Youth startups. Self-realization at home. Eco-friendly idea: special shampoo

Startups have long been one of the main drivers modern economy. By the number of successful companies promoted from scratch, one can judge the level of development of the country’s business space. And although it is obvious that most startups valued at $1 billion are based in the United States, some successful companies operate in Europe and China. We bring to your attention the list. This is not exactly a ranking: all 40 startups can be considered winners by default.

40. Evernote, $1 billion

Evernote, a service and suite of software for creating and storing notes, is worth at least $1 billion. It entered the elite club of the most valuable startups in May 2012, when it was able to raise $70 million as part of a D-funding round. Since then, the company has raised $240 million. An interesting list of investors: Allen & Co., China Broadband Capital Partners, DoCoMo Capital, Harbor Pacific Capital, m8 Capital, Meritech Capital Partners, m8 Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures, Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price and Valiant Capital Partners.

39. Eventbrite, $1 billion

Eventbrite, a service for selling tickets and organizing marketing campaigns for ticket sales on social networks, entered the list just a month ago. The company recently managed to attract funding in the amount of $60 billion. After this, the entire startup, which, of course, does not yet trade shares on the stock exchange, was estimated by experts at $1 billion. The total amount of Eventbrite funding is this moment is $197 million. Note that the company was founded quite a long time ago - in 2006, but at that time it was not able to quickly develop, because the new generation of social networks were in their infancy. Facebook, for example, was just beginning its global expansion.

38. Nutanix, $1 billion

The first representative of cloud systems for business on our list. Nutanix provides cloud data storage to companies. The company managed to attract an impressive amount of funding, which currently amounts to $1 billion. But against the backdrop of fierce competition in this niche, experts estimate the total value of the startup at the same $1 billion.

37. Dianping.com, $2 billion

The first Chinese startup to reach the billionaire rating. The portal, which publishes reviews of restaurants, is valued at $1.8 or even $2 billion. During its existence, it managed to raise $164 million. According to insiders, last year Dianping.com rejected a takeover offer from Google China. In addition, it is known that the telecommunications company from the Middle Kingdom, Tencent, invested a large amount of money in Dianping.com earlier this year - the same $1.8 billion or $2 billion.

36. Beats Electronics, $1 billion

Rapper Dr. Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine have created one of the most successful music startups, which is gradually developing new niches and turning into a full-fledged large company. Beats started with the production of headphones, proving to the whole world that “the bass rocks,” and then organized their own online music service, where you can listen to any music, but it’s better, of course, to do it on Beats headphones. Beats Electronics has raised $560 million in funding and is worth about $1 billion.

35. Xunlei Network Technologies, $1 billion

Chinese peer-to-peer service Xunlei Network Technologies, which receives support from Internet giant Google, has become one of the world's largest new generation file sharing services. The company was founded in 2003, when the whole world was gradually switching to Soulseek, Bear Share and other first-generation peer-to-peer networks. But the Chinese decided to take an evolutionary path, which allowed them to survive the emergence of new types of peer-to-peer platforms, such as torrent trackers. Xunlei supports great amount protocols and also works with torrents. The startup managed to raise $111 million, and today the company is valued at $1 billion. Investors include Ceyuan Ventures, Fidelity Growth Partners Asia, Google, IDG Capital Partners, Morningside Group, Primavera Capital Group and RW Investments.

34. Good Technology, $1 billion

The American company Good Technology specializes in security systems for mobile devices. Its main clients are companies that want to protect internal data flows. The startup has already started acquiring smaller players and recently acquired BoxTone, expanding its list of capabilities in the field of mobile computing. In April, the company received funding in the amount of $50 million. And in total, it received $396 million from investors - this is since 1996. Now Good Technology is worth about $1 billion.

33. Coupons.com, $1 billion

Discount service Coupons.com recently filed for an IPO. The company helps stores attract customers by distributing discount coupons. Despite the fact that there are dozens of portals similar to Coupons.com in the world, the startup has attracted the attention of investors. In 2013, he received $115 million, which prompted the founders successful business for the initial placement.

32. Pure Storage, $1 billion

Pure Storage offers a business-focused storage product that is different. It's about about unique solid-state drives for corporate use based on flash memory. Speeding up computer systems allows companies to reduce costs, which is why Pure Storage products sell very well. Since its founding in 2009, the startup has raised $245 million. Investors include Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment and Sutter Hill Ventures.

31. CloudFlare, $1 billion

CloudFlare is a system that allows you to speed up websites and protect them from external threats. This startup was liked not only by companies, but even by the authorities of some countries, including Turkey. In December 2012, CloudFare raised $50 million in funding. The total funding amount is $72 million. Investors include Greenspring Associates, New Enterprise Associates, Pelion Venture Partners, Union Square Ventures and Venrock.

30. Tango, $1.1 billion

The free Tango messenger works in difficult conditions. Its competitors, such as WhatsApp and Viber, are much more popular and have already sold to larger players for billions (in WhatsApp's case, tens of billions) of dollars. Nevertheless, Tango received funding from the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba in the amount of $250 million. Against this background, investors believe in the bright future of the startup. Experts estimate its value at $1.1 billion. Since 2009, Tango has received $367 million from investors.

