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  • PageBrowse the directory219 parts
  • PageHow the index workshubs · dates · rules
  • PageSubmit a startupget a part number
  • CategorySilicon & ComputeSIL
  • CategoryIndustrialIND
  • CategoryDefenseDEF
  • CategorySpace & AerospaceAER
  • CategoryEnergy & ClimateNRG

§ About How the index works

How it'swired.

HardwareMap catalogues hardware startups the way engineers catalogue parts. Every company gets a part number, a pin, a package and a datasheet. This page is the schematic: how the index is organised, where the companies are, and what earns a listing.

Browse the directory Submit a startup
Parts
219
Countries
21
Hubs
85
Median est.
2017
Fig. 1 — Pinout, top view. Ten categories, colour-banded 0–9 like a resistor. Tap a pin.
AlsoMOB-006Base PowerNRG-006HyperAccelSIL-024NerosDEF-009Positron AISIL-035Proxima FusionNRG-014ApexAER-008CastelionDEF-006CHAOS IndustriesDEF-007Collaborative RoboticsROB-029EnCharge AISIL-019EtchedSIL-003Figure AIROB-001FractileSIL-021LumaiSIL-027MatXSIL-028MytraROB-008QuiltNRG-009SaronicDEF-003Slate AutoMOB-005ArcMOB-007Axelera AISIL-002HelsingDEF-008Impulse SpaceAER-007

§ 01 Pin assignments

Ten pins.
Every kind of hard.

Every company plugs into exactly one pin. The colour bands follow the resistor code, so black is 0 and white is 9.

§ 02 Power-on dates

When they first powered on.

Hardware takes years to reach a shelf, so a young index is a sign of momentum. Half of these companies were founded in 2017 or later.

median · 2017
Fig. 3: One dot per company, stacked by year founded. Peak: 2017, with 27. Hover a dot to identify it.

§ 03 Hubs

Where the atoms get arranged.

Hardware clusters where machinists, suppliers and test ranges already are. SF Bay Area leads with 49 companies; Los Angeles follows with 19, most of them within a short drive of LAX.

Density85 cities · 21 countries
  1. U1SF Bay AreaUS49
  2. U2Los AngelesUS19
  3. U3BengaluruIN15
  4. U4BostonUS8
  5. U5ShenzhenCN8
  6. U6New YorkUS7
  7. U7AustinUS6
  8. U8LondonGB4
  9. + 77 more cities with at least one company

§ 04 Selection criteria

What earns a part number.

The index is curated, not scraped. Three rules decide what gets in, and they're applied the same way to a two-person team and a public company.

  1. Rule 01

    It ships atoms.

    No bill of materials, no listing. A software company with a hardware-shaped logo doesn't count. Something physical has to leave a factory.

  2. Rule 02

    It's still running.

    This is a directory of teams that are building, not a list of post-mortems. Acquired companies stay listed while the product line lives on.

  3. Rule 03

    It's verifiable.

    Founding year, headquarters and status all come from public sources. No funding gossip, no headcount guesses. Spot an error and we'll fix it.