The most innovative companies in manufacturing for 2025
Advances in manufacturing (faster, cheaper, smarter) don’t always result from one big technological breakthrough: Much of the work of innovation involves building on what people have accomplished before.By taking advantage of improvements in sensing hardware and software analytics capabilities, Blackline has built a better toolkit for detecting hazardous gases in industrial workplaces. In much the same way, Kraft Heinz has enlisted machine-vision systems and digital-twin modeling to improve quality and throughput in its vegetable-ingredient supply chain.Stratasys and Ursa Major, meanwhile, have leveraged advances in additive manufacturing to make 3D printing scale up to such high-performance missions as building rocket engines and other spacecraft components—both areas in which they have to square up against incumbents that have had lengthy head starts.Building an online-marketplace platform with software and services isn’t new, but Gelato and Keychain have taken that concept to the businesses of on-demand printing and consumer packaged goods. In each of those markets, suppliers face the problem of being relatively invisible to potential customers, and the platforms these two startups have launched can help remedy that imbalance. Of course, some innovation has to come in-house. Both P2 Science and HT Materials Science have drawn on their own inventions in chemistry to create cleaner and greener cosmetics and to make heating and air-conditioning systems more efficient and less thirsty for water. And since HT counts factories among its clients, future occupants of this list may rank among the beneficiaries of its work.1. Dirtt Environmental SolutionsFor customizing offsite modular constructionBased in Alberta, Canada, Dirtt Environmental Solutions creates custom interiors for commercial facilities in various sectors. Dirtt has introduced innovative smart-manufacturing processes and project-management tools that set new standards for the offsite modular-construction industry. Working with design firm Gensler, the company delivered a flexible workspace for Google’s new 1-million-square-foot headquarters in New York City, which opened in February 2024. The design allows teams to customize their own office area, easily transforming a large conference room into multiple smaller offices, for example. In November, Dirtt introduced COVE (Clinical Observation Vertical Exam). Designed for the healthcare industry, the prefabricated treatment area is half the size of a traditional examination room, increasing the number of nonemergency patients who can be examined. This past year Dirtt also released a dozen significant upgrades to its ever-evolving core platform, ICE, which enables clients, architects, designers, and contractors a cloud-based view of projects to collaborate and make changes in real time. One of the upgrades is Material Tracking and Optimization, which can identify when leftover material can be used elsewhere in a project, leading to a 4% yield improvement in materials reuse so far. Dirtt saw profitability increase more than 37% year-over-year through the first three quarters of 2024.2. P2 ScienceFor making cosmetic ingredients more beautifulThe cosmetics industry can look ugly in its reliance on fossil-fuel by-products and other unsustainable ingredients, but P2 Science, a green chemistry company, is working to give it more than a glow-up with a line of plant-centered ingredients. In September 2024, P2 launched two new liquid polymers, Citropol DE-4 and Citropol V6, which are derived from upcycled forest terpenes (translation: natural by-products of pulp and paper manufacturing). Citropol DE-4 creates rich textures for use in skincare and haircare products, replacing less-sustainable petrochemical compounds or oils derived from coconuts or palm leaves. Citropol V6 enhances product “spreadability” with a nongreasy feel and replaces the synthetic compound cyclomethicone, which some studies have linked to reproductive problems. The company’s custom-designed PICE (Process Intensified Continuous Etherification) bioreactor production line at its manufacturing site in Connecticut runs on 100% renewable energy, and P2 says it can double output in 12 weeks at moderate costs when necessary. P2 projects that it will see 175% revenue growth in 2024 compared to 2023. and as of September 2024, counts more than 100 launches of products with P2 components from 90 brands (including Living Proof, BASF, and Chanel) in 25 countries.3. KeychainFor harnessing AI to help CPG brands find the right manufacturing partnersFor consumer packaged goods companies, the road from new product idea to store shelf is torturous. The process traditionally has taken anywhere from a few months (for an extension of an established product) to a few years (for entirely new