Selection Committee, who takes factors such as the team’s overall season record into consideration. After the teams are chosen, that same committee grants each one a seed or ranking. This helps ensure the playing schedule is fair and balanced. It’s hard not to be an armchair critic when the teams and seeds are announced. Almost every year has some controversy, and 2025 is no exception. Men’s fans were shocked to see the University of North Carolina included in the tournament after its 22–13 record in the 2024–25 season. Bubba Cunningham, the UNC athletic director who also sits on the Selection Committee, assured CBS that he recused himself from the process. “All the policies and procedures were followed, and Keith [Gill, the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference] can address exactly how North Carolina was discussed because I was not in the room for any of that,” he explained, as cited by CNN. Meanwhile, women’s fans were surprised to see the UCLA Bruins take the No. 1 seed from South Carolina. This is the first time since 2021 that the Gamecocks were not given the honors. Head Coach Dawn Stanley would like to have more insight into the decision-making process. “Obviously, it’s disappointing. It really is. I’d like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion because we put together, we manufactured a schedule that if done right it should produce an overall number one seed,” she said, according to CBS Sports. How can I watch or stream the First Four March Madness games? Now that the beginning of the brackets are ready to go, let’s watch some hoops. The action-packed tournament starts out with the lowest seeded teams facing off in what’s known as the First Four. For the first men’s game, St. Francis will take on Alabama State on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. ET. Here’s the full First Four men’s schedule: Tuesday, March 18: Alabama State vs. Saint Francis: 6:40 p.m. (truTV) San Diego State vs. North Carolina: 9:10 p.m. (truTV) Wednesday, March 19: American University vs. Mount St. Mary’s: 6:40 p.m. (truTV) Texas vs. Xavier: 9:10 p.m. (truTV) For the first women’s game, Iowa State and Princeton will battle it out on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. Here’s the full First Four women’s schedule: Wednesday, March 19: Iowa State vs. Princeton: 7 p.m. (ESPNU) UC San Diego vs. Southern U: 9 p.m. (ESPNU) Thursday, March 20: High Point vs. William & Mary: 9 p.m. (ESPNU) Columbia vs. Washington: 7 p.m. (ESPN2) Every moment of the NCAA men’s and women’s tournament will be broadcast live. Because there are numerous games, it takes multiple channels to broadcast them all. This year the First Four men’s games will be on the TruTV channel. This lesser-known cable channel is included in most traditional cable subscriptions. The women’s First Four games will be on ESPNU and ESPN2. Cord-cutters should be able to find these channels on the following streaming services, but double check your local offerings before signing up: Hulu + Live TV YouTube TV Sling TV What about the rest of the tournament? The rest of the men’s games will be spread out on CBS, TBS, and TNT, and their streaming platforms, such as Paramount+. The women’s tournament will call ESPN’s networks and ABC home. For a printable men’s bracket and full schedule click here. For a printable women’s bracket and full schedule click here. View the full article

Salary will be up to £400,000 per year, plus an annual bonus of up to 60%View the full article

Airport security will probably always be somewhat of a hassle, but one friction point you can potentially minimize is utilizing a digital ID in place of a physical one—and if you're an Android user, your passport added to Google Wallet's ID pass is officially accepted by TSA. It's certainly convenient to not have to carry or keep track of your physical passport when you travel, and a digital passport in ID pass can get you through security screening if you don't have a REAL ID after the requirements take effect on May 7. That said, your digital passport doesn't completely replace your physical document, which you'll still need when traveling internationally and in situations where you have to present identification outside of TSA. Here's how to digitize your passport and other forms of identification for the next time you fly. How to add your passport to Google WalletTo add your passport to ID pass, open Google Wallet on your Android device and tap the + icon. Tap ID > ID pass, then hit the Get Started button. The app will guide you through a series of instructions to scan your passport and your face, which will take several minutes to complete and approve. You can also add a state-issued ID (like your driver's license) to Google Wallet using this same process—just select ID > Driver's license or state ID instead of ID pass. How to use other digital IDs for travelAt the time of writing, Apple Wallet and Samsung Wallet do not support passports, and ID pass for Google Wallet is the only digital passport accepted at TSA for domestic travel. However, your driver's license or identification card stored in Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, or a state-specific mobile app can also get you through security screening if issued by one of the following states: Arizona California Colorado Georgia Hawaii Iowa Louisiana Maryland New Mexico New York Ohio Puerto Rico Utah Virginia West Virginia To add an ID to Apple Wallet, tap the + icon in the app and hit Driver's License or State ID. Select your eligible state, and follow the prompts. For Samsung Wallet, click the + icon, tap Digital IDs > Driver's License/State ID, and follow the instructions to scan your ID and face and authenticate with your fingerprint or a PIN. Note that some of the states listed (like New York and Utah) require you to use a state-specific app for digital IDs instead of your device's digital wallet. Even if you have a digital ID, don't count on being able to use it at every airport. Check TSA's digital ID map before you leave home to make sure any airport you are traveling through accepts eligible digital IDs. (On the flip side, TSA PreCheck members traveling on Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines out of a select number of airports can clear security solely on facial recognition—no physical or digital documents required.) View the full article

This year, the most innovative companies in the education sector are tackling a dizzying array of challenges facing students and schools alike—not to mention parents. As a teletherapy platform, Parallel Learning enables schools and special education providers to counsel students and track their progress. Promova, whose mission is to make language learning more accessible to people who are neurodivergent, is the first language learning app to build a dedicated setting for those with dyslexia—a specialized typeface and adjustments to font size and brightness help mitigate some of the most common reading challenges that people with dyslexia experience. EdSights uses AI chatbots to help colleges and universities identify students who might be at risk of dropping out, in part by increasing student engagement. And then there’s Good Inside, which has become a go-to resource for parents seeking guidance and advice from expert coaches, along with a robust online community. Meanwhile, other education companies are using artificial intelligence to train both our youngest learners and working professionals who are looking to upskill and adapt to evolving technologies. Generative AI continues to fuel growth at online learning platforms like Coursera, which has doubled down on micro-credentials and now offers more than 80 professional certificates with AI courses that are intended to prepare job candidates for entry-level roles without a college degree. Amira Learning is helping young students improve their reading literacy with an AI-powered tutor, while CodeSignal has built a platform for tech workers to pick up new technical skills and practice soft skills through AI-powered simulations. 1. Amira LearningFor empowering students to read more fluently As AI-powered tutors have flooded the market, Amira Learning has drawn special attention for its success in using the technology to help young students become better readers. The six-year-old company, which has raised upwards of $40 million in venture funding and served over 2 million students, is now being used across more than 1,800 districts and in 3,000 schools. In 2024, Amira—which charges schools per student and is also available as a subscription service for families—launched a new version of its AI tutor that goes beyond reading fluency to improve reading comprehension for elementary school students. The company has inked deals to bring its product to school districts in Louisiana, where Amira is now used by 100,000 students across 25 school districts, as well as Mississippi and Iowa. Early studies have already captured its impact in other states: In Utah, students who used Amira for just 30 minutes a week saw the equivalent of 1.5 years of improvement in their reading abilities over the course of one school year. Another study, in Louisiana, showed a marked improvement in oral reading fluency among first graders who had used Amira for six weeks. This June, Amira merged with 27-year-old digital learning company Istation, whose gamified educational content was being used in more than 1,000 school districts. Now Amira’s AI tutor can be paired with content from Istation’s vast library, making its lessons even more effective. 2. CodeSignalFor helping new tech workers brush up on their technical and soft skills CodeSignal is a popular skills assessment platform to evaluate candidates used by recruiters and hiring teams at major companies like Meta and Uber. In 2024, the company expanded beyond just helping employers with interviews and assessments by introducing a new platform, CodeSignal Learn, which gives tech workers the ability to acquire new technical skills and keep up with industry needs. Through free and paid tiers, the platform is catering to both tech workers who are looking to advance their careers and those who are trying to find a new job, as well as recruiters who already use CodeSignal for screening candidates but are interested in addressing skills gaps among their existing employee base. CodeSignal Learn emphasizes practice-based learning over a more didactic approach, and an AI-powered coach called Cosmo helps guide users and can step in if they get stuck on anything. Since rolling out CodeSignal Learn in February 2024, the company has added more than 198,000 users who have completed over a million practices; on average, the platform draws about 8,500 active users each week. Over the last year, CodeSignal also launched a product called Conversation Practice to help engineers and developers who are newer to the job market improve their soft skills. Through AI simulations, users can practice real-world communication and work on their leadership skills. 3. Good InsideFor teaching parenting as a skill you can hone Clinical psychologist Becky Kennedy has made a career of offering guidance to parents on how they can set firm boundaries while fostering strong connections with their children. She has channeled her “sturdy parenting” approach—and vast following (she boasts 3 million followers on Instagram)—into a subscription-based online community and parenting resource called Good Inside, which now has 80,000 paid members across more than 100 countries. In 2024, Good Inside launched an AI-powered app to help subscribers more effectively navigate day-to-day parenting challenges. The app gives busy parents on-demand access to scripts and other personalized guidance, drawing on Kennedy’s expertise and advice from other parenting coaches. An emotional-reset feature gives parents a nudge to decompress when they need it most, and a private community of like-minded parents promises moral support. 4. PromovaFor enabling neurodivergent people to learn languages Promova launched in 2019 with the intent of making language learning more accessible to people who are neurodivergent. In late 2023, the company became the first language learning app to introduce a dedicated setting for people with dyslexia, which is the most common learning disability. Dyslexia Mode uses a specialized typeface called Dysfont that helps address the most common reading challenges experienced by those with dyslexia. Promova has since updated Dyslexia Mode to incorporate feedback from users; the app now allows users to increase font size, remove all-caps text, and adjust color brightness to reduce the contrast between the text and the background. In 2024, the company also launched a free ASL class and a white noise feature that caters to neurodivergent learners. Promova has also updated the app’s interface to help mitigate focus and attention issues for users, particularly those with cognitive disabilities. In 2024, Promova saw significant growth: Overall downloads jumped from 11 million to 15 million, and the app’s monthly user base more than doubled from 800,000 to 1.8 million. 5. CourseraFor enabling workers to reskill through micro-credentials and partnerships with leading employers In response to demand for professional certificates and other upskilling opportunities, Coursera has doubled down on micro-credentials, adding 40 new programs in the last year—nearly double the number launched in 2023. The online learning company now offers well over 80 professional certificates, which can prepare job candidates for entry-level roles without a college degree. Coursera’s micro-credentials are sought after in part because of partnerships with leading tech companies; in 2024, employers like Epic Games, Adobe, and Unilever also started offering their own programs. The company has also made the majority of its professional certificates accessible to non-English speakers, offering those courses in 21 languages through AI-powered translation. Coursera also expanded its partnership with the University of Texas System, a micro-credential program launched in 2023 that offers students, faculty, staff, and alumni free access to upskilling. Through Coursera’s Career Academy, learners can invest in professional certificates from tech employers like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce. This investment in micro-credentials has already boosted revenue: In Q4 2024, Coursera’s consumer revenue crossed $101 million, a 5% year-over-year increase, in part due to interest in entry-level professional certificates and GenAI offerings. Over the past year, Coursera saw more than 3 million enrollments in entry-level professional certificates. The company continues to see plenty of demand for AI courses: Coursera partnered with Google to launch one that’s now the most popular GenAI course on the platform. In fact, some of the new professional certificates that Coursera introduced in 2024 feature GenAI content from companies like Meta, Microsoft, and IBM. Coursera also worked with New York State’s Department of Labor last year to provide free access to certificate programs for displaced workers. 