A startup is a young company built to grow quickly, often around a new product or technology, and usually funded by investors who take a share of the business in return. Most will never grow into large entities. The ones that do create new jobs and sometimes entire new industries, and their founders and early employees often go on to start, fund and advise the next generation of companies in the same city. There are more Detroit startups in the metro area than its reputation often suggests, and in this list they are spread across healthcare, food, manufacturing, children's media, cybersecurity, logistics and more.
Detroit already knows what a breakout looks like. StockX, the sneaker and streetwear marketplace founded here in 2015 with backing from Rocket Mortgage's Dan Gilbert, was valued at $3.8 billion in 2021, and many of the people who moved to the city to work for StockX in its early days have stayed. Startup Genome's 2026 report ranked Detroit 11th among the world's emerging startup ecosystems, crediting the region with $72 billion in exits over the previous five years, including the stock market debuts of Lineage and OneStream. In 2022, the city was ranked number one emerging startup ecosystem in the world. Since its opening in 2023, much of today's early-stage activity gathers around Newlab at Michigan Central in Corktown, and the city also now runs its own Detroit Startup Fund with grants for local founders.
It is also a good moment to look deeper at the Motor City, because Michigan led the Midwest in startup funding in the second quarter of 2026. So, how much are these Detroit startups raising? The list includes all types please from a financial point of view: venture-backed startup, bootstrapped and grant funded. The five disclosed funding rounds on this list from the past two years run from $3 million to $24 million, while two companies took investments whose amounts weren't disclosed and three are growing without any recent funding that we can find. Seven of the ten are based in the city, predominantly downtown Detroit while the others are across metro Detroit in Grosse Pointe Park, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester. Forty-five minutes drive away is Ann Arbor - which has a startup scene big enough to deserve its own list - and is therefore excluded. The companies are ranked on a blend of momentum, hiring, funding, news and web traffic, so raising the most money is not enough on its own to top the list.
For more on the wider ecosystem, see our Detroit and Michigan pages.
Detroit Startups to Watch
Each company carries a Start Midwest score out of 100, explained in the methodology at the end.
1. Maka Kids, Corktown
Maka Kids is a streaming app for children up to age six that shows only programs checked by experts, with no ads, no autoplay and no algorithms built to keep children watching. Every show is scored against areas of child development, using a system built with the Yale Child Study Center and university researchers. Maka is one of the few truly early-stage startups on the list, having raised its pre-seed round in May 2026. Founders Isabel Sheinman and Tanyella Leta moved the company, Maka Media, from the East Coast to Newlab in Detroit in 2025. It shares the highest Dealroom Signal rating in the metro, its team has nearly quadrupled in a year, and it has drawn steady press coverage since launching.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: startup founders from the East Coast moved their consumer tech company moved to Detroit, and a group of local investors backed the move.
- Start Midwest score: 86.6
- Sector: Consumer tech and Artificial Intelligence
- Funding: $3 million pre-seed led by Michigan Rise, with Detroit Venture Partners, Invest Detroit, Flybridge and Ann Arbor SPARK (May 2026)
- Latest news: Maka Kids is redefining kids' screen time with a streaming app optimized for well-being, not engagement, TechCrunch (May 21, 2026)
Check them out for more information
2. Stars + Honey, Grosse Pointe Park
The counter weight to a tech startup, Stars + Honey makes collagen protein bars in Detroit with 15 grams of protein, grass-fed collagen and under 200 calories, free of gluten, dairy, soy and sugar alcohols. It built its business selling direct to customers on subscription and this summer received validation from corporate America, being rolled out to Target stores nationwide and into some Costco stores. Plus its 60,000-square-foot plant in the metro Detroit city of Novi is due to start production later this year. Its first outside investment came just this June from VMG Partners, the consumer investor behind Quest and Kind. It has the largest round and the most press on this list, and is the most mature business here.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: a metro Detroit food brand is building its own factory in Michigan to supply national stores.
- Start Midwest score: 86.0
- Sector: Agtech
- Funding: $24 million minority growth investment from VMG Partners (June 2026)
- Latest news: Stars + Honey eyes $50M as Target and Costco fuel expansion, Crain's Detroit Business, reporting the company's own revenue target for 2026 (July 8, 2026)
Check them out for more information
3. Nox Metals, Southwest Detroit
Nox Metals runs metal service centers where software does much of the work. Its aim is to improve efficiency in metal supply chains: its system handles quoting, cut planning, scheduling and quality checks for custom-cut aluminum plate and bar, which it supplies to machine shops and defense customers including Anduril and SpaceX. It went through Y Combinator in 2025, and Zane Hengsperger is a tech founder focused on making hardware cool again, a goal that got him onto Forbes' 2026 30 Under 30 list for manufacturing and has made it a beacon for the best local talent in the Motor City. Nox Metals' Dealroom Signal is modest because like most new businesses its record is young, but it scores top marks for funding and hiring, having grown its team faster than any other company on this list.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: it joins Detroit's manufacturing base to software and defense demand, the combination the city is increasingly betting on.