29. LaShou Group, $1.1 billion

LaShou Group's Chinese service is thriving, not least because it is Chinese. This is another portal that provides discounts to customers, but its operating model, in which discounts are provided for a limited time, that is, constantly changing “offers of the day”, is completely copied from the American Groupon. The closedness of the Chinese market provided the LaShou Group with funding in the amount of $166 million and an estimated total value of $1.1 billion.

28. Gilt Groupe, $1 billion

Gilt Groupe is an American online store. Trading platform 6 million people use it for a variety of products. In order to buy something, you must register. In addition, the number of brands and the duration of the offers are limited. In 2011, the startup received additional funding in the amount of $138 million. Experts estimate the value of Gilt Groupe at $1.1 billion. Insiders claim that the company may hold an IPO this year.

27. Fab, $1.2 billion

Fab is an even more successful online trading platform. From 175 thousand participants in 2011, its audience has increased to 10 million, and the number of visitors per month reaches 6 million. The company managed to sell 7 million products, it already operates in three countries and in two languages - English and German. The startup raised $335 million from investors. Among them are Andreessen Horowitz, Atomico, Baroda Ventures, Docomo Capital, First Round Capital, German Startups Group Berlin, ITOCHU, Mayfield Fund, Menlo Ventures, Phenomen Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, RTP Ventures, ru-Net Ventures, SingTel Innov8, SoftTech VC, Tencent Holdings, VTB Capital, Washington Post, Zelkova Ventures, A-Grade Investments and SV Angel.

26. MongoDB, $1.2 billion

MongoDB provides its customers with the ability to create NoSQL databases. The startup's services are used by such large corporate players as the online store eBay, the insurer MetLife and the newspaper The New York Times. MongoDB technology allows them to organize huge streams of data. Last year, MongoDB raised $150 million in funding, after which it was valued at $1.2 billion. In total, the startup received $231 million from investors and may soon hold an IPO.

25. Sogou, $1.2 billion

Sogou is a search engine about which almost nothing is known outside of China, but which is extremely popular in the Middle Kingdom. The site helps you find information of any type, and most importantly, it is able to identify pages that contain a potential threat and will not display them. Chinese users like these “clean” results so much that they have already found 10 billion pages using Sogou. As a result, Sogou's value today is estimated at $1.2 billion.

24. Deem, $1.4 billion

Software developed by Deem allows companies to estimate travel and other ancillary costs. Deem's services are used, in particular, by Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs and Siemens. The startup is valued at $1.4 billion and has managed to raise an impressive $424 million in funding. Investors include American Express, Charter Venture Capital, Citigroup, Empire Capital Partners, Foundation Capital, Jafco America Ventures, JPMorgan & Chase, Micro Cap Partners and Oak Investment Partners.

23. Mobileye, $1.5 billion

Mobileye cooperates with the world's leading automakers. Technologies developed by the startup are helping BMW, General Motors and other major players in the sector create safety systems that monitor and prevent accidents. The company was founded in 1998 and today is valued at $1.5 billion. Mobileye's funding volume is $487 million. Investors include such financial market sharks as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs.

22. Fanatics, $1.5 billion

The startup, which received the peculiar name Fanatics, was founded back in 1995. According to various estimates, it is worth from $1.5 billion to $3 billion, but there is no information about the second figure confirmed by authoritative sources. Fanatics provides licensed sports gear and other items for fans. Analysts are positive about the prospects in this niche, so we can expect growth in Fanatics' business this year. Interestingly, among the investors who have invested money in the company is the Chinese Alibaba Group.

21. Stripe, $1.8 billion

Stripe- payment system, which challenged the famous PayPal. The ease of use of virtual terminals developed by Stripe, according to many experts, puts PayPal's dominant position in the market at risk. Last month, the startup raised $80 million, and its total funding over four years is $120 million. Against this backdrop, analysts valued the business at $1.8, which allowed it to become one of the youngest participants on our list.

19. Trendy Group, $2 billion

French clothing manufacturers are conquering China. The giant LVMH poured $200 million into the startup Trendy Group, which produces inexpensive clothes for the people of the Middle Kingdom. Having learned about this investment, experts valued Trendy Group's business at $2 billion. Note that Trendy Group itself was founded by a Chinese, but a large share of French people makes us believe that they can influence the company's strategy. The startup was founded in 1999. The Chinese clothing market is constantly evolving, so Trendy Group and LVMH were in the right place at the right time.

18. Box, $2 billion

Box is another cloud service provider primarily for enterprise customers. The system allows you to store data in the cloud and quickly share it. Box's business model is interesting. There is 50 gigabytes of free storage available for personal accounts, but the startup is pushing customers to purchase additional storage space. Moreover, even to get 50 gigabytes you have to download a special application developed for iOS. In December, Box raised $100 million in funding, after which it was valued at $2 billion. Insiders say the startup has filed for an IPO, but does not want to advertise it.

17. Wayfair, over $2 billion

The online home furnishings retailer, which specializes in furniture and decor, recently received $157 million in funding, valuing the startup at $2 billion. The Boston-based company, founded in 2002, has total funding to date of $358 million. Investors include Battery Ventures, Great Hill Partners, HarbourVest Partners and Spark Capital.