6. EdSightsFor keeping college students in school Nearly 40% of first-time college students in the U.S. don’t complete their degree within eight years after enrolling. EdSights wants to help academic institutions pinpoint people who are at risk of dropping out by using its AI-powered chatbots to engage with students and offer rapid response support for any number of challenges they may face—be it financial assistance or academic struggles. One of the key metrics EdSights uses to evaluate students is the Student Voice Score, an annual survey of student satisfaction and sentiment that enables academic institutions to compare their overall performance with that of their peers. As of 2024, EdSights serves more than a million students across 140 colleges. At Southern New Hampshire University, which claims to be the country’s largest nonprofit college, the company increased retention by 4% among first-year students and 12% for underrepresented students. On average, universities that use EdSights see a 4% increase in student retention, with some citing rates as high as 14%. This year, the company also introduced new AI-driven features designed to identify students who are facing mental health issues—and help them get the support they need. 7. SpheroFor taking its STEM robots into the classroom For over a decade, Sphero has built interactive robots and STEM educational tools that students of all ages can use in the classroom. To date, the company has activated 5 million robots, and its products are employed by more than 40,000 educators in 20,000-plus schools. In 2024, Sphero launched a new and improved version of its bestselling product for budding programmers. The Bolt+ coding robot is more immersive and open-ended than its predecessor and has already elicited positive feedback from teachers. This past year, Sphero also introduced Blueprint Engineering kits, which expose middle and high school students to mechanical and electrical engineering concepts. Both products are intended to be easily incorporated into the classroom, and Sphero’s new education resource hub makes it easier for teachers to compile lesson plans. In addition to the Bolt+ and Blueprint kits, Sphero debuted an interactive coding mat and literacy cards that pair with the Indi, a robot designed for kids as young as four. 8. SmaltFor tackling a shortage of climate workers across Europe To meet renewable energy goals, Europe has plans to add more than 3 million new jobs across the climate sector by 2030. But there’s a shortage of workers who can fill those positions. That’s where Smalt comes in: Founded in 2023, the Berlin-based company is training workers across Europe to address the growing skills gap in the climate industry, armed with a $8 million seed round backed by General Catalyst and Owl Ventures. Smalt is looking to bring more workers into the solar industry using its tech-enabled training platform, with a particular focus on reaching immigrants. In 2024, the company sourced and trained more than 20 immigrant workers for their first jobs. Smalt also created an app for workers to help mitigate installation mistakes and troubleshoot issues while out in the field; the app has already reduced installation errors by 15%. The company launched a B2B commercial business in 2024 as well, along with a customer dashboard that gives clients regular updates on their projects and facilitates streamlined communication. Smalt also boosted average revenue for workers, up 20% compared to 2023. 9. ResultantFor enabling states to make data-driven decisions about childcare and schools The data analytics consulting firm Resultant partners with state education agencies to help improve outcomes for kids and families. Across many states, childcare providers are only required to report vacancies once a year, which means the data is often no longer actionable or up to date. In 2024, Resultant worked with the state of Iowa to create a database of childcare providers called Child Care Connect—not unlike a restaurant reservation system—that updates daily and allows families to check their availability in real time. Resultant also built multiple programs in Indiana to tackle absenteeism in schools and high school graduation rates. (The rate of chronic absenteeism in the state was nearly 18% for the 2023-2024 school year, up from just 11% pre-pandemic.) Through the Attendance Insights Dashboard—which collects data on excused and unexcused absences by school and grade level, alongside demographic information—schools and districts can track attendance on a weekly basis and keep tabs on students whose academic performance might suffer. Beyond that, Resultant piloted the Early Warning Indicator System—which uses state-specific data to pinpoint students who might not graduate on time—across 11 school districts before rolling it out statewide for the 2024-2025 school year. Since the platform looks at a number of factors, it can distinguish a student who might have attendance issues but isn’t necessarily at risk of dropping out. 10. Parallel LearningFor expanding access to special education services Since 2021, Parallel Learning has been on a mission to augment special education services in schools across the country, whether in rural areas that are underserved or urban regions where educators are stretched too thin. The company offers a wide variety of special education services that can help address staff shortages and reduce barriers to care. After closing a $20 million Series A funding round in 2024, the company formally launched its proprietary teletherapy platform, Pathway, which gives special education providers the ability to conduct virtual therapy and keep tabs on how students are performing against the goals of their Individualized Education Program. In 2024, Parallel Learning served 6,000 students and saw 200x revenue growth, and its offerings are now used by more than 80 school districts. Students have reported high levels of satisfaction with both the providers and their own progress after using Parallel Learning’s services. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

If a job is about more than the title or even the pay—but also a chance to find a deeper meaning and sense of purpose—the honorees in the inaugural class of most innovative companies in economic development are chasing a similar ideal, just on a larger scale. These accelerators, city agencies, and public-private partnerships are working to cultivate innovation economies in their regions—and in a sector that often (and understandably) focuses on the headline numbers—jobs created, dollars invested—these honorees did more than just stoke the economic engine; they afforded spaces for new narratives and creative communities. Some are working on reinvention: Huntsville, the Alabama town famous for its history with NASA’s rocketry program, has remarketed itself as a music, arts, and cultural destination; while Hilliard, an Ohio city of less than 40,000 in the Columbus area, continues to build out infrastructure to incubate innovative startups. Others found ways to expand the opportunities within existing hometown industries: NCBiotech built pathways to bring more local residents into the Research Triangle’s booming life sciences sector. Michigan Central, an old train station converted into a 30-acre innovation campus in Detroit, opened its doors last July. STACKT’s small-business incubation concept, comprised of repurposed shipping containers, is breathing new life into Toronto’s street life. And PIDC, a public-private investment group in Philadelphia, is redeveloping the centuries-old U.S. Naval Shipyard with a $1 billion diversity pledge. Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, seeks to build out the future of cutting-edge quantum computing on the site of a former steel plant site in Chicago. Of course, crafting entirely new narrative works, too. Timbuktoo Initiative, launched last year by the UN Development Program, is working to improve venture capital pipelines to entrepreneurs across the continent. Sustainability has also been a driver for development: Bristol City Leap, in the UK, is a citywide decarbonization program that will create hundreds of local green jobs; while Lamu Blue Carbon Project, a blue carbon credit program, will preserve mangrove habitats in coastal Kenya. 1. City of HuntsvilleFor making music, and supporting musicians, a centerpiece of a city’s business growth For many years, Alabama’s “Rocket City,” so called due to its long history with NASA’s rocketry program, has been more like Rock City. Huntsville has made music a key focus of economic growth, starting with a 2018 city musical audit championed by Mayor Tommy Battle, that quickly grew into a larger effort to build a creative ecosystem. While this past year’s marquee event, the inaugural South Star Music Festival, was partially canceled due to bad weather, the changes wrought by this effort are visible—and vocal. 2024 marked the conclusion of the city’s five-year plan, passed in 2019, to focus on music-related development, including hiring a music board and full-time music officer and investing in music programs and facilities in school and libraries. Across town, a constellation of new, smaller venues, such the-middle-school-turned-event-center Campus No. 805 and the multistage retail space Stovehouse—not to mention the Music Ambassador Program, which started in 2023 as a way to promote local musicians’ touring efforts and so far has provided support to more than 40 tours—have continued to attract more creative talent. The city’s locally owned Orion Amphitheater, the nexus of the $2.2 billion Midcity development, has become a strong tourist draw. Huntsville has always seen this investment as not just a quality-of-life improvement, but as an economically advantageous way to attract a young workforce. As evidence for its appeal, the city points to its growing population, which has added 10,000 people a year since 2020; a 2.8% unemployment rate; and 2,500 new jobs added in the past year. 2. Michigan CentralFor turning a Midwest architectural icon into a startup hub for 21st century mobility The redevelopment of a formerly vibrant train station into a $1 billion innovation campus has become the latest symbol of Detroit’s efforts to resurge. A walkable, 30-acre district in the Corktown neighborhood, Michigan Central repurposed decades-old buildings from the city’s heyday to contribute to its current renaissance. Ford Motor Co. purchased and rehabbed an abandoned railway station and 18-story tower, restoring a decrepit shell to its original Art Deco sheen, while an unused book depository reopened as a startup hub, Newlab, which attracted more than 100 startups and over $700 million in funding in just over a year after its 2023 opening. The tech from one startup, Electreon, is embedded in the nation’s first EV charging road. But Michigan Central doesn’t just offer an architecturally striking space to incubate ideas; it provides a test bed. The mix of startups, mobility innovations, and a multinational corporation in the form of Ford fosters a varied ecosystem of talent, while the campus mobility lab and Advanced Aerial Innovation Region designation allow startups to test and iterate on their ideas in real world situations. Fast-track permitting from the city is accelerating the path to innovation, with the goal of turning the once-busy station into a hub of a different sort. 3. Bristol City LeapFor turning a blueprint for a more sustainable city into an economic engine Bristol, in southwest England, became the first city in the U.K. to adopt a net zero goal back in 2019. But the challenging road required to hit that target inspired the city government to seek out new kinds of partnerships to meet that bold pledge. In 2023, city council announced Bristol City Leap, a substantial initiative to decarbonize local businesses and develop 1,000-plus jobs by leveraging $1 billion in investments to make the city a testing ground for community change. City leaders engaged the decarbonization company Ameresco and Vattenfall Heat UK, which supplies district heating systems, to help transform Bristol’s energy system. Over the next five years, investments in the seaside city will create an EV charging network, add heat pumps and solar panels to schools, refurbish city-owned housing, and deploy renewables in tandem with partners like the Bristol Energy Cooperative. Last year, the initiative picked up momentum, distributing $350 million in grants and building to two sections of Bristol’s heat network, a district heating system that will pipe hot water warmed by heat pumps around the city. The initiative will also benefit local industry by slashing energy costs. Bristol has a reputation for climate action and community support for renewables; this city-scale move shows that it is raising its own bar. 4. STACKTFor giving small Canadian businesses the community, and boost, they need to succeed Toronto’s STACKT market, an outdoor bazaar built from repurposed shipping containers, has fostered a unique commercial community since 2019. In 2024, the founders decided to expand on that vision with a new platform and digital strategy designed to support budding entrepreneurs. The STACKTx network seeks to help small stores and thrive, with the goal of supporting the growth of 11,000 small businesses across Canada in the first year. STACKTx’s strategy starts with a free digital platform that includes digital resources, mentorship, information about grants and community partnerships, and discounts on marketing and product development services. 