- Start Midwest score: 73.2
- Sector: Manufacturing and Artificial Intelligence
- Funding: $11.5 million seed led by Hyperion (June 2026)
- Latest news: Y Combinator-backed Nox Metals raises $11.5M seed round for metal manufacturing in Detroit (June 18, 2026)
Check them out for more information
4. Grounded, Detroit
Grounded is a venture-backed startup in Detroit building in the style of the city's legacy industries: modular workspaces and living spaces on electric, hybrid and gas vans, for uses from mobile clinics and command centers to food trucks and camper vans, all monitored remotely through its Grounded+ software. It started out making electric RVs and changed course after GM ended its BrightDrop electric van line. The new direction seems to be working: it raised fresh funding in August 2026 and has just opened a 50,000-square-foot plant on Fort Street in downtown Detroit. Its hiring has been flat according to LinkedIn data, but traffic to its website has grown among the fastest on this list. Our friend Chris Nolte visited the company for his Future in the Making YouTube series in 2025.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: it shows how a Detroit mobility startup can keep going when a big automaker changes its plans.
- Start Midwest score: 65.1
- Sector: Mobility and Manufacturing
- Funding: $5 million seed from Also Capital and 81 Collection (August 2026)
- Latest news: Mayor and DEGC celebrate the grand opening of Grounded's new Detroit facility, Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (September 8, 2026)
Check them out for more information
5. Hush, Detroit
Hush is a privacy service that uses AI to find and remove people's personal information from the internet. It scans more than 2,500 data brokers, social media sites, public records and the dark web, with specialists handling the harder cases. It sells subscriptions to executives, families and companies that want to cut the risk of phishing, impersonation and physical threats. In October 2025 a group of credit unions set up a joint company - a Credit Union Service Organization of CUSO - to invest in Hush for an undisclosed amount, and in March it added up to $5 million in identity-theft insurance for members. Its team has grown to 57 staff.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: as AI makes fraud cheaper, cybersecurity for individuals is becoming a business, and credit unions have bought in.
Start Midwest score: 58.4
Sector: Cybersecurity
Funding: strategic investment from a credit-union-owned company, amount not disclosed (October 2025)
Latest news: Hush launches $5M identity theft insurance as AI-driven fraud targets wealthy individuals (March 26, 2026)
Check them out for more information
6. Protera Health, Bloomfield Hills
Protera Health runs a virtual clinic for bone, joint and muscle problems such as back pain. Physicians, physical therapists and coaches treat patients by telehealth, and the company tracks how patients say they are progressing. Health plans, health systems and employers pay for it in-network, with the aim of avoiding unnecessary surgery, scans and emergency room visits. It ranks here despite not having any publicly declared funding since November 2022. This year it signed partnerships with SSM Health at Work and Glimmer Health, and Henry Ford Health published results from the program Protera runs for its insurer, HAP.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: a major health system is already publishing results from its program, which few new businesses in healthtech can point to.
Start Midwest score: 53.2
Sector: Healthtech
Funding: $675,000 seed (November 2022); no round since
Latest news: Henry Ford Health's virtual care program improves costs for Medicare Advantage members with back and joint pain, in which HAP reports 80–90% improvement in outcomes and average savings of about $9,000 per member (July 1, 2026)
Check them out for more information
7. Breadless, Detroit
Breadless is a fast-casual restaurant brand serving gluten-free sandwiches and bowls wrapped in leafy greens instead of bread. It runs locations in Detroit and Rochester Hills, plus stands at Comerica Park and Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. In December 2025 it launched a franchise program, which earned it rare tech startup coverage by the Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and FOX 2. In September 2026 it signed its first franchisee, who will open five new locations. It has no recent funding round, but it with strong press coverage, fast-growing web traffic and a growing team it earns its spot among these early-stage startups to watch in Detroit.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: a Detroit restaurant idea is now being sold to franchise owners, the step that decides whether a food brand can go national.
- Start Midwest score: 50.5
- Sector: Agtech & Food
- Funding: backed by Detroit Venture Partners and Michigan Rise; amounts not disclosed
- Latest news: Breadless signs first franchisee (September 15, 2026)
Check them out for more information
8. Auto Hauler Exchange, Rochester
Auto Hauler Exchange is what you'd expect from a tech startup in the Motor City: an online marketplace servicing predominantly small businesses. Auto Hauler Exchange connects vetted car-hauling trucking companies directly with dealers and others who need vehicles moved, cutting out the brokers in between. Carriers join for free and use it to fill empty space on their trucks, while shippers get data and a single network for booking transport. The company kept growing despite being cut off from the Central Dispatch load board, a split its CEO told FreightWaves would not slow it down. Crain's named it one of its 2025 Best Places to Work.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: it brings modern software to an old corner of the car business, the industry Detroit knows best.