16. Woodman Labs, developer GoPro cameras, $2.3 billion

One of the most famous startups on our list. Not everyone knows that the company was founded back in 2002. At first, the business grew slowly, but in recent years the market has appreciated the devices developed by the Californian company, which are excellent for shooting high-quality video in extreme conditions. GoPro reached $1 billion in revenue last year and is now planning an IPO in June or May. Investors include Foxconn, Riverwood Capital, Sageview Capital, Steamboat Ventures, USVP Management and Walden International.

15. Airbnb, $2.5 billion

Airbnb is a service that helps travelers and home owners who want to rent out their homes find each other. In 2012, the company received $200 million in funding and brought the total investment in its business to $526 million. Airbnb entered the top 40 back in 2011, when it managed to raise $112 million. Since then, its position has only strengthened. Insiders claim that after the new round of financing, the estimated value of the startup will increase to $10 billion.

14. Bloom Energy, $2.9 billion

The startup Bloom Energy produces solid oxide fuel cells, kits of which are called Bloom Box. These solutions are used in their energy systems by such giants as Wal-Mart, Federal Express and Coca-Cola. Each Bloom Box costs $750 thousand, and even at this price, customers are ready to buy innovative Bloom Energy products. But in just 10 years, the developers promise to reduce the cost of “Blooming Boxes” to $3 thousand.

13. Legendary Entertainment, $3 billion

Legendary Entertainment is a production company that worked with Warner Brothers on new series Batman movies. The startup was one of the first to risk joining forces with hedge funds to jointly finance film production. Legendary Entertainment's contract with Warner Brothers has been completed, and the company is now set to work with Universal Studios. The startup was founded in 2005.

12. VANCL, $3 billion

Another player in the Chinese clothing market: the online store VANCL was created in 2005, and already in 2011 it was valued at $3 billion. Initially, the site specialized in selling inexpensive clothing, but has recently entered into partnership agreements with luxury brands. The total amount of funding for its activities reached $472 million. Investors include Ceyuan Ventures, CITIC Private Equity Funds Management, F&H Fund Management, IDG Capital Partners, Kerry Group, Qiming Venture Partners, SAIF Partners, Temasek Holdings and Tiger Management.

11. Square, $3.3 billion

The unusual startup Square produces both software, and payment terminals for corporate clients. One of the company's most famous partners is the coffee chain Starbucks, which, according to experts, can overtake McDonald's on the stock exchange. In 2012, Square received $200 million from investors. The total amount of funds raised is $345 million. Investors: Citi Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Rizvi Traverse Management, Sequoia Capital, Starbucks, and Tiger Global Management.

10. Jawbone, $3.3 billion

Jawbone makes headphones and wireless speakers that can be connected to mobile devices. They are popular among music lovers (due to good quality sound), and among people involved in sports (because they are easy to use and do not interfere). Interestingly, Jawbone initially worked with the military to create noise-canceling technologies. But the startup’s developments were also useful in the broad consumer electronics market. As a result, the value of the business was estimated at $3.3 billion.

9. Uber, $3.8 billion

The Uber taxi search system operates in several dozen US cities. It is able to set prices in the market depending on supply and demand. In August, the startup received funding in the amount of $258 million, which brought the total amount of attracted investments to $405 million. Experts estimate the value of Uber at $3.8 billion. And this is not surprising, given that in good weeks the company is able to receive revenue of $20 million. Investors include Benchmark Capital, Bezos Expeditions, First Round Capital, Founder Collective, Goldman Sachs, Google Ventures, Jumpstart Capital, Lowercase Capital, Menlo Ventures and TPG Growth.

8. Pinterest, $3.8 billion

Pinterest is a portal that allows users to communicate by posting images in various thematic collections and “pinning” them to “boards” for discussion. The company made it onto the list of billionaire startups in May 2012 when it raised $100 million from a consortium of investors led by Rakuten. And after another round that brought in $225 million and closed in October 2013, Pinterest's valuation more than doubled from $1.5 billion to $3.8 billion.

7. Spotify, $4 billion

European member of our elite club. Swedish music streaming service Spotify has attracted 24 million “thank you” users and another 6 million for $10 a month. It is not surprising that a company with such impressive performance has already raised a total of $521 million from investors, including Coca-Cola and the well-known Digital Sky Technologies. The company's latest $250 million funding round, which closed last November, valued the company at $4 billion.

6. SpaceX, $4.8 billion

Well, where are we without Elon Musk, one of the most famous and most controversial “start-ups”. The SpaceX company, whose goal is to conquer space no longer at the expense of the state but for purely commercial purposes, is now worth about $4.8 billion. At the same time, investors poured only $115 million into Elon Musk’s business. But he still promises to save America from the need to use Russian rockets and rocket engines. Moreover, this is one of the most modest promises. Many believe, because another Musk project, Tesla, is already bringing real profits.

5. Zalando, $4.9 billion

Another European player, this time from Germany. Online retailer Zalando sells clothing and other “stylish” products in 14 European countries. Initially, the company sold only shoes, but now even distributes branded magazines in which customers can find information about new products and discounts. The total investment in Zalando is only $49 million, but its estimated value is 100 times more!

4. Jingdong, $7.3 billion

And again to China: Jingdong, formerly known under the 360Buy brand, is one of the largest online stores in the Middle Kingdom in terms of turnover value. Jingdong has been called the "Amazon of China" and is popular not only among shoppers but also among investors. The total amount of funding reached $2.2 billion, which allowed the company to be valued at $7.3 billion. Jingdong was founded in Beijing in 2004.