5,000 businesses have joined so far. In November, the organization hosted a social conference, featuring opening remarks from the country’s minister of small business, Rechie Valdez. STACKTx will help retail concepts take a low-cost test run with monthly storefront grants, which will give entrepreneurs a month-long retail lease in Toronto, and hopes eventually to expand to Ottawa, Calgary, and Vancouver. These grants aim to give storefront space to new businesses without the burden of long-term rent agreements and high overhead. 5. Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics ParkFor turning a 20th-century steel plant into a center for 21st-century quantum computing Once compared to the ruins of the Colosseum and Roman aqueducts, the former U.S. Steel plant South Works, in South Side, Chicago, presents a gargantuan urban void. Home to factory complexes that once employed 20,000 workers, the site has been the focus of several redevelopment crusades. A new plan, to build a quantum computing center there that will tap into the site’s generous electrical hookups, hopes to once again make this campus a central economic driver. After a successful push by Chicago Quantum Exchange, a group founded to advance the industry’s growth, Illinois economic development officials agreed to provide $500 million in investments and grants to build the 128-acre Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. Flagship firm PsiQuantum will install numerous quantum computing systems onsite, including a 300,000-square-foot Quantum Computer Operations Center, and the announcement has already attracted additional high-tech firms like Eero-Q as well as DARPA, the Defense Department’s investment arm for defense technologies, which will build a national testing ground for quantum technologies. 6. Lamu Blue Carbon ProjectFor turning coastal carbon credits into a scheme for local revitalization Preserving trees and forests through carbon credits has been an effort rife with mixed results. But the new Go Blue initiative, which seeks to preserve vital mangrove forests and revitalize the rural economy of Kenya’s northernmost coastal county, Lamu, offers a new vision of positive environmental and economic development. The effort, launched in 2023, aims to preserve nearly 10,000 acres of mangroves, considered to be one of the most effective carbon sinks on the planet, and funnel sales of the resulting credits back to villagers in the country’s northern coastal communities. The effort represents an expansion of similar programs in the country, like Vanga Blue Forest. The successful Mikoko Pamoja Project, the world’s first-ever blue carbon effort to fund the preservation of marine carbon sinks, generated $130,000 annually to local villagers. With more than half of the planet’s mangrove forests at risk, programs that meld local, sustainable growth and conservation offer a new way to achieve green economic engines. 7. Philadelphia’sFor prioritizing equity in Philadelphia’s real estate projects When Philadelphia’s public-private investment corporation, PIDC, acquired the 1,200-acre Navy Yard property in 2000, the former military site offered myriad possibilities. PIDC determined that regardless of the direction development took, it needed to be equitable. As part of the vast transformation of the site to support the region’s burgeoning life sciences industry, the organization approved an ambitious joint venture with Ensemble Investments and Mosaic Development Partners on a project with a $1 billion diversity pledge, including using 20% of its equity investments on minority- and women-owned enterprises and funding extensive local hiring and workforce development initiatives. PIDC leadership at the time called it “one of the most intentional and inclusive economic opportunity initiatives in the history of this city.” Local architecture and design firms have greatly benefited from this approach; minority-owned businesses designed and constructed the 2500 League Island Blvd life sciences development, a rarity in the real estate world. 8. NCBiotechFor making sure the benefits of the biotech boom ripple across more of the workforce North Carolina’s booming biotech sector, which now employs 75,000 people and has $88 billion in annual economic impact, has been one of the nation’s biggest economic development success stories, turning the state into a science powerhouse. But in recent years, life sciences expansion has struggled to employ more North Carolinians. Local companies, desperate to hire trained staff, are poaching from each other, or bringing in new hires from out-of-state. To help bolster the workforce with more local talent, NCBiotech launched the Accelerate NC Life Sciences Manufacturing coalition, with funding from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge, launched a multi-pronged campaign in September 2022 to break down local barriers to employment. Between starting new programs withuniversities statewide, investing in infrastructure to bring labs and manufacturing sites to underserved communities, and kickstarting ambassador, apprenticeship, and awareness-raising campaigns, the Research Triangle has helped hundreds enter the industry. Unique biomanufacturing courses at historically Black universities across the state offer quicker, accredited means of providing training to diverse talent pools. More importantly, the campaign is creating a blueprint of how to build up a high-tech industry while shrinking, rather than expanding, issues of inequity. 9. Timbuktoo InitiativeFor accelerating a startup boom across Africa It can often seem like the bulk of venture capital flows to the companies and founders who need it the least. To capitalize on Africa’s nascent tech industry, the UN Development Program launched Timbuktoo last year, an effort to raise $1 billion in the next decade to fund startup hubs and support 10,000 new companies. The continent has experienced rapid growth in startup venture funding, which has grown six times faster than the global average since 2022, as well as an explosion in tech savviness among younger populations. But the funding hasn’t kept pace with the needs of new firms and ideas, nor expanded beyond the four countries leading Africa’s startup scene, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria. To remedy that, this initiative blends commercial and government capital, leveraging support from the UN as well as universities, corporations, investors, and development partners. Timbuktoo has so far launched a fintech hub in Lagos, Nigeria, that brings together 42 companies from 31 countries, and is planning similar spaces across the continent, including a healthcare hub in Rwanda and a green-tech hub in Kenya. 10. City of HilliardFor proving that a small Columbus, Ohio, suburb can build a high-tech innovation ecosystem A small Ohio suburb of less than 40,000 people doesn’t sound like the most likely site for a startup hub. But Hilliard City Lab, a savvy buildout of the infrastructure and expertise that innovative firms need to thrive, has become a key incubator in the region. The city isn’t swarming with VCs, so the program made targeted investments and partnerships count, including the construction of a 60-mile-long fiber optic network, the building of Ohio Manufacturing Innovation Center, and partnerships with local firms like Converge Technologies to provide space and expertise. The city also set up an AI sandbox, a testing site that lets firms evaluate artificial intelligence services without the need to spend hefty sums on cloud servers. Hilliard gives innovators another important form of support: cash. The city has awarded nearly $1 million in grants to 32 projects in the last four years to help seed small startups, half of which set up shop in 2024. This new test bed has already created results and new innovations, such as a first responder drone for 911 calls, a sewer overflow detector, an algae boat to clean ponds and lakes, and a virtual scoreboard for watching local sporting events. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

Design is in a time of transition. Whether it’s the influx of generative AI tools, Gen Z shaking off their post-COVID haze to drive new aesthetics, the practice of graphic design adding clarity to tight elections and challenging our meat consumption, or even the sudden viability of technologies ranging from environmentally friendly A/C to exoskeletons that are turning sci-fi dreams into practical realities, design is in a position to face an uncertain world of scarcity with an unprecedented abundance of innovation. Our honorees for the most innovative companies in design for 2025 span the gamut of product, architecture, and UX. But they are all united in pushing the consumer discourse through design and challenging the status quo to make the world better—or, at least, make it a little more brat. 1. OnFor building faster shoes faster Like all sneaker brands, On has carefully seeded its sought-after demographics into its marketing—Zendaya, FKA Twigs—but most of its collabs, which on paper are great (Loewe! Beams!) are actually relatively forgettable on their own, barely drifting from their approach to circular foamy Swiss minimalism. Its StockX listings sell for list. But On is selling all the same. Net sales were up 27% in 2024. It’s built up to a certain quiet, cross-culture ubiquity. Think of it like the performance comfort statement of Lululemon in 2015, but not so bougie that cool kids in Europe and Asia won’t wear it. No doubt being a young company helps here (On was founded in 2010). There’s a bring-your-own-meaning to it all that seemingly allows it to fit anywhere without the same cultural weight of donning a Dunk or a Samba. And that meaning is anchored in one of those ideas that make Nike so revolutionary: performance advertised in design. With a new technology called Lightspray, we’re seeing On’s ambitions grow. Despite a decade of experiments in additive manufacturing and circular products by competitors like Adidas, no sneaker brand has really cracked the code on balancing high performance, sustainable life cycle, and production efficiency. Lightspray is a promising approach to all three of these goals. A robot holds an outsole (produced in a traditional injection mold) and spins it around, all while a nozzle sprays the entire upper of the shoe into existence. That process takes just three minutes (while it takes another three for it to set). Lightspray requires no extra glues and can be colored with the most minimal spray of dye. On has simplified its sneaker to just a handful of components and a bare minimum of material, already reducing its carbon imprint by 75% on the upper alone. But because it’s made of just five parts, a Lightspray shoe can (theoretically) be more recyclable long term, as On promised to me earlier this year. Lightspray shoes have already been worn in multiple marathons (19 athletes wore them at the latest NYC marathon, including Hellen Obiri, who came in second place). This is a long-term bet on core design/manufacturing/performance tech from On, and will be something to watch for years to come. Read more about On, honored as No. 18 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025. 2. SharkNinjaFor building irresistible home appliances The SharkNinja brand has come a long way since its vacuum infomercial days of the mid-aughts. The company—and its 1,100-person global design and engineering team—has become one of the most sophisticated manufacturers of domestic appliances on the planet, packaging advanced engineering into novel, easy-to-use, affordable products. SharkNinja more than doubled its product portfolio in 2024 as part of a massive brand expansion involving categories ranging from outdoor gear (with a Yeti-like cooler) to beauty (Dyson-inspired hairstyling tools) to home (with a battery-powered fan that moves with you). But its runaway hit last year was in a category entirely of its own: the Ninja Slushi, an at-home frozen drink maker that allows customers to whip up a margarita in their kitchens or a perfect frozen Coke, à la the 7-Eleven Slurpee. Before launching online in July, the $300 Slushi amassed a 200,000-person waitlist and garnered more than 200 million impressions across social media, and it has since sold out 15 times. This success is a result of the company’s obsessive, value-grounded approach to innovation, which involves testing out its products in up to 750 homes before launch to ensure its customers feel competent trying their products the first time—and don’t mind cleaning them up on the twentieth. “If your cellphone’s not working, you blame the phone,” says SharkNinja chief design officer Ross Richardson. “If you can’t cook a steak properly, or you’re not able to dry your hair, most people will then blame themselves.” SharkNinja wants to change that, ensuring that its products are not just well engineered and easy to use but also allow for creative exploration (which helps them go viral on social media). In the case of the Slushi, the 6.5-inch-wide machine fits onto your counter better than you’d expect, and its prominent tap on the front requires no instruction manual to understand. Even the recipe booklet that comes with Slushi is less about the recipes than understanding basic ratios of, say, sugar and alcohol. “It’s a product that you can experiment with,” says Richardson. “When the consumer is not narrowed into ‘You have to do it this way!’ they want to share. And as soon as they share, we’ve got virality.” SharkNinja’s engineering team keeps the innovations flowing by developing products in a 24-hour global relay, passing work from its Massachusetts headquarters to London to China (where manufacturing previously had been taking place) each day. For the FrostVault cooler—which costs $250 and features drawers to keep your food dry from condensation—the Needham, Massachusetts, development team shoveled three tons of sand inside their studio to ensure that the drawers could open and close on a beach without jamming. SharkNinja can now build just about any product it can imagine—from the popular $370 Woodfire electric grill and smoker to the $350 FlexFusion ceramic hair straightener—at a price most consumers can afford. That formula helped SharkNinja grow revenue 30% in 2024, breaking $5.5 billion for the first time. “We’re the fastest-growing outdoor cooking company in the world, and we’re also the fastest-growing hair tools company in the world,” says CEO Mark Barrocas. “Who would have thought that would be under the same umbrella?” Read more about SharkNinja, honored as No. 27 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025. 