products that may require special manufacturing equipment.) At a time when socially amplified consumer trends are shifty and supply chains sometimes dicey, Keychain expedites the product-development process with a comprehensive database of 24,000-plus vetted manufacturing partners across 40 product categories. Brands can quickly identify qualified manufacturers capable of complying with increasingly complex food rules, such as zero-gluten requirements, limits on sugar or other ingredients, or allergen-free production. The unique AI-powered platform provides real-time insights on production availability, schedules, and costs. Founded in August 2023, Keychain launched in February 2024 and has been adopted by such notable brands as Cadbury, Hersey’s, Utz, and Dr. Pepper. The service is free for brands and retailers; manufacturers can also have a free basic profile but pay Keychain an annual subscription that ranges from $5,000 to $100,000 for a more robust presence on the platform. In November 2024, Keychain announced that brands had submitted more than $200 million worth of projects to the platform in the previous month. That same month, the company closed a $15 million round of financing with investors that included General Mills and Schreiber Foods.4. Blackline SafetyFor protecting industrial workers from hazardous gasesAccording to the AFL-CIO, hazardous workplaces kill or disable 125,000 American workers every year. Hazardous gases pose a significant source of danger in many industries, especially oil and gas, manufacturing, and construction. Blackline makes fixed and portable devices that provide on-the-spot, real-time measurements of hazardous gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia in industrial and other workplaces. In September 2024, Blackline released its EXO 8 monitor, a rugged 27-pound device about the size of a cinderblock that can be mounted on a tripod or even set on the ground to monitor air quality with an automated setup process that doesn’t require human-tended calibration. It features real-time cloud connectivity via 4G or 5G wireless as well as the option of satellite uplink through an add-on module. The device can be loaded with sensors for eight different hazardous gases and features a gamma-radiation sensor that offers three times the range of competing devices. Blackline says it has 2,200 customers across 75 countries—with a “net dollar retention” of 128%, meaning these customers are spending more than their initial outlay to expand their use of Blackline’s offerings. The company has achieved 30 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth, and in September it was named by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s top growth companies for the sixth consecutive year.5. HT Materials ScienceFor identifying an additive that makes HVAC systems more efficientThe digital revolution giveth, and the digital revolution taketh away: On the one hand, smart technologies are improving energy efficiency; on the other, data centers and crypto-mining operations and fulfillment operations consume a massive and growing amount of energy that’s expected to double by 2030. About 40% of that consumption is attributable to energy required to keep operations cool. Dublin-based startup HT Materials Science doesn’t make heating/ventilation/air-conditioning systems, but it does make the HVAC hardware already installed at commercial and industrial sites significantly more efficient. The company accomplishes this with its proprietary drop-in additive called Maxwell, which suspends microscopic particles of aluminum oxide in water or a mixture of water and glycol to improve heat transfer. Adding just a tiny bit to an HVAC system’s water or water-glycol mix helps juice efficiency by up to 20%. HTMS has strategic partnerships with a number of prominent companies, including Regeneron, Johnson & Johnson, and Saudi Aramco, and in May 2024 it was accepted into Amazon’s Sustainability Accelerator to deploy Maxwell at a trio of fulfillment centers in the U.K. With support of the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, the company is also developing a data-center coolant based on graphene to increase efficiency in those power-hungry, heat-intensive facilities.6. StratasysFor speeding up 3D printingMinnesota-based Stratasys has been a key player in the additive manufacturing industry for decades, and its origins can be traced to a frog. In 1988, Scott Crump created a toy frog for his daughter using a glue gun with a mixture of polyethylene and candle wax. It’s unclear how much the frog inspired the little girl, but the process inspired Crump to devise the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology that would later revolutionize 3D printing. Crump and his wife founded Stratasys in 1989 to commercialize FDM and grew the company into a leader in the