3. Palantir, $9 billion

“Palantir” is a device with which in Tolkien’s book “The Lord of the Rings” the main villain Sauron monitored his henchmen and gave orders. It’s also a great name for a startup that allows US intelligence agencies to spy on the population. Using Palantir technologies, the FBI and CIA filter information flows. The business is developing successfully: the startup has already raised $594 million, and its estimated value reached $9 billion back in September 2013.

Super popular cloud storage Dropbox data has already attracted more than 200 million active users. Next goal - corporate clients. The founders of a startup once decided to challenge the traditional e-mail, which did not allow sending large files. They created a service that allows you to store content and instantly send it to anyone, regardless of the restrictions imposed by the email client. One of Dropbox's innovations: the user can create a special folder right on the desktop and drop files there that he wants to send to the Internet. Many cloud services have followed the example of Dropbox, but it remains the most popular. 200 million people actively use this system. The total amount of investments attracted by Dropbox is $507 million.

1. Xiaomi $10 billion

The Chinese gadget manufacturer Xiaomi has conquered its native market by setting record low prices for its devices without sacrificing quality. Last year, the company sold 18.7 million smartphones alone, and yet it has a wide range of consumer electronics and even proprietary applications. In the past, one of the top managers who led the development of Android, Hugo Barra, moved to Xiaomi and is now helping the Chinese player win back the global gadget market from its competitors. The volume of investments attracted by Xiaomi is $507 million against the background of the company's estimated value of $10 billion.

"The bubble hasn't burst yet"

This is how the list of the most interesting startups of 2015 according to Forbes begins. It includes those companies for which investors have the most hope and write the biggest checks. Among them there are such monsters as Uber and Udacity, as well as unique services for finding care for your dog and delivering food from nearby restaurants. In total, these 50 startups managed to attract $7 billion from investors, and they are collectively valued at $120 billion.

Check out the list and maybe you will decide to implement something similar in our country.

#1 Uptake Technologies. Valuation: $1.1 billion

A service that collects all information on its client’s business, processes it, systematizes it, and provides it to the client in the form of simplified analytics. Based on it, the client can better understand the results of his work and adjust it better.

#2 Slack. Valuation: $2.8 billion

Service for organization labor processes, with its help you can easily communicate with colleagues and subordinates, assign tasks, monitor their completion, and also synchronize the application with other work services.

#3 Porch. Estimate: $500 million

Service for finding workers for apartment repairs and orders for repair work. The base consists of 3.2 million specialists and 132 million works performed by them on site. Plus, Porch insures each of its customers against poor quality work for $1,000.

#4 OfferUp. Estimate: $814 million

A simple and convenient bulletin board. Inside the application, you can communicate with buyers and sellers in chats, pay for purchases, and quickly post or update product photos.

#5 PicsArt. Estimate: $250 million

Photo editing application. One of Instagram's competitors, the difference is that inside the application there are many more editing tools and a different approach to creating a feed and interaction between users.

#6 Casper. Estimate: $555 million

Manufacturer and online retailer of innovative and comfortable mattresses, pillows and sheets. The target audience project - young active urban population. Revenue to date has already reached $100 million.

#7 DoorDash. Estimate: $600 million

Application for ordering food from the nearest restaurant.

#8 Expensify. Estimate: $147 million

Service for tracking corporate budget expenses. With its help, you can easily track how and what budget funds are spent on and quickly and easily adjust expenses.

#9 Postmates. Estimate: $450 million

A food delivery service organized similar to Uber. Couriers earn a percentage of delivered orders. A competent approach to customers and well-functioning logistics allows Postmates to earn $100 million a year.

#10 Zenefits. Valuation: $4.5 billion

Cloud-based software for HR management. With the help of this cloud, HR departments can conduct their work from anywhere in the world. The cloud contains all the necessary information - salary slips, applicant profiles, reports on new employees and others. It is not known what will happen if the cloud is hacked.

#11 ClassPass. Estimate: $293 million

The service offers, for a fixed fee, the opportunity to visit various sports groups and sections in your city, without the need to book time or arrange training sessions.

#12 Jibo. Estimate: $128 million

The company has developed a robot buddy. Its main task is to communicate and help everyone who is at home, and Jibo will have a special approach to each family member. He will be able to tell children a fairy tale, parents an anecdote, and in the kitchen he will suggest a recipe or read out messages for a specific recipient.

#13 Whipclip. Estimate: $600 million

An application that allows you to share TV shows and music videos with your friends for free and completely legally.

#14 Namely.Estimate: $181 million

Cloud service for personnel management. Allows you to set goals, monitor implementation, reward employees, as well as pay salaries with automatic tax calculations and do all this through a web interface or a mobile application.

#15 DraftKings. Valuation: $1.2 billion

A very popular trend in the United States is gambling, in which users can create football teams from existing players and predict how they will spend the playing season. The service grew rapidly and gained popularity, but literally at the end of the year, DraftKings and their main competitor were overtaken by lawsuits from the state with suspicion of fraudulent transactions and insider trading.

