As businesses scale up to enterprise size, they face some of the same challenges—such as keeping employees safe online, managing networks, and running productive meetings. These days, some may also need to ensure that they’re complying with AI-related laws. These honorees for enterprise tech bring innovative ideas to all the above jobs and more.

Credo AI
For mainstreaming AI safety and governance
Rapid adoption of AI has also made it harder to keep up with all the risks. Credo AI’s platform helps clients like Mastercard and McKinsey more easily learn and comply with a growing number of AI local, state, and international laws. The startup also offers tools to detect risks, improve transparency, and enhance oversight of AI models, systems, agents, and datasets. Meanwhile, partners like Microsoft, IBM, and Databricks also help Credo AI make it easier to scale technical integrations, governance, guardrails, and communication between compliance teams and developers. Credo AI’s new “AI Lab” helps test and validate with real-world situations, while its model trust score leaderboard helps clients choose models for various applications.

Island
For giving businesses their own browser
While Chrome and Firefox have mainstream adoption, Island’s browser is built specially for business. The startup’s platform offers a range of enterprise-grade tools designed for security, scalability, productivity, and flexibility. Instead of wrangling a hodgepodge of plug-ins, more than 500 customers now use Island’s platform to gain granular control of web apps and protect sensitive data—including seven of the 10 largest U.S. banks and pharma giants like Pfizer. Island’s enterprise-focused features include ways to monitor how users copy, paste, upload, and download sensitive information; tools for monitoring and investigating potential threats; and productivity tools like its AI assistant, password manager, and automated workflows.

NetBrain Technologies
For developing “self-healing” network operations
Network automation is about as quintessentially enterprise as it gets. With a mix of large language models and AI agents, NetBrain helps companies like Nike and CVS prevent network outages and uncover risks, analyzing massive amounts of data to see what networks are doing—and what needs to be fixed. The startup’s AI-driven platform helps with diagnostics and troubleshooting with real-time automation and no-code tools. Earlier this year, NetBrain debuted R12, a “self-healing” network that helps find and prevent outages before they happen. In July, the startup had a valuation of around $750 million after Blackstone acquired a majority stake.

Nile
For making networking a service
Nile is modernizing the old-school local area network, creating a “network-as-a-service” model, with AI-powered features for improving automation and security while cutting time and operational costs. The startup, founded by a team from Cisco that includes former CEO John Chambers, has raised $300 million since it was founded in 2018. The goal is to make network support easier and better for companies, smart buildings, and connected devices.

Nuvo
For creating a social network for B2B trade
Buying and selling physical goods like lumber and wine is a massive $11 trillion market. Now, Nuvo is bringing it more online. The startup’s “Trade Graph” enables a network based on customer references, credit and banking data, and other behavioral signals across tens of thousands of companies. The platform allows businesses to verify partners, automate onboarding, and more quickly extend credit, while also offering workflows for dynamic credit policies, fraud detection, and adaptive onboarding based on context. Founded in 2021, Nuvo has grown from a network of 15,000 businesses to more than 50,000 across materials, food and beverage, logistics, chemicals, and other sectors. The goal: to do for B2B trade what Stripe did for payments and Plaid did for finance.

Zoom
For evolving from videoconferencing to AI companions
Everyone knows Zoom for its conferencing capabilities. But the “AI-first” platform has increasingly evolved to offer more than video calls. From an AI assistant to its custom-made small LLM, the company built technologies to help users schedule meetings, set agendas, capture and summarize notes, and tease insights and actions out of meeting data. Meanwhile, Zoom’s AI powers productivity tools, connects with third-party apps, streamlines work communication, and helps IT and HR teams do paperwork. Earlier this year, the company added more ways for users to customize AI companions and access new features, such as Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Revenue Accelerator.

The companies and individuals behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2025. Read more about the winners across all categories and the methodology behind the selection process.