polymer 3D printing market. Near the end of 2023, Stratasys introduced the F3300 FDM 3D Printer, capable of printing up to twice as fast as previous printers while reducing materials and labor costs by about 45%. It has since been adopted by Toyota, BAE, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2024, the company add the Origin Two printer, optimized for short-run production, and launched a project with Northrop Grumman to test 3D printing on the moon. And in March 2024, Stratasys also established a first-of-its-kind Industrial Customer Advisory Board, whose 12 members include Boeing, Toyota, and TE Connectivity, to guide its development of additive manufacturing technologies in such areas as sustainability, quality and reliability, and data characterization. The company has obstacles to overcome—its third-quarter earnings saw narrowing losses but also news of a 15% reduction in employees—but the company looks well positioned to capitalize on growing adoption of additive manufacturing across numerous industries.7. Kraft HeinzFor redefining the food industry supply chain to reduce waste and forecast demandCompanies don’t thrive for more than a century without evolving with technology. Henry James Heinz founded his “catsup” company in 1876; the J.L. Kraft and Bros Company began selling cheese door-to-door in Chicago in 1909. After the two giants merged in 2015, Kraft Heinz began automating its supply-chain management system. Those enhancements helped Kraft Heinz weather COVID-19 supply chain chaos, but the pandemic revealed the risks that upstream disruptions continue to pose for procurement of ingredients and packaging materials. Since 2022, Kraft Heinz has been working to put software smarts to work across its food supply chain through a variety of initiatives: Lighthouse, a software stack to eyeball supply-chain metrics; Connected Worker, a digital platform to process and integrate insights from the company’s factories; and Digital Twin, software to model production processes in real time to watch for efficiency shortfalls and find opportunities for improvement. The combination of these projects has yielded impressive results, Kraft Heinz says: a 40% reduction in supply-chain waste (8.5% in 2024 alone), a 20% increase in sales-forecast accuracy coupled with a 35% increase in inventory-forecast accuracy, and a 6% product-yield improvement across North American factories. In 2024, the company added an AI-powered computer vision system to assess ingredient quality, which has already yielded a 12% increase in the efficiency of inspecting cucumbers on their way to pickling. Combined with other operational improvements, Kraft Heinz says this work has yielded more than $1.1 billion in gross efficiencies from 2023 through the third quarter of 2024.8. PellaFor inventing a safer way to install windowsPella has been making windows and doors for 99 years, but it wasn’t until 2024 that the privately held company pivoted to a new way to build windows and have them attached. Its Steady Set windows are built to be installed from the inside of a structure rather than the outside. That was something that 85% of window installers said they wanted, Pella representatives realized from going to job sites to watch and learn. The obvious upside for construction crews is that they can fit a window while standing on a floor indoors instead of on a ladder outdoors—Pella reports that crews installing Steady Set windows have 74% less ladder work and spend up to 72% less time outdoors. But Steady Set windows can also be installed more than three times faster than traditional outside-fit windows. And many windows are small enough that a single worker can put it into place, rather than the two workers typically required. Steady Set won a Best of IBS prize at the 2024 International Builders’ Show, and since its debut there last February, the company reports that 15% of new-construction wood window projects have now adopted Steady Set. The company estimates 2024 revenue to reach $2.2 billion, a 10% jump from 2023, and Pella’s workforce has shown year-over-year growth of 6%.9. Ursa Major TechnologiesFor building rocket engines via additive manufacturingUrsa Major is targeting a simple problem: Rockets take much longer to build than they do to fly, especially when military applications are involved and conflict demands the rapid expenditure of missiles. To speed up manufacturing times, the company is leveraging additive-manufacturing techniques. Its Lynx production system allows quick 3D printing of parts for the solid rocket motors used in such munitions as anti-tank weapons—and also enables swift shifts from building one type of solid rocket motor (SRM) to another. Lynx can churn out parts fast enough to restore U.S. defense stocks that have been drawn down by aid deliveries to Ukraine; for example, one Lynx cell can