#16 Uber. Estimate: $64 billion

An international company specializing in calling and paying for a taxi or private driver using a mobile application. The service is available in 68 countries and 300 cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and 5 other large Russian cities. Some governments of European countries prevented the spread of the service, considering it “the largest illegal carrier”; a similar situation was in Russia, but an agreement was signed limiting the company’s services only to legal carriers.

#17 Robinhood. Estimate: $275 million

An application that allows you to trade stocks without commission. At the moment it operates only in the USA and plans to enter the markets of other English-speaking countries in 2016.

#18 Greenhouse Software. Estimate: $245 million

A service that allows you to systematize and simplify the process of hiring employees. The creators promise to do all the hard work for you: the service will draw up a plan, help you place ads, schedule interviews, and even compile a list of questions to ask when talking with a candidate.

#19 Layer3 TV. Estimate: $385 million

New generation cable provider in the USA. The company has brought together cable industry veterans, as well as many personnel from Google, Comcast and Apple. Layer3 TV plans to combine the usual cable TV and mobile applications. This is all that is known about the company’s plans for now; they are keeping the rest secret.

#20 Pronutria Biosciences. Estimate: $321 million

The company aims to track the level of amino acids in your body, and also gives advice to level out the imbalance and thus improve your health.

#21 Tanium. Valuation: $3.7 billion

Tanium products help IT departments of companies establish fast and secure communications between hundreds of thousands of computers. The startup's investors include TPG, Institutional Venture Partners and T Rowe Price funds.

#22 Raise Marketplace.Estimate: $608 million

The service allows you to buy and sell gift cards. It will be useful for those who want to save on purchases or turn their gift cards into real money.

#23 Beepi.Estimate: $564 million

Beepi is a service where you can buy proven own specialists car for a fair price and get the opportunity to return it. If the seller’s car is not purchased through the site within 30 days, the company buys it for the agreed price and sells it itself. The price of a car is determined by the site commission, the seller’s expectations and the assessment technical specialists companies.

#24 Corvus Pharmaceuticals. Estimate: $236 million

A pharmaceutical company developing drugs that support the immune system and help fight cancer.

#25 LendingHome. Estimate: $519 million

The company is a platform for investors and people who want to get a mortgage loan. The former can easily start investing their money, and the latter can choose a profitable and convenient mortgage option for themselves.

#26 Affirm. Estimate: $576 million

A financial startup that offers users instant micro-loans at extremely competitive rates.

#27 Credit Karma. Valuation: $3.5 billion

Credit Karma is a platform designed for users to obtain a credit rating, regardless of the person’s location. The service's audience is 40 million people. On at this stage the company provides reports, credit scores and some other financial tools.

#28 Menlo Security. Estimate: $127 million

Menlo Security is developing a solution to protect against malware. The total amount of funds raised by the startup has reached $35 million. The company plans to completely rid users of viruses and other malware using its Isolation Platform system.

#29 Carbon3D. Valuation: $1 billion

Canadian startup specializing in 3D printing. A key advantage of Carbon3D is its CLIP printing technology, which allows you to print objects 25-100 times faster than other 3D printers. The products are of higher quality due to the continuous creation of the structure, rather than layer by layer.

#30 Afferent Pharmaceuticals. Estimate: $280 million

A pharmaceutical startup that develops innovative medicines.

#31 WeWork. Valuation: $10.2 billion

The startup operates in some major US cities and offers freelancers, small teams and businesses a variety of different coworking spaces. The business model is extremely simple. WeWork on favorable conditions rent several floors in office centers, they make repairs in them, create space for work, meetings and relaxation, and also install all the necessary office equipment. And then they offer everyone who wants to buy subscriptions to work in such a coworking space.

#32 zSpace. Estimate: $160 million

zSpace offer users their vision virtual reality. Their workstations are computers whose displays track the movement of special glasses and a stylus-style controller, thereby creating a sense of three-dimensionality of the object.

#33 Premise Data. Estimate #375 million

The company helps process large amounts of data to understand economic effects in real time.

#34 Collective Health. Estimate: $391 million

Collective Health develops a corporate health insurance platform to help companies provide health benefits to employees.

#35 Rover. Estimate: $130 million

The startup can be called Airbnb for dogs. Even the interface is similar. Owners can choose who will take care of their pet, and dog lovers will be able to sit with them and even earn money.

#36 Cohesity. Estimate: $336 million

The startup is working towards renting secondary data storage. And this, according to Cohesity estimates, is up to 80% of the total data volume. The company will help you save up to 80% on storage costs.

#37 Udacity. Valuation: $1.1 billion

Udacity is not a newcomer among startups, but a fairly well-known platform for self-paced remote education, which was born as an extension of Stanford University.

#38 Placester. Estimate: $150 million

The company is designed to make life easier for American realtors by combining a huge number of real estate databases (more than 900 in the US) into one, with a convenient interface, search algorithm and support on mobile devices.

The company provides services for storing databases on “elastic” servers. They can expand if necessary, as well as “give away” space that is not currently being used.

#42 Cyanogen. Estimate: $640 million

Almost any Android lover can talk for hours about this operating system, but if you are not one of them, then in a nutshell Cyanogen is an OS that takes its roots from the same Android, but in many ways surpasses it.