3. JKRFor creating beautiful, high-impact rebrands Most rebrands tend to be either completely cringe or vastly underwhelming. But branding agency JKR spent 2024 pushing clients outside their comfort zones to launch a series of bold rebrands that breathed fresh life into legacy clients. With Impossible, JKR transformed the alt meat pioneer’s strangely greenwashed packaging into a blood red celebration of plant meat. Brand awareness jumped 25% in the first three months after release. For the Kosher food staple Manischewitz, the firm swapped dull white packaging for eye-popping orange, pushing sales by 7% in what the brand anticipates will equate to 10% YOY growth. At RSPCA, the largest animal welfare charity in the world, JKR drove a 200% boost in donations through the brand’s first makeover in 50 years, which swapped stoic typography for cute animal icons. And while it’s too soon to know how JKR’s work will impact Mozilla, the company’s new funky, pixel-loving makeover vows to “reclaim the internet” with dinosaurs and rainbow gradients. 4. Foster + PartnersFor refreshing an icon and reviving a city in the process An icon is back in San Francisco, thanks to a $1 billion project between the real estate developer SVHO and the architecture firm Foster + Partners. The duo reimagined the Transamerica Pyramid Center as a luxe modern workspace to reinvigorate the struggling downtown. Foster + Partners took the renovations all the way back to the studs. Drop ceilings and superfluous cladding were removed, increasing headspace by 10 full feet in the entrance. Clearer windows embrace unparalleled views across the Bay, which can be enjoyed from opulent casual meeting spaces in the center of the tower and top floor. But despite the lease prices that are 3x competitors in the area, it’s celebrating 70% occupancy in its first year of release and multiyear partnership with TED AI. As for the redwood park planted outside in 1930? That’s not only still open to the public with more seating than before, but it hosts biweekly concerts open to the community. 5. Special OfferFor turning a color into a cultural moment It was Brat summer, and we were all just living in it. But Charli XCX’s cultural movement owes some of its success to the NYC design studio Special Offer. The firm developed Brat‘s iconic, arresting green brand seen on the album and merch, with its almost lazily, stubbornly printed typeface. In a world full of brands that try too hard, it’s an aesthetic that’s difficult to describe in any other way than . . . so brat. But the brand’s greatest success was how fans made it their own. Not only was #brat used 1.4 million times on TikTok and 2.7 million times on Instagram, but a “Brat Generator” was visited more than 5 million times as fans built their own brat memes for the season. With apologies to all things demure, 2024 belonged to the brats. Into 2025, Special Offer is collaborating with several unannounced brands. Its newest project is building the exhibition identity for the Louis Vuitton Visionary Journeys installation in Bangkok. 6. CactusFor redesigning the entire experience of healthcare In a world full of design consultancies, Cactus has distinguished itself as a leader in rethinking every touch point of healthcare—be it hospital design or digital workflows—with clients that include Mayo Clinic, Advent Health, and Wellstar. One landmark project will begin construction in March. It’s a new oncology bay for USC’s Norris Center. Inspired by a first-class airline cabin, these modular rooms will offer comfortable, private spaces to cancer patients who are undergoing transfusions. Experimental treatments, in particular, can require patients to be connected to machinery for up to 12 hours. The new bays allow them to rest in a reclining chair or bed complete with amenities like music and a screen. In addition to offering the patient a cozier environment, the bays are nested together, making them space efficient and increasing the Norris Center’s capacity by 50%, while being easy for healthcare professionals to monitor. Norris Center will also test moving these bays outside of the clinic, given that their modular design can essentially create a pop-up clinic anywhere. 7. Code and TheoryFor building interfaces that offer clarity during uncertainty Digital agency Code and Theory is building the best data visualization tool in broadcast today. Following the firm’s success rebuilding CNN’s touchscreen Magic Wall in 2018, NBC recruited Code and Theory to re-create its competing Big Board for live news broadcasts. The new board, which debuted for the presidential primaries last year, became the focus on MSNBC’s election night coverage. Data guru Steve Kornacki used it to take 5.5 million Americans through a tumultuous night, zooming into districts with 10M+ data points from 16 years of electoral data, with real-time updates of 16,356 geographies across the U.S. Code and Theory was also tapped by Microsoft last year to develop immersive product landing pages for one of its most important releases in recent history: the Microsoft Copilot+ PC. Rather than build a traditional promotional website, the firm created dynamically generated pages across 52 markets worldwide, tailoring these AI demos to a user’s own interests and inputs. 8. SquarespaceFor using AI to build custom websites even faster For all of the promise of generative AI, it hasn’t offered a lot to the average person. But for Squarespace users looking to construct beautiful websites as fast as possible, the company’s Blueprint AI tool made the task even easier. Through natural language—just answering a few questions about their business—users can have Squarespace build them a custom site with a modern layout, customized fonts, and interchangeable colors. It will even fill the site with stock imagery and generated copy. Of course, Squarespace might not get the design perfectly to your liking, but each component is easily updated through the graphic interface. After a few years of stock ups and downs, Squarespace was acquired by private equity firm Permira last year. Blueprint AI is an innovation modernizing the company’s design tools. It improves on Squarespace’s templated approach to website building and pushes it a step further in speedy, simple UX that courted 25% of users to try it last year across 200 countries. 9. QuiltFor building a heat pump that anyone can use It’s so small that you barely notice it. Unlike your traditional space heater or window A/C unit, the Quilt heat pump almost disappears onto a wall—despite replacing both of these products in one. As the smallest and most efficient multi-zone heat pump on the market, the units are a mere 8 inches tall and can heat or cool a room automatically with the assistance of predictive algorithms. Quilt makes convenience a core feature: The company handles everything from sales to installation, pairing customers with an installer. That convenience is catching on. After launching the heat pump in the Redwood City area in May, Quilt quickly sold out of its 2024 inventory. In 2025, it plans to spread to five major markets including L.A. While the product promises to save customers energy and money, the carbon impact alone might make the upgrade worthwhile: Over the next 15 years, Quilt’s most ambitious targets project cutting the CO2 equivalent of the state of California up to 10 times over. 10. SkipFor making it easier to move Skip may very well sell you your first exoskeleton. After spinning out of Google X in 2023, the robotics company developed what it dubs an “e-bike for hiking” called Mo/Go (which is short for “mountain goat.”) It’s a pair of robotic bracers that move along with your stride, relieving half the effort of each step. But while most robots look like robots, Skip teamed with the outdoor gear company Arc’teryx to integrate Mo/Go into a pair of pants. The pants made their debut in August 2024 through a climbing clinic in Squamish, Canada, and since then, Skip spent the latter half of the year validating and refining both the fit and the algorithms behind the design through hundreds of testers who’ve rented samples, more than half of whom reported “loving” the experience. After fulfilling its $4,500 preorders that start shipping in fall 2025, Skip plans to put Mo/Go on sale inside Arc’teryx stores and eventually expand its purview to serve people with movement challenges from strokes or Parkinson’s disease. In other words, while Mo/Go is being designed for hikers hoping to get a leg up on the trail, the performance machine is being developed to eventually benefit everyone who just wants to move with more ease. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

In the midst of an artificial intelligence boom that’s reshaping almost every facet of the business world, companies are competing in an arms race to build the best and brightest models and fully embrace the nascent technology, whether that’s as a product or service for customers or as an integral component of their organizations’ processes. This has raised the profile and pursuit of data science: After all, as Airbyte CEO and co-founder Michel Tricot succinctly put it, “no data, no AI.” But this arms race could have many winners at its finish line. Indeed, this year’s honorees all have something in common beyond their creative use of data in a world increasingly dependent on it: namely, a keen understanding of how to employ data science to make a positive impact on the world around them, building a successful business in the process. They include Unstructured, which helps organizations from Fortune 10 companies to the U.S, military transform raw data into the fuel for AI applications; Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence group that’s become the go-to agency for financial institutions and law enforcement countering crypto crime; Norstella, which harnesses big data to help biopharmaceutical companies develop thousands of life-saving drugs through accelerated planning and AI-assisted decision-making; Makersite, which employs AI to help manufacturers embrace data-driven transparent supply chains in pursuit of ethical consumption; and Satelytics, which analyzes satellite-based geospatial data in search of methane leaks so energy companies can reduce emissions. Vacuuming up data to build an in-house AI agent is one thing, but using that data to substantially improve the lives of consumers is another thing entirely – and these companies all earned a spot on our list because of it. 1. UnstructuredFor broadening the scope of corporate data that can inform AI Unstructured’s goal is to help businesses unlock and leverage their unstructured data, making it accessible as the foundation for AI-powered solutions. With the majority of enterprise information trapped in disparate formats that are hard to analyze and integrate—so much so that developers and data scientists spend more than 75% of their time simply preparing data for ingestion—Unstructured automates the transformation of raw data into AI-friendly formats, enabling organizations to utilize it for RAG (retrieval-augmented generation, which uses supplemental data to improve results) and fine-tuning large language models. Its solution extracts unstructured data from databases, converts more than 30 file types into LLM-ready formats, and loads the results into vector databases for RAG applications. By continuously providing real-time, up-to-date data, Unstructured’s platform ensures that LLMs are tailored to specific organizational knowledge. In 2024, the company launched its commercial SaaS API and enterprise platform, a move that quickly attracted over 10,000 customers. It’s now parlaying its advancement of business AI into serving as an open-source tools hub for the technology community. It’s also playing a critical role in national security by partnering with U.S. military organizations, including the Air Force, Space Force, and Special Operations Command. Read more about Unstructured, honored as No. 24 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025. 2. ChainalysisFor bringing transparency to the crypto industry Chainalysis’ blockchain data platform targets trust and transparency in the crypto industry. Its compliance software helps crypto companies fulfill anti-money-laundering and other legal requirements while its investigative software helps government agencies regulate the industry. In 2024, Chainalysis screened more than 250 million transfers and $4 trillion in transactions, identifying 6,500 unique entities and collaborating with more than 1,300 customers worldwide. It helped recover more than $11 billion in illicit funds and track nearly $25 billion in criminal transactions. The company is on track to take in an estimated $250 million revenue (up nearly 30% over the previous year). It has partnered with government agencies, financial institutions, and cybersecurity firms in more than 70 countries and more than 250 law enforcement agencies worldwide. Chainalys has also introduced key upgrades to its Crypto Investigations Solution, enabling agencies to instantly assess blockchain addresses and trace complex crypto transactions. In 2024, the company scored a pivotal win when a U.S. district court judge ruled that its blockchain forensics were admissible as substantive evidence, establishing a critical legal precedent and affirming the reliability of its analytics for prosecutors and regulators. Read more about Chainalysis, honored as No. 36 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025. 