print 1,600 solid-rocket motor casings for anti-tank weapons a year, more than three-quarters of the DOD’s surge-production rate for the Javelin anti-tank missile.The U.S. Navy was impressed enough to sign a $12.5 million contract with Ursa Major in September 2024 to develop three SRM prototypes and then further develop Lynx. And 2024 also saw Ursa Major’s liquid-fueled rocket efforts notch notable achievements: Its Hadley engine, built for hypersonic applications, had its first flight on Stratolaunch’s Talon TA-1 vehicle, and its Draper engine had its first ground-based “hot fire” test less than 12 months after the start of that project.10. GelatoFor facilitating customized ecommerce for online creatorsThe creator economy has grown into a $250 billion global industry that could exceed half a trillion dollars by 2027. Once associated mainly with content creators, the sector has expanded to include artisans and micro-businesses that produce physical objects for sale. But very often these online businesses cater to far-flung audiences that may not be located anywhere near printing services that can fulfill the custom orders that drive this part of the economy. Gelato has built the world’s largest network—spanning 32 countries—for local production and distribution of customized products. In March 2024, the Oslo-based company introduced GelatoConnect, an enterprise software platform that helps digital printers capitalize on the burgeoning creator market while simultaneously expanding access to printing for creators. It streamlines workflows for printers by automating the production process while integrating procurement, production, and logistics into a single platform. A study by McKinsey supported Gelato’s claims that the platform will typically increase profit margins for printers by 3% to 7%—some companies that have adopted GelatoConnect cite efficiency gains of up to 25%. In the third quarter of 2024, seven major U.S.-based digital printers (the Anstadt Company, Bennett Graphics, CBiPrint, DPI Direct, GSB Digital, Hudson Printing Company, and Quantum Group) deployed the platform. To date, the private company has raised more than $284 million from a number for venture groups, including DN Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Insight Partners.Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more.
Advances in manufacturing (faster, cheaper, smarter) don’t always result from one big technological breakthrough: Much of the work of innovation involves building on what people have accomplished before.By taking advantage of improvements in sensing hardware and software analytics capabilities, Blackline has built a better toolkit for detecting hazardous gases in industrial workplaces. In much the same way, Kraft Heinz has enlisted machine-vision systems and digital-twin modeling to improve quality and throughput in its vegetable-ingredient supply chain.Stratasys and Ursa Major, meanwhile, have leveraged advances in additive manufacturing to make 3D printing scale up to such high-performance missions as building rocket engines and other spacecraft components—both areas in which they have to square up against incumbents that have had lengthy head starts.Building an online-marketplace platform with software and services isn’t new, but Gelato and Keychain have taken that concept to the businesses of on-demand printing and consumer packaged goods. In each of those markets, suppliers face the problem of being relatively invisible to potential customers, and the platforms these two startups have launched can help remedy that imbalance. Of course, some innovation has to come in-house. Both P2 Science and HT Materials Science have drawn on their own inventions in chemistry to create cleaner and greener cosmetics and to make heating and air-conditioning systems more efficient and less thirsty for water. And since HT counts factories among its clients, future occupants of this list may rank among the beneficiaries of its work.1. Dirtt Environmental SolutionsFor customizing offsite modular constructionBased in Alberta, Canada, Dirtt Environmental Solutions creates custom interiors for commercial facilities in various sectors. Dirtt has introduced innovative smart-manufacturing processes and project-management tools that set new standards for the offsite modular-construction industry. Working with design firm Gensler, the company delivered a flexible workspace for Google’s new 1-million-square-foot headquarters in New York City, which opened in February 2024. The design allows teams to customize their own office area, easily transforming a large conference room into multiple smaller offices, for example. In November, Dirtt introduced COVE (Clinical Observation Vertical Exam). Designed for the healthcare industry, the prefabricated treatment area is half the size of a traditional examination