18 startups that VCs say will thrive this year despite the economic crisis

WOCinTech Chat/Flickr

• Many early-stage startups are struggling due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Some are laying off employees to conserve their cash, others are closing shop altogether.
• But there are other startups that will thrive in spite of these tough conditions or even because of them.
• We asked the experts - venture capitalists - to tell us about the startups in their portfolios that are still on track for success in today's conditions and that they think have bright futures tomorrow, too.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Given that many of today's unicorns and newly public companies were founded in the middle of the last economic downturn, that made us wonder: Who are the unicorns of tomorrow that are being forged in the economic turmoil of today?

To find out, we went to the startup experts: the VCs that funded them. We asked them to tell us about a seed-through early-stage startup in their portfolio that they believe is exceptionally well positioned right now and why. (We limited this list to companies that have raised less than $100 million in funding to-date, though most of them are far smaller and have raised less than $30 million).

All fundraising estimates come from Pitchbook, the keeper of such records.