3. AirbyteFor simplifying large-scale data integration for AI-centric projects In a world dominated by AI, it’s difficult to overstate how critical data management is to the foundations of a functional system. As Airbyte CEO Michel Tricot notes, “no data, no AI.” The company makes it easy for organizations to move data from any source to any destination so businesses can unlock the potential of that data. In 2024, Airbyte’s technology helped organizations fuel AI-driven initiatives using existing data pipelines through support for eight vector databases, RAG transformations (which improve response accuracy and relevance), and unstructured data management. The launch of Airbyte Marketplace, featuring more than 400 certified data connectors, further simplified integration by enabling instant deployment or customization. With an open-source model fostering community-driven innovation, Airbyte has used AI to help a robust community of 20,000 data engineers develop 10,000+ user-built custom data connectors. The company’s initiatives drove a fourfold increase in revenue in 2024. Airbyte has become the most widely adopted data movement platform globally with more than 170,000 deployments across 7,000 active companies, including Siemens and Peloton. 4. NorstellaFor fostering faster drug discovery by analyzing billions of data points Norstella’s goal is to help major pharmaceutical and life sciences companies navigate the complex path to developing lifesaving treatments. That, in turn, makes it easier and faster to get life-changing therapies into the hands of the patients who need them. Launched in 2024, its NorstellaLinQ platform integrates over 74 billion data points—including insights from hundreds of medication launches, tens of thousands of clinical trials across 185 countries, and 500,000 investigations—to combine real-world data with proprietary clinical, regulatory, and commercial intelligence. The result is sharper decision-making and accelerated clinical trial planning to facilitate faster drug development. The company also launched Citeline SmartSolutions, a suite of AI-enabled products that uses Norstella’s trove of data to address challenges in clinical trial design. The platform saves customers time and money by optimizing trial predictability, reducing costly amendments, and streamlining investigator selection. Norstella’s integration of real-world insights and diversity data further enhances trial design, ensuring more inclusive, accurate studies. Norstella’s impact is already evident: In the past year, the company has helped bring over 50 new drugs to market. It is now assisting major pharmaceutical and biotech companies that have more than 23,000 drugs in their pipelines. 5. MakersiteFor helping companies design and build more sustainable and cost-effective products Makersite’s goal is to streamline product development with data-driven supply chain transparency, enabling companies to design and manufacture more sustainable and cost-effective products. By combining the world’s largest manufacturing data foundation with proprietary algorithms, the company claims to deliver real-time lifecycle assessments 100 times faster than the best available alternatives. Its user-friendly dashboard guides designers and engineers to better data-driven decisions early in development. In 2024, the company launched new tools that enhance the solution’s flexibility and granularity. In-workflow plugins improve sustainability and cost estimates by using proprietary data instead of industry averages, and an AI-powered eco-design dashboard has already helped engineers reduce product and packaging lifecycle impacts by up to 58%. Makersite also expanded its data platform, integrating environmental database providers like Carbon Minds to enhance insights about chemicals and plastics and using generative AI to deliver more precise data for mechanical and chemical supply chains. Makersite doubled year-over-year revenue in 2024 as the company saw 20% growth in enterprise customers. Its highest-profile win was with Microsoft, which used the company’s unique methodology to identify carbon hotspots in the Surface Pro 10’s supply chain and reduce the device’s carbon footprint by 28% versus the previous model. The improvement vividly demonstrated how Makersite can help customers align design excellence with ethical consumption. 6. AnacondaFor expanding AI’s reach to the masses with its premier Python platform. In 2024, Anaconda solidified its role as the world’s leading platform for specialized deployments of Python—the most popular data science programming language—by offering data scientists, developers, and enterprises better and more sophisticated tools. Its distribution platform, trusted by 93% of Fortune 500 companies and 45 million users, introduced innovations that scaled Python’s impact across industries by simplifying workflows and democratizing advanced analytics. Key features included Python in Excel, allowing non-programmers to create AI-powered code generation and effortless data visualizations without external installations. Anaconda also launched the AI Navigator, a curated library of 200+ pre-trained models for natural language processing, code generation and more. The desktop app offered enterprise-grade security and local AI deployment, enabling users to harness generative AI while safeguarding sensitive data. Additionally, the enhanced Anaconda Assistant and Code & Toolbox streamlined coding, debugging, and data visualization, making Python workflows more accessible. By tapping into Python’s 839% growth in enterprise usage and quadrupling to over 1 million organizations since 2022, Anaconda has helped to fuel the language’s reach, reflecting the company’s commitment to push the boundaries of data science in a rapidly evolving tech landscape. 7. SatelyticsFor detecting methane leaks with satellite-based geospatial analytics Satelytics is a geospatial analytics platform that uses multispectral and hyperspectral imagery from satellites, drones, aircraft, and fixed cameras to deliver actionable insights for the natural gas industry. By analyzing this data, Satelytics can rapidly pinpoint problems like methane leaks with remarkable detail and deliver alerts within hours, minimizing costs and operational disruptions. In 2024, Duke Energy used Satelytics’ AI-powered platform to detect leaks as small as 1 kg/hr with pinpoint accuracy; the deployment identified 433 methane plumes alone during its first scan of Charlotte, North Carolina. The project’s success led the energy company to expand the program across five states and to laud Satelytics as a key driver in its efforts to drastically reduce methane emissions.Satelytics’ applications extend beyond energy; the company is also advancing land management through a collaboration with Envu’s RangeView tool. By analyzing invasive species like cheatgrass and medusahead and employing high-resolution imagery and AI-powered insights, Satelytics helps ranchers and landowners precisely tackle infestations, reducing manual labor and restoring rangeland productivity. It is another demonstration of how the company’s offerings can address critical environmental and operational challenges while driving efficiency and sustainability. 9. EarthDailyFor using big data to help the mining industry improve its sustainability. While calls for sustainability from an industry like mining might seem inherently hypocritical, harnessing renewable energy still requires using rare-earth materials that must be mined. To that end, at least one technology company is applying data science to encourage mining company sustainability while enhancing efficiency, safety, and transparency. In 2024, Descartes Labs, a provider of AI tools for geospatial data analysis that was recently acquired by EarthDaily, expanded the company’s novel data collection and analysis tools to include mineral exploration and operational safety. Marigold, its cloud-hosted mineral exploration platform, features hyperspectral processing, The technique enables precise mineral composition analysis that accelerates ore discovery while minimizing unnecessary drilling. Iris, the company’s other flagship product, leverages interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to monitor ground deformation with millimeter-scale accuracy. Its automated alerts can help operators prevent disasters and better comply with environmental regulations. Descartes Labs will continue to integrate its newly acquired geospatial analytics and data science capabilities to help customers optimize resource use while minimizing environmental impact and community risk. 10. NominalFor building a data platform for mission-critical testing and evaluation Nominal’s data platform is purpose-built for testing and evaluation within mission-critical sectors such as aerospace, defense, and advanced technology. While hardware companies have previously wrestled with complex, messy data pipelines and multiple analysis tools, Nominal integrates real-time data processing, advanced analytics, and collaborative tools to unify the testing lifecycle. The company’s platform ingests and synchronizes complex datasets, validates systems in real time, and diagnoses root causes by using comparative analysis, environmental context-aware analytics, and other tools. It can be deployed on anything from cloud servers to ruggedized laptops. In 2024, Nominal developed a unified platform to enable seamless synchronization, organization, and analysis of high-scale, multi-format data with dynamic tools for visualization, anomaly detection, and root cause analysis. It also raised $27.5 million in Series A funding from General Catalyst, Founders Fund, and other investors. Its offerings, which have been used to accelerate test campaigns for autonomous drones, optimize jet engines at military test facilities, and analyze spacecraft reentry data for the U.S. Air Force, Varda Space Industries, and others, continue to transform testing and evaluation. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

While smartphones are still the indisputable center of our digital lives, this year’s most innovative consumer electronics companies aim to improve life beyond the touchscreen. A lot of that involves advancement in wearable computing. EssilorLuxottica, for instance, has come up with a winning formula for smart glasses in both the Meta Ray-Bans and its Nuance Audio hearing aids, which pack just enough technology to avoid looking uncool. Apple is approaching things from the opposite direction, using its Vision Pro to show what mixed reality can look like when no expense is spared. Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, meanwhile, lead a burgeoning category of hearables that let in outside sound instead of tuning you out, with a comfy design that clips to the side of the ear. And when Bose gave up on making earbuds for sleep, a new startup called Ozlo picked up the slack, licensing Bose’s design for tiny sleep buds and building out new features such as Bluetooth audio and sleep detection. Elsewhere on the wellness front, smart ring pioneer Oura is extending its lead in the category with more comfortable band design, better battery life, and significantly more accurate sensors. Not every innovation was wearable, though. On the home tech front, Open Home Foundation is building a more empowering smart home platform focused on offline control and privacy, with an Alexa alternative that works without internet. Sony is pushing brighter TVs that come closer to what creators envisioned, and GE Appliances has figured out how to bring a real barbecue smoker indoors. Meanwhile, ESR’s cooling phone chargers work more efficiently and preserve long-term battery health, and Swarovski Optik’s AX Visio binoculars promise to augment your next birding trip with offline wildlife identification. As with the innovations in wearables, it’s another way you’ll be able to leave the phone in your pocket for a while longer. 1. EssilorLuxotticaFor making smart glasses cool Big tech companies have fixated on augmented reality as the next frontier for wearable tech, but you’d probably never want to wear their bulky headsets in public. Thinking from the opposite direction, the eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica wanted to combine its stylish sunglasses with a minimal amount of technology. It found a partner in Meta, which had floated a similar idea back in 2017, and the two companies started collaborating on what would eventually become the Ray-Ban Meta line. Meta brought the technology, which includes a camera, speakers, and integrated AI assistant, while EssilorLuxottica focused on a design that would work within the confines of stylish frames. The latest version arrived in the fall of 2023, and the line expanded this year with new styles and custom frame-and-lens combos along with additional AI features from Meta. (The AI features continue to roll out: Meta just added AI video capability and real-time language translation functionality.) EssilorLuxottica says the new models sold more in their first nine months than the originals did in two years, and they’re the top-selling product in 60% of Ray-Ban stores in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The company recently announced that it’s sold 2 million units of the glasses since October 2023 and is gearing up to produce 10 million every year by the end of 2026. Meta and EssilorLuxottica have also extended their partnership into the next decade. That’s not to say that EssilorLuxottica is tying its tech fate exclusively to Meta. In 2022, it established a smart eyewear lab with Politecnico di Milano, the same year that it acquired Nuance Hearing. The company previewed the first product from the latter effort, a set of glasses with integrated hearing aids, in 2024. They received FDA clearance in February, and they’re planned to ship by the end of Q1. The glasses amplify sounds in front of the wearer using beamforming technology to make conversations easier and eliminate distractions from ambient noises. And they come, naturally, in two stylish frames. Read more about EssilorLuxottica, honored as No. 8 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025. 