The term of Unicorns has known only for several years, but is already one of the most used word in the tech world. So why? We will also take a look on the most well-known & the most valuable Unicorns of the previous year, 2016 and see the predictions for the actual year, 2017.
THEY ARE CALLED “UNICORNS”; THE DEFINITION OF A UNICORN COMPANY
In the business world, Unicorns are those private companies or startups with an estimated valuation of more than $1 billion. Several years ago it could be named as a myth to be a startup company with a billion dollars profit, but now it is the reality.
Firstly, the term was used by Aileen Lee, venture capitalist and founder of CowboyVC, a seed stage venture capital fond that is based in Palo Alto, California. In her valued article, “Welcome To The Unicorn Club: Learning From Billion-Dollar Startups”, she observed tech startups founded in the previous decade and settled the boundary lines for “Unicorn Club” members.
Moreover, she has determined that on that time, 3 years ago, in the exclusive Unicorn club were included only 39 members,” the top .o7 % that ever reach $1 billion valuation: Dropbox, Tumblr, Facebook, Youtube, Palo Alto Networks, Yelp, FireEye, Groupon, ServiceNow, Linkedin, Gilt, etc.
However, according to CBINSIGHTS the total number of Unicorn companies, for today, is already more than 184.
Another exciting term in your new lexicon that is related to the Unicorns – Decacorns, companies that achieved a $10 billion valuation and automatically moved to the new level.
TOP 10 TECH UNICORNS OF 2016
Take a look on the main Unicorns of 2016:
1. Uber
San Francisco, California; Transportation Services
Valuation: $62 billion
2. Xiaomi
Beijing, China; Consumer electronics
Valuation: $45 billion
3. Airbnb
San Francisco;Lodging Services
Valuation: $25,5 billion
4. Palantir
Palo Alto, California; Data Analytics Software
Valuation: $20,5 billion
5. Snapchat
Venice, California; Social Media
Valuation: $16 billion
6. Didi Kuaidi
Beijing, China; Transportation Services
Valuation: $16 billion
7. Flipkart
Bangalore, India; E-commerce
Valuation: $15 billion
8. China Internet Plus
Beijing, China; Internet Services
Valuation: $15 billion
9. SpaceX
Howthorne, California; Aerospace
Valuation: $12 billion
10. Pinterest
San Francisco, California; Social Media
Valuation: $11 billion
..and many-many others from all over the world.
An interesting fact that in 2016 only six software companies went public according to Thomson Reuters data showed.
A LIST OF COMPANIES THAT MIGHT POTENTIALLY BECOME UNICORNS IN 2017?
I would like to mention that this list its not just a prediction, the information is based on latest news, ventures, investors and ratings published online. Generally, the new year is expected to be even more successful on new tech Unicorns of the year. The chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, Greg Becker, already gave his personal predictions that “between 30 to 45 venture capital-backed technology companies could go public in 2017, compared to 15 in 2016.”
So here is a list of potential tech unicorns in 2017:
Is one the top 5 startups that probably will go public (IPO) in 2017. Qualtrics is the world’s leading research and insights platform that offers organisations a full control over their customer experience programs and collects market’s and employee’s datas.
AppDynamics is a privately held application performance management and IT Operations Analytics company based in San Francisco. Moreover, the company named San Francisco’s Best Technology Work Culture at the 2016 Annual Timmy Awards.
3.Docker
Every Developer knows Docker as a container service, probably one of the most well-known and popular one. Meanwhile, Docker continue rases another $ million in funding.
4.Zymergen
The 3-year old biotech company that unlocks the power of biology to shape the world around us.
5.Thread
Fashion tech startup that tries to solve the problem of styling at scale. They offer you to get an expert’s help or opinion to make your style better. What is significant is that Thread plays with three things: a clever mixture of human stylists, AI assistants and tools that let both work together to deliver a semi-personalised collection of outfit ideas to every single customer.
6.Flexport
Flexport is one of those exciting startups that has great chances this year. It is a traditional freight forwarding service that arranges your goods to be transported with, providing visibility and control over your entire supply chain through software.
7.Rubrik
Named as Forbes’ Next Billion Dollars startup, Rubrik is Cloud Data Management that delivers automated backup, instant recovery, offsite replication, and data archival in a simple, scale out platform built for hybrid cloud.
An Indian virtual hospitality startup that owns and operates as well as aggregates standardised hotel rooms, founded by Ritesh Agarwal. OYO is a kind of an aggregator, alike Uber. Many experts have predicted that it is of the next unicorns of this year.
A cloud computing designed for developers. The company is already named the coolest cloud startup of the year.
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