#43 Handy. Estimate: $360 million

Handy offers to take on the troubles of cleaning the premises. The company selects people who want to earn extra money from such a difficult business, surveys them, and then offers their services to clients. Sort of like the Uber of the cleaning world.

#44 Onshape. Estimate: $800 million

Cloud platform for CAD modeling. All work is done through a browser, synchronized with the overall project via the cloud and has a mobile interface.

#45 Illumio. Valuation: $1 billion

Illumio specializes in cyber security, and while most competitors deal with threats outside the “perimeter,” Illumio deals with intruders who have passed the initial protection.

#46 Vroom. Estimate: $218 million

The startup sells used cars in the United States.

#47 Nurix. Estimate: $227 million

The company researches and develops drugs that affect the mechanics of protein regulation in cells. This approach will help fight many diseases, including oncology.

#48 Gusto. Estimate: $560 million

The company is developing cloud-based personnel management. Allows you to pay employees, make tax deductions and much more.

#49 Betterment. Estimate: $431 million

The startup is intended for people who want to start investing, but do not have much experience in this field.

#50 Theranos. Valuation: $9 billion

A revolutionary method for quickly and accurately conducting tests using tiny doses of biomaterial. In 2015, the media questioned the accuracy of the test results and accused the developers of deceiving investors. So far, only the media have paid attention to this, so in the future, either the storm will subside and the project will continue to work, or everyone will really be disappointed in it and Theranos will have to close down.

This is what the 50 hottest US startups look like. After reading about them in a little more detail, you can understand the direction in which our society is moving and what we will be able to see in the near future in the services market.

The term Unicorn applies to startup companies valued at $1 billion or more. We present to you a list of the most successful startups, some of which are valued at tens of billions of dollars.

Square ($6 billion).

The company was founded by the creator of Twitter, Jack Dorsey. Square is a platform for accepting credit cards on mobile devices.

Meituan ($7 billion).

The company, better known as China's Groupo, raised $700 million in early 2015. Today investors value it at 7 billion. Don't think that the company became successful right away. It was quite long haul since 2010. Therefore, everything is ahead of you, the main thing is to find good idea for business. How to do this - read here. The main thing is to believe in your success.

Zhong An Online ($8 billion).

The first online insurance company is valued at $8 billion, although last year it was valued at $930 million. The company was founded in 2013 by Jack Ma (pictured), executive chairman of Alibaba,

DJI ($8 billion).

And again the Chinese. The company's motto is “the future is possible.” And no wonder, because DJI makes unmanned flying drones.

Spotify ($8.5 billion).

Swedish company, music streaming service.

Theranos ($9 billion).

The most successful blood testing laboratory was created in 2003 by 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos uses only a finger prick for analysis, instead of venous blood sampling.

Lufax ($9.7 billion).

Lufax is a Chinese online lending service. Founded in 2011 in Shanghai, the company is now worth $9.7 billion.

WeWork ($10 billion).

The company provides workspaces for entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Dropbox ($10 billion).

The cloud storage system was launched in 2008 by two students.

Pinterest ($11 billion).

An online platform that allows you to share and view photos as ideas and save them on your virtual boards.

SpaceX ($12 billion).

American manufacturer of space technology. Creator of the Falcon family of rockets.

Flipkart ($15 billion).

Indian online store founded by two former employees Amazon in 2007.

Didi Kuaidi ($16.5 billion).

The company is better known as the Chinese Uber (taxi ordering service).

Snapchat ($16 billion).

An application for exchanging messages, photos and videos. In 2013, Snapchat rejected a takeover offer from Facebook, turning down $3 billion. Today the company is worth 16 billion.

Palantir ($20 billion).

The company is a software developer for the CIA, FBI and NSA. In the photo - Bernie Madoff, accused of creating the largest financial pyramid. His exposure is the result of Palantir's data analytics program.

Airbnb (25.5 billion).

Online service for posting and searching for short-term rental housing all over the world.

Xiaomi ($46 billion).

Chinese company - electronics manufacturer. The world's fourth largest smartphone manufacturer.

Uber ($51bn).

The company that created mobile app to search, order and pay for a taxi.

The best startups in Russia include:

Popular educational online service, which helps everyone who wants to master English language or increase the existing level. Now more than 14 million people around the world use it. Each new “student” can take a test and choose the level they need, receive a set of exercises and educational materials for mastering it. The application allows you to train your understanding of not only written speech, but also its listening comprehension. Training materials are provided in both audio and video formats.

This is an educational platform with game elements that provides the opportunity to learn linguistic skills from native speakers.

The animated lion mascot gave the service its name - Leo. The idea to use this particular character, lost in the jungle of knowledge, came to the developers on the exotic island of Koh Chang, where the founder and a team of programmers worked for about six months to create a new service. Five years later, the founder, Ainur Abdulnasyrov, entered the top hundred Russian millionaires.

Google included LinguaLeo in the list best apps for Android in 2015.

LinguaLeo - learning English can be fun

Doctor at work

The virtual community of professional doctors is a startup by Andrey Perfilyev and Stanislav Sazhin, which appeared in 2009. They created a space that most closely resembles a closed club, within which people of the same specialty can exchange experiences, get the necessary information, ask colleagues questions, and find a job.

