As AI investors fret over ROI, these startups attracted serious cash from customers in 2025

The AI startups that customers will reliably shell out for are the ones that will ultimately survive and thrive. 

Seems obvious enough, but it bears repeating in the AI industry’s financial funhouse-mirror landscape. ARR remains far from trustworthy, as the SaaS-era metric has been getting watered down: In some cases, companies fold in pilot revenue and one-time deals, bolstering the appearance of stability. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of anxiety around what it means for an AI tool to offer true ROI.