The software startup research area has grown rapidly in the recent years. It is widely known that building software startups are challenging endeavors, and the failure rate is high. However, the fascinating phenomenon keeps getting interest from academics to address those challenges, due to the potential of software startups as an effective way for disruptive innovation. The aim of this study is to provide an update on the evolution of the software startup research area through a systematic mapping study. Our contributions are two-fold. First, we provide a mapping of current research in software startups in terms of contributing disciplines and research methods and theories used. The second contribution is the identification of two new and emerging research streams termed Software Startup Education and Ethics in Software Startups. Furthermore, the findings allow us to update the research agenda and provide new examples of research questions to advance the software startup research area. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.