room, increasing the number of nonemergency patients who can be examined. This past year Dirtt also released a dozen significant upgrades to its ever-evolving core platform, ICE, which enables clients, architects, designers, and contractors a cloud-based view of projects to collaborate and make changes in real time. One of the upgrades is Material Tracking and Optimization, which can identify when leftover material can be used elsewhere in a project, leading to a 4% yield improvement in materials reuse so far. Dirtt saw profitability increase more than 37% year-over-year through the first three quarters of 2024.2. P2 ScienceFor making cosmetic ingredients more beautifulThe cosmetics industry can look ugly in its reliance on fossil-fuel by-products and other unsustainable ingredients, but P2 Science, a green chemistry company, is working to give it more than a glow-up with a line of plant-centered ingredients. In September 2024, P2 launched two new liquid polymers, Citropol DE-4 and Citropol V6, which are derived from upcycled forest terpenes (translation: natural by-products of pulp and paper manufacturing). Citropol DE-4 creates rich textures for use in skincare and haircare products, replacing less-sustainable petrochemical compounds or oils derived from coconuts or palm leaves. Citropol V6 enhances product “spreadability” with a nongreasy feel and replaces the synthetic compound cyclomethicone, which some studies have linked to reproductive problems. The company’s custom-designed PICE (Process Intensified Continuous Etherification) bioreactor production line at its manufacturing site in Connecticut runs on 100% renewable energy, and P2 says it can double output in 12 weeks at moderate costs when necessary. P2 projects that it will see 175% revenue growth in 2024 compared to 2023. and as of September 2024, counts more than 100 launches of products with P2 components from 90 brands (including Living Proof, BASF, and Chanel) in 25 countries.3. KeychainFor harnessing AI to help CPG brands find the right manufacturing partnersFor consumer packaged goods companies, the road from new product idea to store shelf is torturous. The process traditionally has taken anywhere from a few months (for an extension of an established product) to a few years (for entirely new products that may require special manufacturing equipment.) At a time when socially amplified consumer trends are shifty and supply chains sometimes dicey, Keychain expedites the product-development process with a comprehensive database of 24,000-plus vetted manufacturing partners across 40 product categories. Brands can quickly identify qualified manufacturers capable of complying with increasingly complex food rules, such as zero-gluten requirements, limits on sugar or other ingredients, or allergen-free production. The unique AI-powered platform provides real-time insights on production availability, schedules, and costs. Founded in August 2023, Keychain launched in February 2024 and has been adopted by such notable brands as Cadbury, Hersey’s, Utz, and Dr. Pepper. The service is free for brands and retailers; manufacturers can also have a free basic profile but pay Keychain an annual subscription that ranges from $5,000 to $100,000 for a more robust presence on the platform. In November 2024, Keychain announced that brands had submitted more than $200 million worth of projects to the platform in the previous month. That same month, the company closed a $15 million round of financing with investors that included General Mills and Schreiber Foods.4. Blackline SafetyFor protecting industrial workers from hazardous gasesAccording to the AFL-CIO, hazardous workplaces kill or disable 125,000 American workers every year. Hazardous gases pose a significant source of danger in many industries, especially oil and gas, manufacturing, and construction. Blackline makes fixed and portable devices that provide on-the-spot, real-time measurements of hazardous gases such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, methane, and ammonia in industrial and other workplaces. In September 2024, Blackline released its EXO 8 monitor, a rugged 27-pound device about the size of a cinderblock that can be mounted on a tripod or even set on the ground to monitor air quality with an automated setup process that doesn’t require human-tended calibration. It features real-time cloud connectivity via 4G or 5G wireless as well as the option of satellite uplink through an add-on module. The device can be loaded with sensors for eight different hazardous gases and features a gamma-radiation sensor that offers three times the range of competing devices. Blackline says it has 2,200 customers across 75 countries—with a “net dollar retention” of 128%, meaning these customers are spending more than their initial outlay to expand their use of Blackline’s offerings. The