For the seventh straight year, Forbes named the best startup employers in its “America’s Best Startup Employers 2026” listing, and three New Jersey companies – 1Kosmos, Cyware, and Malbek – stood out.
Teaming up with market research firm Statista, Forbes required startups to have more than 50 employees, been founded between 2016 and 2023, and be identified as an independent company.
In the Security category, 1Kosmos, based in Iselin, and Cyware, in Jersey City, are named, and Malbek, in Princeton, is in the Business Products & Software Services category.
These companies are gaining momentum. Cyware was featured in Deloitte’s 2025 North America Technology Fast 500; 1Kosmos and Fischer Identity recently partnered for digital identity security in higher education; and Malbek was named a leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for contract lifecycle management.
To be featured in the list, every company was evaluated in three major areas: company reputation, employee satisfaction and growth. Statista studied articles, blogs and social media posts about each employer that were deemed positive, negative or neutral.
For employee satisfaction, Statista scrutinized online reviews, blog comments and company policies.
Growth was determined by researching each company’s number of employees, job openings and website traffic growth rate over two years.
Global funding for startups is growing. According to Crunchbase data, 2025 saw startup deals and valuations setting records. Approximately $274 billion in startup capital went to U.S.-based companies last year, accounting for 64% of global startup funding.
