Linkedin list stirs debate over what makes a “startup”

Last week, professional networking platform LinkedIn unveiled its “Top Startups” lists for 2025, one of which showcased the most promising and fastest-growing ventures in London.

However, this year’s lineup raised a few eyebrows on the platform. Some users flocked to the comments to argue that the companies on LinkedIn’s list are not true  “startups”, but already seasoned enterprises in the industry.

Whether a company qualifies as a startup or not depends on who you ask — and that’s exactly why LinkedIn’s latest list sparked so much debate. So what makes a startup in 2025?

What are LinkedIn’s Top Startups lists?

Every year since 2017, LinkedIn has released multiple “Top Startups” lists, offering an annual ranking of emerging companies that are disrupting industries, growing rapidly, and attracting top talent.

Each list uses real data from the platform — covering metrics such as employee growth, jobseeker interest, and engagement — to rank the fastest-growing and most promising businesses on the platform.

For London, this year’s list featured prominent names across different industries, including ElevenLabs, Allica Bank, Connectd, Swap, and Fuse Energy.

The overall UK list also named multiple Startups 100 Index alumni as rising stars, including this year’s winner Lottie, as well as Sona and MAGIC AI.

Critics say LinkedIn’s “startups” are too big to count

LinkedIn’s methodology for its 2025 list measures startups based on four pillars — employment growth, engagement, job interest, and attraction of top talent.

Interestingly, this judging process appears to define the most successful startups as companies that are growing and hiring quickly. 

But critics argue that, by favouring companies that have invested heavily in talent acquisition, this means the platform is featuring listees that are well-established companies — not startups.

“A startup is less than 10 staff and just getting funding. These are medium-sized businesses,” one user wrote. “LinkedIn doesn’t seem to know what startups really are.”

Another founder and CEO commented: “These are established companies in the tech sector. Not startups. Congrats to them all, but I think the selection process guidelines missed the mark.”

What defines a Startup in 2025?

Many of us might think we know what the average startup business should look like. But there aren’t any specific rules for what defines a startup, or even for when it officially becomes an established limited company.

Experts point to factors such as an early-stage business plan, a small team, and still developing a product-market fit as things that make up a startup. Meanwhile, Digest Pro cites other factors, including a lack of growth vision and an absent company culture.

Some commenters are on the same page, with one defining the term as a company “often under 10 people, navigating the first rounds of funding, and shaping its identity”. 

By this thinking, the commenters seem to be arguing that the companies featured on LinkedIn’s list are instead scale-ups. Scale-ups can be described as ventures that have moved beyond the startup phase to achieve rapid growth in both revenue and headcount.

In the Startups 100 Index, we have our own criteria to define eligibility. Leaning toward the early-stage nature of startups, our entrants must simply have formed in the last five years, which can occasionally result in spin-outs and scale-ups making the list. 

Clearly, “startup” isn’t a one-size-fits-all label. While age, size, and funding stage give some guidance, a lot of it comes down to perspective. And if a company still feels it’s finding its feet, it’s perhaps up to its leaders, not outsiders, to decide whether it’s ‘fully-fledged’.