2. BoseFor engineering a pair of earbuds that don’t tune you out Not every earbud wearer wants to be disconnected from the outside world, so Bose came up with a clever new design to let the sound in. The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds clip to the side of your ear and project sound into the ear canal. This keeps the inner ear free of any uncomfortable intrusions and lets wearers hear what’s happening around them without having to rely on external microphones and special transparency modes. Open earbuds are an area of increasing interest for audio brands, though none has put quite the same emphasis on all-day comfort. New models from Monster, Nothing, and Earfun are larger and rest over the ears, while Sony’s latest LinkBuds Open earbuds rest inside the ear, with a hole to let outside sound through. Some open-ear headphones, such as Shokz’s bone conduction models, even wrap around the back of the head. While Bose’s unique design is starting to draw more direct imitations—most notably from Anker’s Soundcore C30i buds—reviews give a clear nod to the Ultra Open Earbuds for comfort and sound quality, carving out a leadership position in a growing category. 3. GE AppliancesFor bringing the barbecue indoors Too many smart kitchen appliances promise to make cooking simpler, only to add new layers of complication. GE Appliances’ Profile Smart Indoor Smoker offers something more tangible, allowing you to eat delicious smoked meat without having to step outside. At 16-by-17-by-20 inches, the $1,000 device is compact enough to fit on a countertop but large enough to contain a few racks of ribs or an entire brisket when split among top and bottom racks. It uses real wood pellets for smoke, which then passes through a filtration system akin to a catalytic converter to avoid smoking up the house. A companion app lets you tweak temperatures and monitor the meat’s doneness through internal probes. This is the only product of its kind, and it enables a type of cuisine that would otherwise require an outdoor appliance. Reviews have praised the product, albeit with reservations about what it means for barbecue as a hobby. Tasting the results, Texas Monthly called them both “delicious” and “sacrilegious.” 4. OzloFor dreaming up a well-designed pair of sleep earbuds When Bose discontinued its svelte Sleepbuds in 2023, a group of former employees decided to carry the torch, licensing Bose’s IP to make earbuds to help people sleep better. Ozlo’s Sleepbuds, which launched in October 2024, have the same comfy design as their predecessors, so they’re compact and squishy enough even for side sleepers, and they can play a night’s worth of ambient sound to mask a partner’s snores or other outside sounds. But Ozlo’s version does a lot more than Bose’s original. It supports Bluetooth audio from a phone and detects when you’ve fallen asleep, so it can switch from a podcast or audiobook over to its own ambient sounds. The earbuds case also has its own built-in sensors for light, noise, and temperature, so they can report on outside disturbances that might be affecting your sleep. Ozlo’s not stopping there. In October, the company raised $12 million to develop a second-generation model. It’s also trying to gain FDA clearance for tinnitus therapy, as it believes its earbuds are already helpful for the 10% of Americans suffering from it. 5. AppleFor turning small breakthroughs into a bigger, visionary one Apple’s Vision Pro is the perfect example of how the company’s smaller innovations tend to snowball over time. Yes, the product itself is a spare-no-expense luxury—a $3,500 headset whose visual fidelity and ability to see through to the real world far exceed that of any competitor—and it’s clearly aimed at bleeding-edge early adopters and app developers right now. But it also taps into frameworks and features that were years in the making on other Apple products. For instance, it builds on Apple’s existing ARKit framework, allowing developers of augmented reality iPhone apps to reuse many of the assets, and it uses the same Quick Look technology to pin virtual objects persistently in the real world. It also builds on content-sharing feature Sidecar to bring a Mac display into virtual space and SharePlay to experience apps with faraway friends. In February, Apple announced that it was bringing its Apple Intelligence AI features to the headset. Meanwhile, the hardware provides a starting point for Apple to build new kinds of content partnerships. (One intriguing possibility: Apple is in talks with Real Madrid to offer virtual seats at live matches.) Apple hasn’t revealed sales figures for the Vision Pro, but rumors suggest the company is working on more affordable variants. Its steady iterations will ensure that it has plenty of apps and content waiting when that happens. 6. OuraFor making a more practical smart ring, especially for women Oura didn’t need to reinvent the wheel for its fourth-generation health-tracking ring. Instead, it made significant refinements to extend its lead in the category it helped pioneer. The Oura Ring 4 uses recessed sensors instead of raised sensor bumps to improve comfort, and it packs additional signal pathways—more than twice as many as the previous model—to improve accuracy. It also comes in more sizes than before, has longer battery life, and adds new features, such as daytime stress tracking. The company has been positioning its device to give women, in particular, more insight into their health. It now tracks 30 different markers, including the new Fertile Window, which estimates fertile days, chance of conception at that time, and detected day of ovulation, giving women more information about their chances of getting pregnant throughout their cycle. In addition, it now offers a Pregnancy Insights report that tracks gestational age and provides weekly updates about physiological changes. Smart rings are a category of growing interest, with Samsung entering the fray this year, but Oura is in a strong position. The company announced in June that it’s sold more than 2.5 million rings and that 59% of its wearers identify as female. That’s a shift from a year ago, when most wearers were men. It also raised $200 million in a Series D round in December. 7. ESRFor tackling wireless charging’s silent battery killer Wireless phone charging is convenient, but it tends to generate heat, which can hinder the charging process and harm the battery’s long-term health. ESR’s CryoBoost tech aims to solve the problem by putting a fan and cooling ducts around the charger, activating them automatically when an iPhone is placed on top. ESR first introduced CryoBoost in 2022, and this year it unveiled a new open duct design that further improves charging efficiency while reducing noise. It also supports the Qi2 wireless magnetic charging standard, which Android phones will be able to use in the future. ESR says the new design reduces phone temperatures while charging by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit compared to conventional wireless chargers. While ESR doesn’t break out CyroBoost sales in particular, the company is on the rise as an accessory maker, with 92% annual revenue growth in 2024, total revenues of $290 million, and 17 million products sold. 8. Swarovski OptikFor lowering one of birding’s barriers Big tech companies are racing to bring augmented reality into everyday life, but Swarovski Optik has a much narrower use case in mind. Its AX Visio binoculars, which launched in 2024, can identify thousands of birds around the world though an onboard database that works without an internet connection. They can also identify mammals, dragonflies, and butterflies in Europe and North America. The binoculars also have a smart way of sharing discoveries with fellow observers: You can mark them in the viewfinder, then hand the binoculars over, and they’ll point the other person in the direction of the finding. Meanwhile, a companion app logs the exact location of those discoveries for future reference. The concept is impressive on its own, but Swarovski also sees AX Visio as a platform for future augmentations. It offers an API for developers to bolt on new capabilities and even has two unassigned spots on its function wheel to allow for additional feature expansions. The binoculars are pricey at $4,800, but in the long run they could change how birders and other budding nature enthusiasts interact with the hobby. 9. Sony ElectronicsFor making a bold bet on TV brightness Unlike most flagship TVs, which use OLED display technology, Sony’s top-shelf Bravia 9 TV uses Mini-LED. TV makers typically view Mini-LED as a step downward, because it can’t achieve the same deep black levels as OLED, but Sony has come up with a new backlighting system that reduces the blooming of Mini-LED while achieving much higher peak brightness levels. For Sony, the shift isn’t just about winning the tech spec war. It’s also a top purveyor of mastering monitors for movie and TV studios, and last year it introduced a model that supports significantly higher brightness across the entire screen. As editors take advantage of these new monitors, the hope is that TVs like the Bravia 9 will bring what you see at home even closer to what creators intended. 10. Open Home FoundationFor building a more sustainable—and privacy-focused—smart home system Home Assistant has long been the platform of choice for DIY smart home enthusiasts who value privacy and control, but now it’s on a stronger footing than ever. This year, its backers formed a new nonprofit called the Open Home Foundation to shepherd the project, and it’s taken some big steps to make the platform more approachable to newbies. You can now buy Home Assistant’s simple smart home device on Amazon, for instance. A privacy-focused voice assistant device to rival Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Nest debuted in December. (The group also established a “Wake Word Collective” to help train the voice assistant, which will work entirely offline.) Home Assistant has been cleaning things up on the software side as well, with a redesigned smart home dashboard, Apple CarPlay support, and an overhauled Music Assistant for controlling music from streaming services or a local file collection. It’s still primarily a platform for geeks, but it’s getting easier for anyone to adopt. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

The gadgets produced by this year’s most innovative companies in consumer and household goods are, in their small way, revolutionizing every room in the house. From standout kitchen devices and boundary-pushing wellness products to a more humane mousetrap, this year’s list offers something for every moment of the day. Starting at the front door, there’s Level, the leader in smart locks, which finally upgraded its “invisible” system to sync with smart home hubs like Apple Home and Google Home via a low-tech radio connection. For the kitchen, there’s Walmart, which debuted Bettergoods, its first new private label in 20 years with a lineup of 300 quality products, not just cheap knockoffs. Science—the startup incubator behind Dollar Shave Club and Liquid Death—launched Final Boss Sour, a “healthy” candy brand that gamifies sour gummies. Pour-over fiends were treated to brews from a first-of-its-kind coffee maker, xBloom. (Recyclable pods come with whole beans that are ground fresh for each cup, while a scannable code loads brewing instructions to yield coffee as a professional barista would prepare it.) Aerflo debuted the first-ever travel carbonator: For $0.49 a bottle, its handy bottle turns any water into bubbly on the go or from the home countertop. For the bathroom, Suri has, in just two years, succeeded in creating a sustainable electric toothbrush brand that commands brand loyalty. In the living room, Looking Glass—known for its retail holographic displays—released a 6-inch version for everyday consumers that transforms photos, Polaroids, even notebook sketches into stunning 3-D projections. For garages and dark corners, Goodnature, the world’s only B Corp-certified pest control company, saw soaring sales of its humane, toxin-free smart traps. And outside the home, Gob introduced the first-ever mycelium earplugs, already endorsed by Billie Eilish, as a sustainable, high-performance alternative to the 40 billion foam plugs thrown out annually. Overdrive Defense, meanwhile, ventured into a more controversial space with its fentanyl and drink-spike test kits. Designed in bright colors with flourishes like the “rock on” emoji hands, they aim to make a real dent in America’s drug overdose crisis. 1. WalmartFor creating a hit private food label that’s high-quality and low-priced In 2024, Walmart introduced Bettergoods as its first private food brand in 20 years. It became the fastest-growing private label in the category. Bettergoods is a line of 300 items including snacks, beverages, dairy, pasta, soups, and chocolate—all intended to reimagine grocery store-branded products as items that offer chef-driven, clean-label, often quirky bespoke goods at affordable prices, such as guacamole-flavored tortilla chips, vegan mozzarella, hot honey for less than three bucks, and bronze-cut Italian pasta for $1.97. In many ways, 2024 was private labels’ year. Half of retailers said they expected them to be the #1 driver of growth. These in-house lines also gave supermarket chains a way to compete with Trader Joe’s, the leader by a mile for private labels. While other retailers, such as Target, saw slower growth, Walmart’s efforts snagged a level of positive critical reception that’s generally not showered on its other house brands, such as Great Value. (One prominent food publication in December said that Bettergoods had the “absolute best” Greek yogurt available.) Call it a paradigm shift if the industry’s largest player is looking to transform the image of store-brand goods from cheap knockoffs to quality products worth seeking out in their own right. 