company has achieved 30 consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue growth, and in September it was named by the Globe and Mail as one of Canada’s top growth companies for the sixth consecutive year.5. HT Materials ScienceFor identifying an additive that makes HVAC systems more efficientThe digital revolution giveth, and the digital revolution taketh away: On the one hand, smart technologies are improving energy efficiency; on the other, data centers and crypto-mining operations and fulfillment operations consume a massive and growing amount of energy that’s expected to double by 2030. About 40% of that consumption is attributable to energy required to keep operations cool. Dublin-based startup HT Materials Science doesn’t make heating/ventilation/air-conditioning systems, but it does make the HVAC hardware already installed at commercial and industrial sites significantly more efficient. The company accomplishes this with its proprietary drop-in additive called Maxwell, which suspends microscopic particles of aluminum oxide in water or a mixture of water and glycol to improve heat transfer. Adding just a tiny bit to an HVAC system’s water or water-glycol mix helps juice efficiency by up to 20%. HTMS has strategic partnerships with a number of prominent companies, including Regeneron, Johnson & Johnson, and Saudi Aramco, and in May 2024 it was accepted into Amazon’s Sustainability Accelerator to deploy Maxwell at a trio of fulfillment centers in the U.K. With support of the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, the company is also developing a data-center coolant based on graphene to increase efficiency in those power-hungry, heat-intensive facilities.6. StratasysFor speeding up 3D printingMinnesota-based Stratasys has been a key player in the additive manufacturing industry for decades, and its origins can be traced to a frog. In 1988, Scott Crump created a toy frog for his daughter using a glue gun with a mixture of polyethylene and candle wax. It’s unclear how much the frog inspired the little girl, but the process inspired Crump to devise the fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology that would later revolutionize 3D printing. Crump and his wife founded Stratasys in 1989 to commercialize FDM and grew the company into a leader in the polymer 3D printing market. Near the end of 2023, Stratasys introduced the F3300 FDM 3D Printer, capable of printing up to twice as fast as previous printers while reducing materials and labor costs by about 45%. It has since been adopted by Toyota, BAE, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2024, the company add the Origin Two printer, optimized for short-run production, and launched a project with Northrop Grumman to test 3D printing on the moon. And in March 2024, Stratasys also established a first-of-its-kind Industrial Customer Advisory Board, whose 12 members include Boeing, Toyota, and TE Connectivity, to guide its development of additive manufacturing technologies in such areas as sustainability, quality and reliability, and data characterization. The company has obstacles to overcome—its third-quarter earnings saw narrowing losses but also news of a 15% reduction in employees—but the company looks well positioned to capitalize on growing adoption of additive manufacturing across numerous industries.7. Kraft HeinzFor redefining the food industry supply chain to reduce waste and forecast demandCompanies don’t thrive for more than a century without evolving with technology. Henry James Heinz founded his “catsup” company in 1876; the J.L. Kraft and Bros Company began selling cheese door-to-door in Chicago in 1909. After the two giants merged in 2015, Kraft Heinz began automating its supply-chain management system. Those enhancements helped Kraft Heinz weather COVID-19 supply chain chaos, but the pandemic revealed the risks that upstream disruptions continue to pose for procurement of ingredients and packaging materials. Since 2022, Kraft Heinz has been working to put software smarts to work across its food supply chain through a variety of initiatives: Lighthouse, a software stack to eyeball supply-chain metrics; Connected Worker, a digital platform to process and integrate insights from the company’s factories; and Digital Twin, software to model production processes in real time to watch for efficiency shortfalls and find opportunities for improvement. The combination of these projects has yielded impressive results, Kraft Heinz says: a 40% reduction in supply-chain waste (8.5% in 2024 alone), a 20% increase in sales-forecast accuracy coupled with a 35% increase in inventory-forecast accuracy, and a 6% product-yield improvement across North American factories. In 2024, the company added an AI-powered computer vision system to assess ingredient quality, which has already yielded a 12% increase in