Gradually, with growing popularity, the network expanded significantly. Now both medical students and pharmacists can use it. They, like doctors, got the opportunity not only to communicate, but also to improve their skills for free.

Half of all medical workers Russia, from higher education, are its registered users. In terms of participant activity, Doctor at Work ranks first in the world. For several years in a row, the project has occupied more and more honorable places in the ranking of the best startups in Russia - Russian Startup Rating.

Most doctors in Russia use their own social network"Doctor at work"

MoneyMan comes to the rescue very quickly when it comes to micro-loans

Who hasn't dreamed of a flash drive with unlimited capacity? Alexey Churkin, founder of the Flashsafe startup, was able to solve this problem. It was he who came up with the idea of a “dimensionless” drive - a flash card connected to a cloud file storage system. Through special electronic devices, information is placed in storage and is located there absolutely anonymously, without being tied to a specific user. This makes it possible to obtain the necessary files without necessarily using passwords or keys. Such a device cannot be hacked; it guarantees complete security and confidentiality of information.

Alexey raised it with his own funds and grants, successfully presented his project in Skolkovo, after which 1.5 million rubles were collected in pre-orders. Gradually, investors were found, and the project repeatedly appeared on crowdfunding platforms. On August 30, 2016, sales of the “endless” drive started.

Flashsafe combines flash drive and infinity

The fastest startup, which became the best startup project in just a few days, is among the best startups of 2016 in Russia. The creators were forced to artificially restrain the powerful growth in the popularity of the project. is a mobile application that appeared quite recently, in the summer of 2016, and allows the user to turn any photo into an image made in the style of famous artists. It became possible to turn an ordinary frame into a work of art in just a couple of seconds and clicks. His success was simply dizzying. In 10 days, the new photo editor became the most downloaded product.

Investors valued the entire project at more than $10 million. The founder of the service, Alexey Moiseenkov, has become no less popular than his brainchild and tries “not to give more than one interview a day.” In them, he says that about two months were spent working on the mega-popular application and the investments were made “within the framework of salaries.” Now Mail.ru has already become an investor in Prisma, which allows us to evaluate the success and prospects of the project.

With Prisma, anyone can become a great artist

MULTICUBE

A Russian project that won the Startup Village competition in the summer of 2016. The startup ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo and successfully presented itself at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York in 2016. Mikhail Bukhovtsev is the founder and CEO of Multikubik.

The project is an interesting technical novelty for the youngest users. We are talking about mini-projectors in the shape of a cube, with cartoons and filmstrips inside. You can project an image onto any flat surface. The creators claim that this is a “healthier” alternative to a child watching entertainment content on a tablet, best option for quality family leisure.

Participant of the Skolkovo and API Moscow platforms. More than $105 thousand was raised to launch sales. Currently, the company management plans to develop a premium version of the projector, more a budget option will go into production very soon.

Multicube - a classic in new packaging

This is a list. Some of them are already known abroad, have found investors there and are planning to enter the international market. What can we say about the current situation in this area on a global scale? What are the best startups in the world?

10 best startups in the world

The best startup projects around the world include:

Slack

A popular corporate messenger that appeared in 2013. It provides very great opportunities for online teamwork; it is especially suitable for small and medium-sized companies. Slack makes official email correspondence between employees and complex internal document flow unnecessary. This service was ideal for communication between employees at work, but it also made it possible to create communities of interest, business or leisure. That is why another opportunity to use Slack is to search for the right specialists; HR workers actively use this.

The fastest growing business application in history, now valued at nearly $3 billion.

The application was created by Cambridge Philosophy graduate Stuart Butterfield. Over seven rounds of investment, his startup was able to raise about $350 million and become one of the best such projects in the world. It is especially popular in the USA and European countries. On the first day of testing, more than 8 thousand organizations registered in the Slack system.

More than a million users have already appreciated the benefits of Slack

Uber

One of the most famous and scandalous startups in the world, which indignant competitors regularly try to catch up with and are desperately trying to somehow cope with its expansion. At the same time, the project is very successful; investors value it at $64 billion.

The idea of linking a taxi order to a mobile application turned out to be simply golden. It belongs to Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp. The idea was born to one of the founders in Paris, when he could not get a taxi.

Having appeared in 2009, Uber brought huge profits to its creators. The world's leading venture financiers fought for the right to invest money in the service. This is understandable, since the company’s daily revenue now amounts to several million.

Now mobile taxis under this brand operate in more than 80 cities around the world, the number of trips using Uber in America has grown by 250%. The company continues to actively explore the global market and expand.

Uber is one of the best startups in the world in recent years

Zenefits was founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Parker Conrad, who until recently served as its CEO. Over the course of a year, the project went from an unknown startup to a dynamically developing business. It took him less than two years to become a company with a capitalization of more than $1 billion. Zenefits boasts some of Silicon Valley's biggest names (like Andreessen Horowitz) and is valued at $4.5 billion.

The project offers innovative software for personnel services enterprises, significantly simplifying personnel management and document management in companies. The service allows you to automatically calculate employee salaries, calculate benefits, bonuses, labor productivity factors, and determine vacation dates.

In February 2016, Zenefits changed its director, David Sachs, who took emergency measures to maintain the high assessment of the project by investors. Despite the fact that the company is now experiencing some difficulties, the number of its clients still numbers 20 thousand people.