2. SuriFor making electric toothbrush design sparkle Suri offers one product: a sustainable electric toothbrush that, in 2024, finally achieved a level of pop recognition unheard of in a category where many consumers couldn’t tell you what brand they’re using. At least a dozen media outlets chose the Red Dot award-winning brush to be the year’s top pick. Clocking in at half the size of regular electric toothbrushes, it was designed by dentists, is waterproof, and needs recharging less than once per month. The brush head is made from castor oil and starch, and Suri will recycle it for free when it’s time for you to get a new one. There’s even an optional UV case that Suri says can kill up to 99.9% of bacteria. Focusing its full energy on thoughtfully designing one single product, available in five color options, helped Suri to break past $30 million in sales within two years. Co-founders Gyve Safavi and Mark Rushmore believe that the key realization was that really no toothbrush maker prior to theirs had inspired any sense of brand loyalty—consumers simply bought one from the pharmacy or, worse, took the free one from their dentist. 3. LevelFor making tiny, powerful home lock technology wi-fi compatable Hard door keys are becoming yesterday’s technology. Level’s “invisible” design remains the market’s most discrete smart lock—so understatedly high-tech that it looks totally analog (no keypad or fingerprint scanner) and requires only a screwdriver to install. Until 2024, Level avoided wi-fi entirely so as not to affect the device’s yearlong battery life. Connectivity relied on Level’s standalone “bridge” that had to plug into a wall within 20 feet of the lock. Level finally dispensed with the bridge late last year by activating a feature—one dormant for two years, to the annoyance of online technophiles—that can sync its locks with Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, and other smart home hubs. It uses a low-tech radio connection (a protocol called Thread) that requires very minimal power, yet allows owners to access their locks through those hubs, via encrypted channels that double as a security firewall. The setup is considered an aesthetic improvement as well, since the Level Connect wi-fi bridge can disappear, a plus for a brand centered around making the least obtrusive, most elegant and secure home locks. 4. Overdrive DefenseFor empowering partygoers to test for fentanyl before they indulge The founders of acne patch maker Starface and emergency contraception brand Julie Care created Overdrive Defense in the hopes of getting society to take harm reduction and drug safety more seriously. In the fall of 2024, they unveiled two products: Fentanyl Test Kits and Drink Spike Defense, which tests for the three most common drink-spiking drugs. The drink tests can detect the presence of roofies, ketamine, or GHB in minutes. Fentanyl kits, developed with trusted drug-testing lab WHPM, come as a five-pack for $13 and are sensitive enough to detect as few as 15 nanograms of the substance in a milliliter sample size (roughly the same as finding a human cell in a 1/5 teaspoon of powder). Both can be purchased at CVS locations nationwide or ordered for delivery from GoPuff. Asserting that test kits resembling a “sterile medical brand” are unlikely to be used, and therefore ineffective in making a dent in America’s fentanyl overdose problem, Overdrive has stuck things like the “rock on” emoji hands on the opposite end of its electric-orange test spoons. The safest way to do hard drugs is to not do them all, but the company contends that this approach alienates individuals who partake regardless, and, in turn, represent a group ignored by many mainstream health companies. Overdrive says it is donating 1% of profits to harm-reduction programs, and has also launched billboard education campaigns in states where lawmakers have voted to criminalize the sale of fentanyl tests on the grounds they facilitate drug use. 5. GobFor designing regenerative foam earplugs Most earplugs for concerts are still the throwaway kind, and they’re usually petroleum-based and contain a known human carcinogen. Gob makes the first single-use pair from mycelium, the rootlike structure of fungus, rethinking hearing protection from the ground up. After their use, Gob’s earplugs biodegrade fully back into nutrients that feed the soil, wherever they’re left. And during use, their specially formatted mycelium foam dampens sound more evenly than traditional PVC, which has the downside of muffling certain frequencies more than others. This year, Gob’s USDA-certified, toxin- and microplastics-free earplugs became the wearable of choice for several performers who fill stadiums and, according to the brand, have collaborated directly with experts in material science. Billie Eilish is now partnering with the company and wore Gob earplugs on her most recent tour, as did the Lumineers. Annually, some 40 billion foam earplugs are produced around the world. Gob asserts that by replacing even a portion of them with its regenerative mycelium alternative, the carbon savings could reach hundreds of million pounds of CO2e per year. 6. GoodnatureFor building a better mousetrap The only B Corp-certified pest control company, Goodnature was started by a couple of New Zealander design students with a goal of helping biodiversity to thrive, rather than eliminating household pests with chemical pesticides. It produces biodegradable, smartphone-connected traps that are more humane and have quickly established a global reputation with consumers, companies, and governments. Its award-winning flagship product, a mousetrap equipped with the first infrared no-touch sensor, delivers a swift, clean kill by discharging a CO2 canister into an enclosed space and afterwards resets itself. Last year, Goodnature launched its newest battery-powered trap that can manage 100 uses per charge at U.S. retailers like Walmart, Ace Hardware, and Amazon. Toxin-free lures come in scents like PB&J, hazelnut, and “meat lovers,” depending on what animal the user needs to attract. Toward the end of 2024, manufacturing began at a production facility in Wellington. The company says that its pest-free footprint worldwide grew by an area the size of Paris. The brand teases that it’s 24 months away from large-scale trials of what it calls its “moonshot,” a biodegradable trap that can be deployed, tens of thousands at a time, in hard-to-reach landscapes, displacing the need for arial toxin drops. 7. xBloomFor engineering a coffee machine with the knowledge of a barista Perfecting a café-caliber pour over is usually a job best left to a well-trained barista. Over the past decade, though, countertop coffeemakers have been outfitted with all sorts of fancy features that help home brewers come pretty close. But all lack a seemingly critical feature: the professional themselves. Now, respected coffee equipment maker xBloom has introduced the Studio to address that. Joining the growing field of all-in-one home coffeemakers last April, the Studio packs a high-end burr grinder, scale, and pour-over arm dripper, as others do, into a snazzy integrated unit retailing for $499. But the impressive aspect is how xBloom is partnering with the industry’s top roasteries—Black & White Coffee, Proud Mary, Sey, Onyx, Counter Culture, Sightglass—to deliver the coffee beans in what it dubs “xPods.” Made from recyclable kraft paper, the pods are single-serving canisters of not ground coffee, but a handful of fresh beans. They double as the machine’s brewing cones, have filters already inside, and include a recipe tap card that, when touched against the machine, dials in that specific coffee so it brews exactly how the roastery itself would have prepared it—ideal grind size, perfect water temperature, exacting brew speed. Think of it as like the machine being possessed by a new coffee pro each time, the expert who also sourced and roasted that day’s coffee beans. 8. ScienceFor incubating gonzo brands including gamified sour candy In 2024, Science bequeathed another madcap brand to the world, on the heels of other retail hits it had incubated (including billion-dollar brands Liquid Death and Dollar Shave Club). This one was Final Boss Sour, a line of video game-themed gummy snacks. Science says that its reason for disrupting gummies revolved around the category’s options marketing the shape they take (bears? worms? strips?), not their flavor intensity. With Final Boss Sour, Science took route two, adding a 16-bit video game nostalgia element, built on the idea that the consumer decides which “boss” to face: 1 for the least sour gummies, and 3 for the most mouth-puckering. Allegedly a 4 is in the works. Meanwhile, the founders point out that the product itself isn’t even candy. It is, in fact, very quietly healthful, made by mixing pure dried fruit (one of three berry types and mango pieces) with intense sour flavoring, no added sugars or artificial flavors. After Final Boss Sour was brought to market, the Science team spent 2024 taunting consumers with villains like Arachnothorn, Jawslicer, and the unknown “Final Boss,” who for now is a storm cloud and question mark. Their work hyping the brand on TikTok and YouTube, with the help of co-founder and viral video maker London Lazerson, drove more than 275 million impressions so far on social media in a matter of months and collecting some $3 million in seed funding. 9. AerfloFor taking carbonation to go Sparkling water is (still) having its moment, but for all the customization at fizz fanatics’ fingertips, it took until 2024 before anyone created a portable bottle that carbonates water on the fly with the press of a button. This first-ever travel carbonator—the Aerflo Aer1 System—launched in August for under a hundred bucks, works on countertops too, and even screws onto a standard-mouth Hydro Flask, converting it into a makeshift bubble-maker. CO2 capsule replacement is circular; consumers ship their empty canisters back to Aerflo’s facility in New Jersey, postage paid, and Aerflo inspects, cleans, and refills them. The math works out to roughly $0.49 per bottle, making Aerflo less expensive than most other bottled sparkling waters. The device is handier than such soda makers as SodaStream and Aarke but equally customizable, Aerflo says. All this is done at near-zero waste, since in addition to refillable canisters, the other single-use materials are either recyclable or biodegradable. The company raised $10 million around the Aer1’s release, and the carbonator is now sold direct to consumer, by outdoor retailers like Huckberry and Uncrate, and even on fashion sites like Editorialist and Goop. 10. Looking GlassFor bringing holograms home Looking Glass has been pioneering 3D imaging since its team of holographic hackers first occupied a Brooklyn storefront in 2014. Over the past decade, it has pivoted from volumetric printing to 3-dimensional LED cubes to holographic displays: Loro Piano implemented the technology to let customers see how clothes fit without the hassle of changing into them, while Cartier is letting people try on earrings and watches without physically being inside stores. But a successful Kickstarter this past year marked the brand’s biggest pivot yet, into into home use. The Looking Glass Go, a 6-inch display that retails for $300, instantly transforms photos and artwork—iPhone pics snapped at a party, old Polaroids, computer drawings, even notebook sketches—into “memories” that can be viewed physically as 3D projections. A detachable “frame” can be added to give it the semblance of staring at a classic wood-framed photo sitting on a bookshelf. As a bonus, users can talk to ChatGPT-powered 3D characters if they so desire—gimmicky, but probably a sign of what’s to come, and one that doesn’t require purchasing a $3,500 pair of augmented reality goggles. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article

The heated race to develop and deploy new large language models and AI products has seen innovation surge—and revenue soar—at companies supporting AI infrastructure. This year’s Most Innovative Companies in computing include TSMC; the Taiwan-based fabricator’s N3P chip offers the smallest, most densely packed transistor size yet, while the company Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology is integral to AI accelerator chips, including Nvidia’s Blackwell GPU. Lambda Labs’ new 1-Click service provides on-demand, self-serve GPU clusters for large-scale model training without long-term contracts. SambaNova Systems takes another tack with its SambaNova Cloud, an “AI inference” service. Powered by the company’s specialized RDU (reconfigurable dataflow unit) processor, the service makes running AI workloads (as opposed to AI model training) faster and more efficient than on GPU-powered systems. Commercial data centers are also transforming to meet the demands of AI and high-performance computing applications. Aligned Data Centers has rolled out next-generation liquid-cooling systems, which use far less water and energy than air cooling, across its operations. Oxide Computer’s hyperscale cloud computers combine compute, storage, and networking elements in a single plug-and-play package, allowing security-sensitive customers to run their own private cloud server within a data center. And Sima.ai introduced novel multi-modal AI chips for edge computing; they can analyze inputs from text, computer-vision images, and audio for use in self-driving vehicles, robotics, smart retail, healthcare, and other applications. Apart from AI, some of the most exciting technology developments took place in quantum computing, with companies large and small taking different approaches to building utility-scale systems. They included trapped-ion specialist Quantinuum and “neutral atom”-focused startup Atom Computing. Following its 2023 unveiling of two of the largest quantum computers ever made, IBM expanded and upgraded its cloud quantum service and its open-source Qiskit quantum software platform in 2024. 