a16z: Consumer AI Is Moving Into Enterprise

What the new a16z/Mercury report says

Consumer-grade AI is quietly becoming a gateway into the enterprise, according to a new report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) compiled with fintech company Mercury.

How were the rankings built?

Drawing on anonymized transaction data from Mercury’s platform, a16z assembled a Top 50 list of AI‑native application layer companies to show where startups are actually spending on AI products. The analysis extends a16z’s prior Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps report and focuses on real usage in products and workflows rather than hype.

Top AI apps by startup spend

OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, leads the rankings. Other large language model assistants also placed highly, with Anthropic at No. 2 and Perplexity at No. 12. Coding tool Replit took the No. 3 spot, while creative suite Freepik ranked No. 4. Meeting support tools featured in the “horizontal” productivity category included Fyxer (No. 7), Happyscribe (No. 36) and Plaud (No. 38).

• LLM assistants: OpenAI (No. 1), Anthropic (No. 2), Perplexity (No. 12)
• Developer tools: Replit (No. 3)
• Creative suite: Freepik (No. 4)
• Meeting support: Fyxer (No. 7), Happyscribe (No. 36), Plaud (No. 38)
• Vertical tools: Lorikeet (No. 8), Micro1 (No. 9), Instantly (No. 13)

Horizontal vs. vertical tools

a16z groups these offerings into two broad types. Horizontal tools aim to raise overall productivity across roles, such as general LLM assistants, creative apps and meeting aids.

“Vertical” tools target specific functions and, for now, typically augment workers on repetitive tasks rather than replace them. Popular vertical categories include customer service, sales and recruiting, where Lorikeet, Micro1, and Instantly stand out.

Bottom‑up adoption inside enterprises

The report highlights a notable adoption pattern: consumer-first AI tools are increasingly spreading inside companies. Roughly 70% of the listed products can be adopted by individuals and brought into teams because they don’t require an enterprise license. With organizations under pressure to boost employee efficiency, these tools are being pulled into enterprise environments faster than in prior software waves.

Why does it matter?

Taken together, the spending signals suggest where AI is delivering practical value today—across general-purpose assistants, developer tools and targeted applications that slot into everyday workflows.

Looking ahead

a16z expects this bottom‑up motion to persist, predicting that many of the next enterprise AI successes will begin life as consumer products. The firm plans to keep updating the online list to reflect shifting spend and usage.