Zenefits - a fundamentally new approach to work in the field of personnel management

Porch

One of the best startups in the world, which appeared in Seattle in 2013. The project was created to connect professionals who can perform home or appliance repair work with people who need their services. A user-friendly interface and ordering system allows you to find the right specialist very quickly, which was immediately appreciated by numerous Porch users. During its existence, the company managed to raise $99 million in 3 rounds of financing.

Porch is:

3 million professionals with work experience and reviews
140 million completed transactions
over $100 million in venture capital

The company gives all clients a guarantee of $1000 if the quality of the work performed does not satisfy the customer.

The founders of Porch claim that their business continues to grow and develop, has excellent prospects and big plans for the future.

Porch - repairs are best left to professionals

A new type of social Internet service founded by Ben Silberman in 2008. With its help, each user can create their own unique virtual “boards” on which they collect and store images grouped by various topics. Very quickly, Pinterest became a worldwide catalog of ideas and inspiration for a very large global audience. creative people And ordinary users. The project is especially popular among women. For example, brides looking for a wedding style or young mothers organizing photo shoots for their babies. Of course, all specialists in the artistic field also appreciated it.

It took this startup less than a year to attract its first 10 thousand users. Zilberman says that he personally drafted and sent invitation letters to the first 5 thousand. This figure now represents 70 million per month in the US and 150 million worldwide. The project has now surpassed Twitter in terms of audience size. Financially, it is also very prosperous, having attracted $1.3 billion in investments since its founding.

Pinterest - beautiful photos can't be too much

An incredibly successful online service offering mattresses and other sleep accessories. A practical and serious approach to even the most ordinary household items, it turns out, can bring creators both money and fame. The manufacturer and seller of unusual sleep accessories was able to attract the attention of buyers and investors, the latter valuing the project at $550 million.

The authors of this startup approached the matter with a scientific approach and organized a real laboratory in which they experimentally established the parameters and characteristics of an ideal mattress. Now they sell only one type of it, but in different sizes.

Pleasant bonuses that successfully complement high quality Casper:

Fast shipping
compact packaging
possibility of testing and returning goods

At the same time, the cost of a standard size mattress starts at $500, but the company provides a 10-year guarantee on it. The project successfully withstands competition, although the price of their goods is approximately twice the average.

This startup relied on comfort

It turns out that startups also exist in the field of space technology. One of the most successful projects in this area belongs to CEO Tesla to Elon Musk, who decided to create the first private transport company for space cargo transportation. In particular, the creator saw the immediate goal of delivering cargo to Mars during its colonization. The project turned out to be successful and now the company is a real space concern.

The first steps in implementing this grandiose plan began in 2002, and 8 years later SpaceX became the first private company, which launched spaceship. In 2012, one of its unmanned rockets docked with the International Space Station. After this, management signed a contract with the US Air Force and NASA.

SpaceX is considered the most progressive and promising space carrier, while offering some of the most low prices in the market for similar services.

The path from idea to successful space production

The third most valuable startup in the world is a mobile application that allows you to send messages with attached photos and videos. Created by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy and Frank Brown.

According to statistics, 200 million users of the application send 700 million messages daily. In general, during its existence, the company has raised more than $1 billion and continues to actively develop.

The head of the company, Evan Spiegel, is trying to make Snapchat a competitor to Facebook and Twitter. Most likely, he will succeed. An ambitious entrepreneur from the “golden youth” is confidently moving forward. The application content continues to be updated and improved, gradually adding new features.

Rapid growth, thoughtful, bold marketing and an audience under 30 are the key to Snapchat's success, which has allowed the company to become the third most capitalized startup in the world.

Evan Spiegel is the founder of Snapchat

Jibo

The creators of the first family robot, led by MIT professor Cynthia Breazeale, raised money for it using a crowdfunding platform. The project was so successful that in just a few days about 900 thousand dollars were received, although 100 thousand were required.

Now you can purchase an electronic friend for all family members and receive from him not only practical help in the form necessary information, but also a couple of funny stories or anecdotes.

Jibo recognizes people and finds its own approach to everyone. He cannot move, but he can speak and show emotions. The first samples have already gone on sale. The creators of Jibo do not stop there; the design of the robot has already been improved with the investments that the project was able to attract.

Jibo - home robot has become a reality

One of the fastest growing internet startups of 2015, born in San Francisco.

The project was created as an online service for delivering food to private customers from nearby stores. The buyer selects all the necessary goods online from the lists of local supermarkets uploaded to the site, and receives his order by courier very quickly, within an hour.

Instacart is already available in several major US cities and continues to capture the market, and the company's revenue has increased 15 times. The startup is developing rapidly, funds and private investors are confident in Instacart's success, although competition is growing noticeably every year. The project with enviable consistency attracts more and more hundreds of millions of dollars of investment (see Investments in startups: attraction, rules, important points). Total funding for the service over two years is about $150 million. Investors in the successful startup include Sequoia, Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners, Horowitz and many others.

Even going to the store can make you rich

A variety of projects are among the best startups in Russia and around the world. Some of them are created by one enthusiast, while others are developed by several thousand different specialists. Sometimes it takes a month or two from the idea to the finished product, and sometimes it takes years. Each project has its own secret of popularity and its own fascinating story of rise.