1. IBMFor growing the quantum computing ecosystem with partners that can broaden access to a large developer community After its breakthroughs in quantum computing hardware at the end of 2023, Big Blue moved to cement its place as a leader in the quantum ecosystem in 2024, supporting a growing community of developers with software tools and access to computing resources. In December of 2023, IBM debuted the IBM Quantum Heron, a 156-superconducting-qubit system that demonstrated the company’s highest performance metrics to date, offering 16 times better performance and a 25-fold increase in speed over its 2022 quantum systems. It also unveiled its IBM Quantum System Two, a next-generation modular architecture that it hopes to scale in ever larger configurations. In September, IBM expanded its Quantum Data Center in Poughkeepsie, New York, which operates the most utility-scale quantum computers at a single location. And in October, the company opened its first global quantum data center outside the U.S., in Ehningen, Germany. Aiming to build a critical mass of quantum developers to support the ecosystem, IBM also upgraded its quantum software toolkit Qiskit with user-friendly features in April, and released an open-source benchmarking tool called Benchpress for comparing the performance of different kinds of quantum hardware and software. The same month, IBM delivered its first quantum computer on a university campus, at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. This November, at its first-ever Quantum Developer Conference , IBM announced that revisions to the Heron system have made it possible to run much bigger quantum “routines,” involving up to 5,000 two-qubit gates, a scale that the company says can deliver real scientific discoveries and push toward “quantum advantage” (solving problems that aren’t feasible with classical computers). IBM says that some 600,000 people have registered to use its quantum systems. 2. Lambda LabsFor accelerating AI development by sharing GPUs with everyone AI breakthroughs have traditionally relied on access to lots of GPUs–capacity that has been available mostly through expensive, long-term contracts with long wait times for service. Lambda Labs, which provides computing to support deep-learning applications, aims to change that. In 2024, it launched 1-Click Clusters, a service that provides AI startups and engineers with the first on-demand, self-serve GPU clusters for AI model training. With 1-Click Clusters, users of any size can get on-demand access to state-of-the-art Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs and GH200 Superchips in a public cloud, enabling large-scale model training without having to lock in long-term contracts. Lambda Labs’ AI Cloud is used by companies and research institutions that include Intel, Microsoft, Amazon, Stanford, Harvard, Caltech, and the Department of Defense. In August, the company announced a partnership with SK Telecom to expand cloud services in South Korea. In December, the company announced the launch of Lambda Inference API, which claims to be the lowest-cost service of its kind on the market, allowing enterprise customers to deploy AI models and applications for end users without having to procure compute power themselves. In February, Lambda Labs raised a $320 million Series C venture round. The company ended 2024 with more than 10,000 customers. 3. TSMCFor pushing transistor density to the limit. Again. TSMC is the world’s leading dedicated semiconductor foundry and manufacturer of logic semiconductors, accounting for 28% of global semiconductor output value (excluding memory) as of 2023. With the chips it produces already powering everything from artificial intelligence and smartphones to automobiles, the company continues to deliver breakthroughs. For AI, transistor density is critical for continued gains in performance and efficiency, and TSMC’s has been relentlessly minimizing. In Q4 2023, TSMC launched its state-of-the-art 3 nm (nanometer) process, which provided an 18% speed improvement and 32% power reduction over earlier 5 nm technology. In 2024, it released an upgrade, the N3P, which offers an additional 4% speed improvement and 9% power reduction. The company expects a majority of its customers’ designs to utilize N3P, which is backward-compatible with its predecessor but provides higher performance efficiency and lower cost. TSMC is also a major supplier of so-called “CoWoS” Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate packaging technologies to designers of AI accelerator chips. NVIDIA’s Blackwell GPU, launched in March 2024, makes use of CoWoS to encase multiple chips together in a single package. Benefits include reducing the distance data must travel between chips, minimizing signal delay and power loss, and enhancing overall system efficiency when running large language models. TSMC had record 2024 annual revenue of $87.8 billion, a 33.9% increase over 2023. 4. SambaNova SystemsFor chips that could deliver exponential AI application gains SambaNova Systems’ platform, designed for enterprise and government use, combines AI chips with Samba-1, an open-source large language model similar to OpenAI’s GPT-4. The heart of SambaNova Systems’ technology is its own fast, specialized processor called an RDU (reconfigurable dataflow unit) that optimizes data flow and acceleration for large language models and complex AI tasks. With a focus on applying versus training AI, the company is betting that faster, more efficient systems with lower power consumption will shift real-time applications toward RDUs, which it claims deliver 10x the speed of GPUs at 1/10th the cost. In 2024, SambaNova added Accenture, Analog Devices, NetApp, Aramco, SoftBank, and Los Alamos National Laboratory to its customer list and expanded a partnership with the RIKEN Center for Computational Science. In September, it announced SambaNova Cloud, the world’s fastest “AI inference service” powered by its SN40L AI chip. And in November, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), known for running the world’s most powerful supercomputers, announced that it had deployed SambaNova Suite to assist its research with secure and energy-efficient AI. 5. Aligned Data CentersFor finding a next-gen approach to cooling its data centers Data centers supporting AI consume around 4% of U.S. electricity, a share expected to double by the end of the decade. Core to this energy demand are cooling systems, which account for at least 40% of energy consumption. In 2024, Aligned Data Centers—which builds adaptive data centers for hyperscale and enterprise customers—rolled out DeltaFlow, a next-generation liquid cooling technology for emerging applications in AI and HPC (high-performance computing). DeltaFlow is a closed-loop water system that directly cools computer chips (“direct-to-chip”) by circulating chilled water through cold plates attached to the components, dissipating heat through a heat exchanger within a single cooling distribution unit (CDU) that integrates seamlessly with existing data center infrastructure. Aligned has over 5,000MW of data centers in the planning and design phase or under construction. In March 2024, Blackstone loaned the company $600 million to finance the build of Aligned’s newest and largest data center, in West Jordan, Utah. It will join campuses in Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Northern Virginia, with five more domestic locations in development. Aligned’s acquisition of Sao Paulo-based Odata last year expanded its footprint throughout Latin America. It has also invested in QScale, a Canadian operator of sustainable AI and HPC data centers. 6. SiMa.aiFor helping industrial robots, self-driving machines, and other machines run AI applications on their own hardware A burgeoning subsector of AI hardware is focused on so-called AI-at-the-edge technology, which enables local standalone processing of AI workloads in a wide range of real-world applications, including industrial robotics and autonomous vehicles. The edge AI hardware market is projected to grow from $24.2 billion in 2024 to $54.7 billion by 2029, according to research firm MarketsandMarkets. Silicon Valley semiconductor startup Sima.ai is a leading developer of embedded machine learning system-on-chip (MLSoC) solutions. After securing $70 million in funding in April, in September the company announced Modalix, the first edge-computing chips targeted at multi-modal AI. The new SoCs, which process text, computer-vision images, and audio, can run cutting-edge reasoning models like Meta’s Llama 2-7B. Energy efficiency is critical in edge applications, and Sima.ai’s chips have demonstrated up to 85% greater efficiency compared to leading competitors. Sima is targeting the embedded edge market, the computing layer that sits between the cloud and personal devices, and is pursuing applications in healthcare, smart retail, self-driving vehicles, government, and robotics. 7. Oxide Computer CompanyFor giving customers control over their computing clouds In 2024, San Francisco Bay Area startup Oxide Computer began commercial sales of its plug-and-play hyperscale cloud computers for private data centers. Designed for customers in government, financial services, and e-commerce who want high-performance computing capabilities along with the security of local control, Oxide’s systems make the transition to the private cloud as easy as possible. Its server racks include 32 compute sleds with more than 2,000 CPU cores, with integrated storage and networking elements, in a single plug-and-play package. Each rack is also equipped with DC power busbars, which are more efficient than standard AC connection. Compared to traditional rack servers, they improve per-watt usage by 70% and energy efficiency as much as 35%, Oxide’s computers are delivered with all the software needed to run full cloud computing services and require no assembly, allowing users to get up and running in a matter of hours compared to months for deploying in a data center. Oxide, which cites Shopify as a major ecommerce customer, has raised $78M to date. In November, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory selected Oxide’s hyperscale cloud system for its supercomputing center in California, providing scientific users with access to virtual machines that can help optimize demanding applications while maintaining the on-premises security necessary for their workloads. 8. NextSiliconFor creating chips that respond to real-time computing needs Tel Aviv chipmaker NextSilicon has faced formidable rivals like Nvidia and AMD. But with its innovative Maverick-2 chip, it is targeting the high-performance computing (HPC) niche where it sees less competition and a better fit for its parallel processing technology. Unlike fixed GPUs designed for AI and machine-learning workloads, the Maverick-2—manufactured by TSMC using a 5 nm process—is an “Intelligent Compute Accelerator” that uses advanced algorithms to dynamically reconfigure hardware based on real-time application needs. The algorithm instantly designs a temporary, dedicated chip in the hardware to run the specific software. NextSilicon says the chip offers four times the performance-per-watt of GPUs and 20 times the performance-per-watt of CPUs, while cutting operating costs by more than 50%. NextSilicon plans to build on the adoption of the company’s Maverick-1 chips by government agencies and academia. Launched in October, the Maverick-2 is already shipping to dozens of customers, including Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Department of Energy, and organizations in financial services, energy, manufacturing, and life sciences. 9. QuantinuumFor bringing quantum computing to the financial sector Quantinuum takes a different approach to quantum computing than many other companies advancing the technology. While IBM and other leaders in quantum have focused on superconducting qubits as their basic processing unit, trapped ions—charged atomic particles that are confined and manipulated using electromagnetic fields—offer a rival approach with advantages including longer coherence time and high qubit fidelity. In June 2024, UK and Colorado-based Quantinuum unveiled the industry’s largest-ever “trapped ion” quantum computer, with 56 trapped-ion qubits. In a May publication in Science Advances, researchers from Quantinuum, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, and JPMorgan Chase reported using Quantinuum’s processors to achieve a quantum algorithmic speedup in a benchmark called the quantum approximate optimization algorithm, which has potential applications in logistics, telecommunications, financial modeling, and materials science. The company has been collaborating with JP Morgan Chase, one of its earliest users, on quantum technology for the financial industry since 2020. In 2024, Quantinuum also partnered with HSBC, the first international bank to offer tokenized physical gold. The companies trialed the first application of quantum-secure protection against a “store now, decrypt-later” (SNDL) attack, in which digital assets protected by today’s encryption are stored with the intention of being decrypted by future quantum computers. 10. Atom ComputingFor harnessing light to build high-performance qubits Berkeley and Boulder-based quantum computing startup Atom Computing takes a less-common approach to creating qubits—the basic unit of quantum information—using pulses of light to manipulate neutral atoms. Neutral atoms, which can be tightly packed in arrays, enable all qubits to connect with each other and can provide higher performance than fixed-qubit approaches. In September, Microsoft and Atom announced they would accelerate development of fault-tolerant quantum supercomputers that can solve impactful problems, and that Atom Computing’s neutral-atom hardware would be integrated with the Azure Quantum compute platform. This November, Microsoft and Atom announced rapid progress, setting a record for “entanglement” by creating a quantum connection among 24 logical qubits made from neutral atoms. Entangled qubits, which interact with one another through what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance,” is central to quantum computing’s promise. Even as Microsoft unveils its own cutting-edge quantum hardware, such as its recent Majorna 1 chip that it claims creates a new state of matter, it is working toward 2025 delivery of commercial on-premises quantum systems based on Atom’s technology, with a software stack that allows usability at a range of skill levels. Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more. View the full article