While the venture capital market has been "pruning" older startups, spending on high-efficiency software is hitting record highs. Brex, the financial platform used by over 35,000 venture-backed companies, has released its highly anticipated December 2025 Benchmark ranking the 50 fastest-growing software vendors of the year.
The list is a fascinating X-ray of the modern startup stack. By excluding legacy giants and weighting for recent momentum, Brex has highlighted the tools that are actually moving the needle for "work-hard, ship-fast" teams.
1. The Coding Engine: Cursor Takes the Crown
The standout winner of 2025 is Cursor, the AI-powered code editor. Cursor secured the #1 position with a mind-blowing 1,000% year-over-year growth. According to Brex data, spending on Cursor compounded every single month in 2025 — a feat no other vendor achieved.
The dominance of coding tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Replit suggests that while AI "chat" was the spark of the revolution, AI-integrated code is the engine driving enterprise value.
2. The Infrastructure Boom: Multi-Model is the New Standard
Developers are no longer picking a single LLM "winner." Instead, they are spending heavily on orchestration and infra:
- OpenRouter (+1,500% YoY): The "connective tissue" that allows developers to toggle between frontier models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta) seamlessly.
- Kling AI (+1,900% YoY): A surprise high-performer in video generation that redefined "video production" for marketing teams.
- Vast AI and Groq: Demonstrating a massive shift toward specialized hardware and decentralized compute for faster inference.
3. Voice and Perception: The Rise of Audio AI
We are seeing a move from text-based chatbots to human-like voice interaction. Voice AI has reached a point of practical application, with three names leading the pack:
- Retell AI: The go-to for conversational voice agents.
- Deepgram (+127% YoY): Providing the transcription backbone for thousands of apps.
- ElevenLabs: Remaining the gold standard for high-fidelity voice synthesis.
4. The New "Meeting Culture"
Perhaps the most relatable trend is the explosion of Meeting Transcribers. Tools like Fireflies, Fathom, and Granola have transitioned from "cool to have" to "core utility."
These tools are effectively replacing the junior associate, capturing institutional knowledge and turning hours of "talk" into actionable project tickets in Jira or Notion.
5 Fast Facts: The 2025 Tech Stack Shift
- The Decline of "Manual" Creative: While AI tools exploded, traditional marketing and creative tools (like Adobe and HubSpot) saw noticeable pullbacks in spend as teams automated content generation.
- Zoom’s Surprise Comeback: Despite the "AI video" hype, Zoom spending jumped 20%, signaling that hybrid work and high-quality human-to-human video are still foundational.
- OpenAI’s Retention King: OpenAI spend grew 80% this year, not just from new users, but from existing startups spiking their API usage to power their own AI features.
- DevTools as Finance: Modern developer tools (Vercel, Clerk, PostHog) are increasingly being categorized as Infrastructure rather than "Sales/Marketing" spend, reflecting their role as the "rent" for digital businesses.
- The Scale-up Gap: The fastest-growing vendors are overwhelmingly AI-native, but they are being used by Enterprise companies at a faster rate than ever before — suggesting "Big Tech" is adopting startup tools to move faster.
Analysis: Who is Missing?
Noticeably absent from the top growth spots are traditional CRM and HR tools. While still used, their growth has plateaued compared to the "AI-in-the-workflow" tools. The 2025 stack isn't about recording what happened (CRM); it’s about doing the work (Cursor, Retell, Kling).
Also read:
- The "Normal" Business Apocalypse: Why AI’s Biggest Impact is in Boring Industries
- The "Delete" Button for Sound: Meta’s SAM Audio is Reshaping Post-Production
- The Holodeck in Your Browser: Tencent’s HY World 1.5 and the Dawn of Real-Time Generative Worlds
Author: Slava Vasipenok
Founder and CEO of QUASA (quasa.io) - Daily insights on Web3, AI, Crypto, and Freelance. Stay updated on finance, technology trends, and creator tools - with sources and real value.
Innovative entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in IT, fintech, and blockchain. Specializes in decentralized solutions for freelancing, helping to overcome the barriers of traditional finance, especially in developing regions.