- Start Midwest score: 49.1
- Sector: Mobility: Mobility
- Funding: $5 million Series A led by MHS Capital (February 2025)
- Latest news: Kicked off load board, Auto Hauler Exchange doubles down on digital future, FreightWaves (October 20, 2025)
Check them out for more information
9. Puzzle Healthcare, Detroit
Puzzle Healthcare is a tech startup that places rehabilitation doctors and care-management teams inside skilled nursing facilities to help patients who have just left hospital. Its teams coordinate discharge instructions, follow-up appointments and equipment, and its value-based model is designed to keep patients from being readmitted. It has one of the highest Dealroom Signal ratings in the Detroit metro area, the largest team on this list at 91 people, and a growth investment from HCAP Partners in December. Crain's Chicago named founder Ahzam Afzal one of its Notable Leaders in Health Care for 2026, but they list their founding location and headquarters as Detroit so we're claiming them.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: hospital readmissions are expensive for everyone, and Puzzle has built a service business around preventing them.
- Start Midwest score: 48.7
- Sector: Healthtech
- Funding: growth investment from HCAP Partners, amount not disclosed (December 2025)
- Latest news: HCAP Partners announces investment in Puzzle Healthcare (December 19, 2025)
Check them out for more information
10. JustAir, Detroit
JustAir is one of Detroit's most prominent early-stage startups. Operating out of Newlab Detroit, it runs a neighborhood-level air-quality monitoring network. It installs sensors, maps real-time readings and alerts residents, working with cities, community groups and corporate partners to fill the gaps left by official monitoring. Having started in Detroit and Grand Rapids, it is now expanding nationally. It has no recent funding round,s but this year its work has received press coverage in Crain's, Bridge Michigan and WCMU as gaps in Michigan's official air monitoring drew attention.
Why this is a Detroit startup to watch: it turns a public health question into local data residents can act on, a model that can travel to any city.
- Start Midwest score: 46.1
- Sector: Environmental data and sustainability
- Funding: no recent round; last recorded a $150,000 grant (June 2024)
- Latest news: Detroit air-quality startup JustAir builds national momentum, Crain's Detroit Business (May 1, 2026)
Check them out for more information
Also worth knowing
Some companies came very close, and some we deliberately left off.
Two companies were right behind JustAir, each scoring 45.6: Alisio, in Detroit, uses AI to turn factory production data into records banks can lend against, helping smaller auto suppliers prove trade compliance and get working capital for manufacturing between the US and Mexico; it won a $50,000 investment in an AI-judged pitch competition at ClawCon Michigan in April. Dendritic Health AI, in Grosse Pointe Farms, builds AI education tools for people training in healthcare. Just behind them are Motmot, which sends robots inside live water pipes to find leaks, Reportwell, which handles compliance reporting for schools, Birmingham's Shifty, whose founder Beth Hussey told us her story last year, and VITia, an AI health coach built for Hispanic patients with chronic conditions.
You can find more Michigan companies and the investors backing them in our startup and investor database.
Detroit Startups to Watch: Quick Answers
Q: Which Detroit startups to watch have raised money in 2026?
A: Stars + Honey ($24millionfromVMGPartners),NoxMetals($11.5 million seed), Grounded ($5millionseed)andMakaKids($3 million pre-seed).
Q: What kinds of startups are growing in Detroit?
A: A wide mix: children's streaming, protein bars, AI metal fabrication, custom vans, digital privacy, virtual and post-hospital healthcare, a gluten-free restaurant chain, car-hauling logistics and air-quality monitoring.
Q: Which Detroit startups to watch are growing without new funding?
A: Protera Health, Breadless and JustAir all make the top ten without a funding round in the past two years, on the strength of hiring, partnerships and press coverage.
Q: Where are the Detroit startups to watch based?
A: Seven of the ten are in the city of Detroit, including Maka Kids at Newlab at Michigan Central in Corktown. The others are in Grosse Pointe Park, Bloomfield Hills and Rochester.
Methodology – How we chose these Detroit startups to watch
How we chose these startups. We started with every venture-tracked company in Dealroom's database founded in 2021 or later and based in metro Detroit, excluding Ann Arbor, which gets its own list. We then removed any company that isn't an independent startup: joint ventures owned by large corporations, mortgage lenders and banks, staffing firms and nonprofits.
We scored the rest on five measures. Dealroom's Signal rating, its read on each company's team, growth and timing, counted for 30%. Growth in headcount on LinkedIn over the past 12 months counted for 20%. Recent funding counted for 20%, with full credit for rounds in the past 12 months and half credit for rounds in the 12 months before that. News and milestones counted for 20%, measured as distinct dated press coverage and announcements in the past year. Growth in website traffic counted for 10%. We capped funding's share so that companies growing without outside capital could still rank.
Wherever the database was incomplete or wrong, we checked each company against its own announcements and press coverage, correcting missing funding rounds and misfiled locations. Companies within about two points of each other are shown as tied. Funding figures are what companies have disclosed; valuations are left out because the estimates available aren't reliable. All data was collected in September 2026.
We aim to refresh this guide as companies raise, hire and make news.