the efficiency of inspecting cucumbers on their way to pickling. Combined with other operational improvements, Kraft Heinz says this work has yielded more than $1.1 billion in gross efficiencies from 2023 through the third quarter of 2024.8. PellaFor inventing a safer way to install windowsPella has been making windows and doors for 99 years, but it wasn’t until 2024 that the privately held company pivoted to a new way to build windows and have them attached. Its Steady Set windows are built to be installed from the inside of a structure rather than the outside. That was something that 85% of window installers said they wanted, Pella representatives realized from going to job sites to watch and learn. The obvious upside for construction crews is that they can fit a window while standing on a floor indoors instead of on a ladder outdoors—Pella reports that crews installing Steady Set windows have 74% less ladder work and spend up to 72% less time outdoors. But Steady Set windows can also be installed more than three times faster than traditional outside-fit windows. And many windows are small enough that a single worker can put it into place, rather than the two workers typically required. Steady Set won a Best of IBS prize at the 2024 International Builders’ Show, and since its debut there last February, the company reports that 15% of new-construction wood window projects have now adopted Steady Set. The company estimates 2024 revenue to reach $2.2 billion, a 10% jump from 2023, and Pella’s workforce has shown year-over-year growth of 6%.9. Ursa Major TechnologiesFor building rocket engines via additive manufacturingUrsa Major is targeting a simple problem: Rockets take much longer to build than they do to fly, especially when military applications are involved and conflict demands the rapid expenditure of missiles. To speed up manufacturing times, the company is leveraging additive-manufacturing techniques. Its Lynx production system allows quick 3D printing of parts for the solid rocket motors used in such munitions as anti-tank weapons—and also enables swift shifts from building one type of solid rocket motor (SRM) to another. Lynx can churn out parts fast enough to restore U.S. defense stocks that have been drawn down by aid deliveries to Ukraine; for example, one Lynx cell can print 1,600 solid-rocket motor casings for anti-tank weapons a year, more than three-quarters of the DOD’s surge-production rate for the Javelin anti-tank missile.The U.S. Navy was impressed enough to sign a $12.5 million contract with Ursa Major in September 2024 to develop three SRM prototypes and then further develop Lynx. And 2024 also saw Ursa Major’s liquid-fueled rocket efforts notch notable achievements: Its Hadley engine, built for hypersonic applications, had its first flight on Stratolaunch’s Talon TA-1 vehicle, and its Draper engine had its first ground-based “hot fire” test less than 12 months after the start of that project.10. GelatoFor facilitating customized ecommerce for online creatorsThe creator economy has grown into a $250 billion global industry that could exceed half a trillion dollars by 2027. Once associated mainly with content creators, the sector has expanded to include artisans and micro-businesses that produce physical objects for sale. But very often these online businesses cater to far-flung audiences that may not be located anywhere near printing services that can fulfill the custom orders that drive this part of the economy. Gelato has built the world’s largest network—spanning 32 countries—for local production and distribution of customized products. In March 2024, the Oslo-based company introduced GelatoConnect, an enterprise software platform that helps digital printers capitalize on the burgeoning creator market while simultaneously expanding access to printing for creators. It streamlines workflows for printers by automating the production process while integrating procurement, production, and logistics into a single platform. A study by McKinsey supported Gelato’s claims that the platform will typically increase profit margins for printers by 3% to 7%—some companies that have adopted GelatoConnect cite efficiency gains of up to 25%. In the third quarter of 2024, seven major U.S.-based digital printers (the Anstadt Company, Bennett Graphics, CBiPrint, DPI Direct, GSB Digital, Hudson Printing Company, and Quantum Group) deployed the platform. To date, the private company has raised more than $284 million from a number for venture groups, including DN Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Insight Partners.Explore the full 2025 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 609 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the companies making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, applied AI, biotech, retail, sustainability, and more.
